How To Avoid A Bad Hire

It’s getting significantly more challenging to fill job openings with people who fit in so businesses need to get it right the first time around. In fact, ending up with a bad hire can harm your organization on multiple levels.

For instance, this individual may spread negativity around the team, tank your productivity, and end up harming your reputation and your bottom line. 

So how do you avoid going down this path?

By arming yourself with knowledge about mistakes companies make so you don’t repeat making the same ones.

Why do businesses end up with bad hires?

Bad hires are a strange species and they come in many different forms. You’ve got your toxic bad hire that simply doesn’t fit into any team dynamic and has enough negative energy to share with others - true energy vampires, we call them in the biz.

On the other hand, some people are a delight to have on the team but are simply too incompetent, while others are consummate professionals who may be always unreachable. 

The question is, how do these individuals even end up getting hired? Isn’t this sort of behavior easy to spot? Not necessarily, because employers  themselves heavily contribute to the problem:

Here’s why:

• Biased interviewers 

It’s not uncommon for us humans to project certain traits onto other people. This sometimes happens during the interview process when a candidate is seemingly perfect and fits your idea of what an employee in your company should be. 

As a result, you go with that candidate and they end up being a bad hire since they’re actually unqualified for the position. 

• Poor interview process

Similar to the previous point, it’s possible your interview process simply doesn’t cover all the bases. For instance, you don’t ask the right questions and those that you ask don’t reveal anything about the personality of the candidate. 

Perhaps the worst offender is not collecting enough information and you failing to accurately identify the candidate’s skill level.

• Candidate misrepresented their skills

Unfortunately, you have to be a human lie detector sometimes since many candidates will purposefully embellish certain information, even their entire personality or the extent of their abilities.

• Poorly defined job requirements

If you don’t properly define who your perfect candidate is, how will you know who to hire? This also applies to clearly pinpointing the job needs in your organization. 

How to avoid a bad hire

While you can’t control everything, you can weed out those who have no place in your team. Here’s how:

1. Define your needs and the ideal candidate

Before you even think about interviewing applicants, you need to write a job description that includes the characteristics you look for in a potential employee. For instance, if you’re seeking someone extroverted, include it in your job description.

The same goes for certain traits such as being a team worker or a detail-oriented person.

Now, we get this might be challenging to put together, which is why we recommend looking at your current employees for inspiration. What traits do they possess? How successful are they in their position?

Additionally, there’s also no shame in looking at the job descriptions of your competitors to define your perfect candidate.

2. Consider your hiring process

Ask yourself the following:

Are you spending too much time interviewing people who seem like a bad hire and are you hiring anyone you can get our hands on?

If the answer is yes to any of the questions, then your hiring process is ineffective. For example, you might spend too much time looking at qualifications and experience while filtering out the candidates, without even looking at how they would fit into your company.

Read this article to learn more about improving your hiring process.

3. Look for those that fit into your company culture

While having the right skill set is still a necessity, in the modern workplace, company culture also plays a significant role. Your employees need to fit in with the image of your company and uphold the same set of values that your customers share and look for in a business.

4. Verify every piece of information

Many applicants will take creative liberties in their job applications, which is why you should try to corroborate information during the interview. You should also find out if there are any glaring gaps in the information they provided. 

While it seems impossible to confirm their skills, you can always put together a skill test to assess the true skills of the candidate.

5. Don’t ignore any red flags

If you rush things on the first date, you run the risk of overlooking some major red flags. It’s the same when it comes to your interviewing process.

If you’re being watchful of the details, you’ll find that in most cases, your gut will tell you that someone might be a bad hire.

Here are some aspects you shouldn’t overlook:

• They are late to the interview: this is a clear sign that the candidate might be disorganized.
• They are unwilling to adapt: ask your hire if they’d be open to taking on additional job responsibilities. If they get defensive, they will probably be unable to adapt to changes in the workplace in the future.
• They’re unprepared: someone who’s a good match for the position will, in most cases, already have an idea about your company and will understand what their position entails.
• They don’t acknowledge their weaknesses: a bad hire is typically not self-aware. To isolate the bad matches, ask them about their flaws. 
• They didn’t ask you any questions: this might mean that the candidate is arrogant, doesn’t care about their interview, or they’re trying hard to hide any weaknesses.
  
  

6. Expand your reach past the general job board

To reach the top talent and avoid a bad hire sneaking your way into your ranks, you have to expand your search. This can be easily done by hiring a recruitment or staffing agency, which can help you discover passive candidates.

Furthermore, you can reach quality candidates by asking your employees to look for someone in their circle. As an alternative, you can keep your employees happy by actually promoting someone to a position you’re trying to fill. This might be your best bet, especially if they’re already shown their value as an employee.

Never settle for less

Once you implement these changes, you’ll quickly find that your entire interviewing process is now flowing more smoothly. You’ll also be more observant, and as a result, you’ll significantly decrease the chances of hiring an employee who harms your entire team. 

Finally, you’ll find someone who can become a valuable asset in your company instead of settling for a candidate who’s ‘’just ok’’.