Your business’s growth and success depend on the skills and fresh perspectives of new hires, especially within executive positions, but not every new hire works out as expected. Onboarding an ill-fitting candidate can happen for various reasons, many of which are rooted in the recruitment process. The cost of a bad hire can be detrimental to your business, so it is essential to address these common issues to save money and ensure you find the right candidate.
1. Incongruent Expectations
Bad hires can happen due to misaligned expectations between talent and organizations. Various components of the recruitment and hiring process can lead to confusion, frustration and misinformed expectations, such as:
- Candidates misrepresenting themselves during interviews
- Job descriptions failing to cover essential duties
- Ineffective onboarding and training
A thorough and accurate recruitment process is necessary to ensure candidates and organizations understand each other’s expectations.
2. Poor Cultural Fit
When values do not align between organizations and new hires, the entire company is affected. New hires and other team members may feel discomfort and low morale, leading to decreased productivity and workplace satisfaction. Identifying conflicting values and work culture beliefs early in the hiring process is essential for minimizing the cost of a bad hire.
3. Lack of Soft Skills
Your new hire may look good on paper if they have all the hard skills and experience you require. However, some issues may only become apparent when they start working. Soft skills such as communication abilities, work ethic, attitude, collaboration efforts and a willingness to learn are essential in the workplace but are difficult to convey on paper or through a single interview. An effective recruitment process is vital to ensuring you hire the right candidates with the soft skills necessary to thrive within your organization.
4. Personal and External Stressors
Your new hire may be the right candidate, but it may not be the right timing. Personal and external factors such as health concerns, family issues or rapidly evolving consumer demands may cause your new hire to underperform where they otherwise might have excelled. These stressors may not have existed or gone unaddressed during the hiring process, leading new hires to falsely expect accommodations and organizations to falsely expect a certain performance level.
When new hires fail to meet expectations, address the situation with understanding and patience. Initiate private conversations to discuss challenges and create plans to improve performance while adapting to their circumstances. Moving forward, it may help to address potential personal and external stressors during the recruitment process to determine whether candidates are the right fit for your organization.
Find the Right Hire for Your Organization With OptimumSCR
Hiring the right candidate is crucial to your organization’s growth and advancement. At Optimum Supply Chain Recruiters, we understand the significance of hiring quality talent. We can provide vetted, highly skilled candidates who are aware of your expectations, aligned with your culture and prepared to work for your organization. Contact us today to see how our services lower the average cost of a bad hire and ensure you find the right candidates for your vacant positions.
Don Jacobson
Don Jacobson was born and raised in New York City, and graduated with a B.A. degree in Management from the City University of New York. For 10 years, Don managed Operations and Supply Chain departments for consumer products companies. He then turned his attention to supply chain recruiting and for the past 27 years, has specialized in recruiting and placing supply chain executives throughout North America. Don is certified by the National Association of Personnel Consultants. He was a Partner at Hunt Ltd., and more recently was the Founder and Managing Partner of LogiPros LLC, a logistics recruiting firm. Don is a regular contributor of topical human resource articles for DC Velocity magazine, the CSCMP Supply Chain Comment, and The WERCSheet, published by the Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC). He is Past President of the NY/NJ/CT chapter of WERC.