You regret your recent hire, and that’s okay

10.08.2019

The interview process went really well, and he/she was the clear candidate to hire. Your colleagues were in agreement, there was no counter offer to contend with, even bringing your latest hire on board was easy. So why are you regretting hiring this person? And what are you supposed to do now?

You’re not alone

First, you are not the only person who regrets hiring someone. According to a CareerBuilder survey, almost three out of four employers (74%) say they’ve hired the wrong person for a job, Instead of stressing about your choice, review what happened during the interview process. Use it as an opportunity to learn about yourself, and your hiring experience.

Most interview processes are imperfect, and could use some refining and/ or a complete overhaul. What did you miss in the interviews or interpretation of test results that might have indicated he/she wasn’t a perfect fit? Should you have done a “shadow day” where the candidate could experience “a day in the life,”  or should the people who would be working directly with the candidate have spent more time with him or her? 

Questions?

Did you ask the “traditional” interview questions, but feel no closer to actually knowing the candidate? Sometimes the run-of-the mill interview questions help you get a feel for a candidate’s skills, but give you no indication of how they work under pressure, how they process information, or how they work with others. Consider shaking up your interview question repertoire with a few of these questions from an earlier Ambrion post.

Another question to ask yourself, and one that is tougher than just thinking about the questions you asked, what didn’t you ask? If you’re not a trained human resources professional, you can shy away from some of the more controversial questions because you’re unsure of what’s legal to ask, or how to answer a question that a candidate asks that you don’t know the answer to. Before going into your next interview process, get some clarity on what you can and can’t ask in an interview, and go confidently into your next round of hiring.

Great interviewers make a candidate feel like he or she is having a conversation, and developing that skill is an art. Becoming a great interviewer takes time, practice, and is not an easy talent to acquire.  Don’t get down on yourself if you don’t consider yourself a pro when it comes to interviewing, but do make an effort to do some brushing up if it’s been awhile since your last stint in the interviewing seat.

What’s next?

So what do you do now? If it’s been 45 to 60 days, you’ve had the tough conversation about expectations and/or how you can help your latest hire succeed, but there’s been no progress, you probably need to start developing an exit plan. 

If it’s a personality conflict, but their work is meeting expectations, you could try to make introductions between your latest hire and others in your organization and encourage relationship development. Not “gelling” with your team, but vouching for your latest hire’s work is an easier conversation to have than most managers anticipate.

Feeling like you hired the wrong person is one of the worst feelings managers can have. But you can recover, you can learn from it, and you can try to prevent it from happening again. If you worked with a recruiter to hire this candidate, give them honest feedback about this candidate,  and they should be on the lookout to avoid qualities you’re seeing for your next hire.

Get to a place where you feel good about your process, feel good about your questions, and aren’t in a rush to hire, and you’ll successfully avoid the common pitfalls in hiring.