10 Signs You've Hired The Wrong Person
Is the new guy Mr. Negative? Does he shout at the espresso machine? Look for these warning signs before you make the hire.
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Newly hired… newly fired?
The interview process went smoothly. Then the trouble started. Turns out that new hire wasn't the enthusiastic, clever, and charismatic person you were expecting. And things got progressively worse.
A bad hire can cost a company valuable time, customers, and money. Of course, the negative impact on the bottom line varies by organization, the employee's role, and the length of time your new worker is allowed to make a mess of things.
In a 2012 CareerBuilder survey, 69% of employers said their company had been "adversely affected" by a bad hire during that year. Of these, 41% of respondents estimated the cost of the bad hire was over $25,000; 24% said it cost them more than $50,000.
A bad hire hurts a company in manifold ways: He or she can degrade employee morale, hinder sales, lead to legal issues and costs (e.g., a sexual harassment lawsuit), and cause clients to take their business elsewhere. And after you've given the bad worker the boot, you've got to factor in the cost and time to train a replacement.
There are three main reasons a new worker is fired, or quits voluntarily, within the first 90 days of employment, according to recruiting firm ReWork: They're not very good at their job or they're hard to work with; they learn something about their new job, boss, or company that leads them to resign; or they get a better offer from another employer.
To avoid these outcomes, an employer should take several essential steps during the hiring process, according to Shane Rasnak, Rework's director of marketing. These include running thorough background checks of candidates, and having finalists talk with team members to catch potential personality clashes. The company should also be up front with finalists about what their day-to-day work responsibilities would be like.
Still, it's not unusual for companies to hire the wrong person. Why? According to the CareerBuilder survey, the main reason is simple: An employer needs to hire someone quickly and rushes the decision-making process. Another common cause is that the company's intelligence on the candidates is incomplete or inaccurate. And then there's the shoulder-shrug response. One in four employers aren't sure why they hired the wrong person, instead chalking it up to "sometimes you just make a mistake," the survey found.
Think you've hired the wrong person? We've outlined 10 key warning signs of a bad hire, so read on. Your next move is up to you.
This gloomy grouser -- call him Cecil B. DeMoan -- hates everything from the get-go. The office coffee is undrinkable swill. His parking spot is too far from the building. And maybe he's always shooting down other people's ideas without offering alternatives or any sort of constructive input whatsoever. Sounds like it's time for a closed-door heart-to-heart between the new hire and his boss, who probably shouldn't expect a sudden and miraculous personality upgrade. If Cecil's disposition doesn't improve, the company may have to let him go -- unless his skills prove so valuable that they're willing to endure his dourness and cynicism.
Bad news travels fast, as do water-cooler tales of a new hire's bad behavior. In this scenario, the worker isn't the one doing the griping; rather it's everyone who interacts with her throughout the day. Alleged offenses may include brusqueness, sloth, and unbridled negativity. For whatever reason(s), your existing employees, most of whom were a pretty content bunch before, can't seem to stand the new person, who's impeding their productivity.
In a dynamic workplace, job responsibilities sometimes evolve and change quickly. A new hire must be willing to adapt to this environment, and even handle tasks that weren't in the original job description. This doesn't mean your new chief of accounting should gleefully assume custodial duties, too, but he should be open to a reasonable fluidity of responsibilities, particularly in a startup. As automotive industry jobs recruiter Theo Jones Recruitment points out, a fresh hire will generally accept new challenges to prove he's a team player. If he says, "That's not my job," when asked to tackle an essential task, consider it a warning sign.
Being friendly with the junior staff is one thing, but the new hire -- a manager -- craves a deeper friendship with the folks he manages. When does this become a problem? A sure sign is when the new boss parties outside the office with his junior staff, according to Josh Cline, president and CEO of marketing firm The Cline Group. Sure, a little office camaraderie is a good thing. But a boss who wants to be liked too much may have trouble doing the required dirty work, such as laying off an underling or getting a wayward team member to toe the line.
The new hire loves social media. Just loves it. Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn -- who knows, maybe even MySpace -- are all platforms for his well crafted witticisms and unique observations. And while this isn't necessarily a bad thing, you notice right off that he's posting comments you'd rather not see online, such as how your early morning conference calls bore him to tears, or how stupid the office manager is, or how crappy the company's health plan is. Not only do these comments reflect badly on the organization, they also show the workings of a Chatty Charlie who may not hesitate to tweet about the company's top-secret strategies. It's time to wean Mr. Blabbermouth off social media, or tell him to take his soapbox someplace else.
Let's say collaboration is key to your business. During the interview phase, the new hire said all the right things, giving you the impression she was a team player. But now it appears otherwise. Signs vary, but be on the lookout for an unwillingness to listen to coworkers' ideas, or perhaps a reluctance to share her business insights and knowledge with the group. The new person doesn't volunteer for assignments, or pitch in to help her colleagues solve problems, either. She's easily stressed, inflexible, and unlikely to change her opinion. In fact, she's the opposite of what you'd expect from a team player.
To repeat, the best way to avoid hiring the wrong person is to detect his character flaws in the interview phase. Workplace author and speaker Alexandra Levit has some good examples of what signs to look for, including what she calls the "airport test." Ask yourself this question: "If my team were stuck in an airport with this candidate for an entire day, would we be able to stand him?" If the answer is negative, perhaps this person isn't right for your organization, particularly if collaborative skills are essential to your team's success.
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