How hiring the wrong person can cost your company

Why Good Companies Make Bad Hires

Aside from direct costs such as an individual’s salary and benefits, bad hires accumulate hidden costs in lost productivity, lost business opportunities, the inevitable need to hire a replacement employee, lower workplace morale as well as damage the customer experience and your company’s reputation. Working with headhunters who specialises in a given field can help hiring companies identify candidates with the appropriate skills and cultural fit.

Taking short-cuts to build your team may ease immediate growing pains but create regrets in the long-term. Here are a few common mistakes that many companies make during the recruitment process:

• Not clearly defining what they want. An old job specification may not accurately reflect your business needs today. Take advantage of the resources available such as your internal human resources team or your headhunting firm who can help you build and articulate the vacancy brief. An up-to-date and detailed brief will help reduce the number of CVs you receive from unqualified applicants.
• Not taking full advantage of the interview. Recruiting is more than just identifying a strong resume or profile. A candidate’s skill set also includes how well they work in a collaborative environment and soft skills such as leadership and communication. An experienced interviewer or executive recruiter will have conversations with candidates to establish a rapport, allowing them to delve deeper into an applicant’s qualifications while also assessing whether he or she is a good fit for your corporate culture.
• Not selling the role to potential candidates. Executives in high-demand may have multiple job offers. You need to show them why they should choose your company over a competitor. A good executive recruitment company can really help bring a company’s opportunity to life and sell the benefits of working with your organisation beyond the compensation package being offered.

By providing an experienced executive recruiter with a clear definition of the responsibilities for the role, as well as the personality characteristics required for success, they can hone in on the best candidates to meet your specific needs.