Recruiting can be an exhausting process, from creating an engaging advert that satisfies legal requirements to making an offer of employment, finding the right fit for your business is often time consuming and costly.

And to make matters worse, what if you make an error in judgement and hire the wrong person for the job? This article looks at the two most common hiring mistakes, the impact they can have on your organisation and how to avoid them.

Problem: The runaway hire
Your candidate has that star quality on paper and has impressed you enough at interview to land the job – but what if all is not as it seems?
It can be difficult to gauge from a few brief meetings the true nature and character of a person. They certainly seem like a good addition to your workplace but once they’ve settled in you start to notice that they just aren’t gelling with the rest of the team and don’t appear to be enjoying the position.

Perhaps they’re not quite as enthusiastic about their new role as you thought they’d be or worst-case scenario up and leave after a few weeks – leaving you out of pocket and with a role still to fill.

Solution: Money back guarantees
Any recruitment agency worth their fee should offer a money back guarantee to ensure that if a newly hired permanent member of staff leave unexpectedly then your costs are covered.

This guarantee not only offers you peace of mind and confidence when hiring, but also encourages the recruitment agency to do in-depth research and assessment of any candidate that they put forward for the role.

After all, the last thing they want is for a new hire to leave so you know they’ll be working as hard as possible to find you a quality candidate with staying power.

Problem: Unexpected training costs
If you’ve noticed that your new hire isn’t quite as skilled or experienced as you thought they were then chances are you’ll need to shell out on some training to get them up to speed.

You don’t want to throw away all of the time and resources you’ve already invested in getting them into the role so the only real alternative is to provide some form of learning support.

Using your existing staff to help with any training need you’ve identified can seem like a cheaper option, but don’t forget to consider the loss in productivity your business will suffer if you’ve got two team members who aren’t able to do the job they’re paid for.

Solution: skills assessments
Assessing the skills of a candidate before you make an offer of employment is a fantastic safeguard to ensure that you don’t make any hiring mistakes. There’s a wide variety of skills assessments available to help you verify that the skills candidates put down on their CV’s are up to the standard you expect.

Good quality candidates usually don’t mind taking part in skills assessments and can actually enjoy showing the employer or recruitment consultant what they’re capable of.

For more information on how to avoid hiring mistakes, speak to a member of the Appointments team today.