How to Recover When You Hire the Wrong Person

February 4, 2021

With all of the protections in place, your company may still occasionally hire the wrong person. Bad decisions can happen, but the important part is what you do next. How do you recover when you hire someone who doesn’t meet your expectations and you don’t want to make the same mistake again? Here are a few tips to help you recover from a bad hire and avoid hiring the wrong person a second time.

Go Back to the Source

Sometimes, solving the problem can be as simple as reviewing your sources. How do you find candidates? Look carefully at your methods and determine if there are any positive changes you can make. When you draw from the same well, you generally get the same results. Try something new and diversify your hiring options.

Prioritize Qualifications

A bad hire can also happen when you’re not clear about the most important qualification. While detailed job descriptions can help, knowing the key skills that are non-negotiable will be even better. Review criteria and rank the requirements to understand what’s most important. What are the must-have skills and those that are simply nice to have?

Use Behavioral Interviewing

After you’ve reviewed resumes and move onto interviewing, be sure to use a behavioral interviewing strategy. Provide the candidate with a common situation in your office and ask them how they would approach it. This will give you some insight into how they will handle situations on the job.

Conduct Exit Interviews

When a working relationship fails, there are always two sides to the story. Interview the outgoing employee to learn more about the reasons it didn’t work. Talk to their coworkers as well to gain additional insight on their performance and what can be improved.

Partner with a Staffing Provider

Temporary to hire positions are a great way to test out an individual before committing to hiring them for your company. A staffing agency will prescreen each candidate before resumes are submitted to you for review. After the new employee starts, they remain on staff with the agency until you decide to hire.