The person I hired didn't work out. Now what?
Recruitment decisions are important decisions.
Hiring the wrong person can have a huge impact on productivity and morale, and that’s before you consider the time and cost of finding a replacement.
While there are steps you can take to choose the right talent and create an experience your employees will love, life isn’t perfect. Sometimes, even if you’ve done everything right, a new employee just doesn’t work out.
When this occurs, it’s time to unpack what went wrong and learn how to get things back on track.
Steps you can take:
Speak with your recruitment partner
Whether you are using an external recruitment partner or managing the hiring process internally, it ‘s important to explain your concerns and discuss options to support both the new employee and the hiring manager.
If you’re using an external recruitment partner, remember that recruitment is a professional service and an ongoing partnership. A good recruiter will help you retain, not just attract.
Revisit your needs analysis
One of the most common reasons for a failed recruitment process is a lack of effective need analysis. Think about why you needed to fill this role in the first place.
Has anything changed since the beginning of the recruitment process? If you were replacing someone who left your organisation, was hiring someone with the same background and skills the best approach? How does this role fit into your wider organisational strategy? Is there anything you need to amend?
Consider whether this is a permanent appointment
If your organisation is going through any kind of change, growth or restructure, you might need to reconsider the role or consider hiring a contract employee instead of a permanent team member.
Adaptable resources can be very useful for an organisation with quickly changing requirements, and engaging a contractor can provide many benefits, including flexibility and reduced costs.
Review your talent attraction and search process
Did you attract a wide range of top talent to this role? How far did your search reach?
While many roles attract an influx of applications, this isn’t always the case. The last thing you want to do is hire the best of a bad or average bunch. If this does happen, it may help to review your search strategy and sourcing channels before trying again.
Revisit your selection process
Did the hiring team uncover the right insights through the interview process? Did you effectively engage candidates in the process and demonstrate why they should choose your organisation? Would a practical exercise or presentation enhance your ability to select the right person?
Most recruitment agencies will support you to develop an effective and robust interview and selection process. And if they don’t, we’ve created a series of ebooks to support hiring managers that can help.
Look at your onboarding process
Finding, attracting and engaging great people is only the beginning. Providing a positive and flexible onboarding experience is critical to employee engagement and retention. If you’re working in a hybrid office with a remote working model, consider how this might impact your new employee’s first few weeks.
With the cost of a bad hire ranging from 30 to 125% of the position's salary, having an external recruitment partner look into this is a huge advantage and can save you time and money.
What to do if your new employee leaves
If you’ve hired a permanent employee via a recruitment agency and they leave after a short time, you may be able to use your recruitment guarantee.
A typical recruitment guarantee will state that if your new employee leaves inside the guarantee period (usually 3 months) for a reason other than redundancy, restructure or any change in the original job specification, your recruitment partner will find a replacement without an additional fee.
What next?
Wondering how to use your recruitment guarantee if you need it? Check out the Heart Talent guide.