The number of job vacancies in the UK rose to over 1 million for the first time since records began, and represents an increase in positions since even pre-pandemic. With employment seeming to be a jobseeker’s market for the time being, it is more crucial than ever that businesses pay close attention to their hiring processes. Hiring the wrong candidate for a position can cost a lot more than their salary…
Save Time
In hiring somebody who is not a good fit for the role in question, you may be opening yourself up to the sunk costs of training and developing the new employee. Training and development should be a robust program in any business, but if you find yourself training an employee up on tasks below the skill level of their position, you’re wasting time and money. Poor performance can extend further than skills, as well – the wrong candidate may have bad timekeeping skills, or a tendency to commit acts of misconduct which once again will cost you time, energy and ultimately money on disciplinary proceedings, where the right candidate would present no hindrances whatsoever.
Grow Your Business
The right candidate isn’t just a perfect fit for an existing position; they can also represent growth in your business. The right candidate is a conscientious worker that takes initiative, and strives to learn more about the business and its sector than the current bounds of their position. The wrong candidate, however, may find themselves comfortable in their work, and unwilling to progress even on the path laid out for them, let alone with regard to offering something of value to your organisation.
If the candidate you pick for a position is not willing to take on more than the minimum expected workload for their position, your business cannot exceed the growth its minimum staff productivity allows for – and in rare crunch-times where overtime and employee collaboration are necessary, the wrong candidate is a weak link who results in other team members picking up the slack.
Save the Trouble
Lastly, ensuring you’ve on-boarded the right candidate saves you the unenviable task of letting the ‘wrong’ person go. Firing an employee is never easy – it’s a stressful position for all parties, and can can lead to mental distress on both sides of the table – and it can also present difficulties on the legal side of the equation. Even if you do have the right reasons for terminating the employment of the wrong candidate, employment law can be tricky – and the terminated employee may be able to take costly legal action against you.
How to Find the Right Candidate?
There are many conflicting viewpoints on the state of the jobs market as it stands; some describe a shortage of labour, while others see the inverse. Certain sectors are scrambling for staff while others are swamped with CVs. Finding the right candidate can be a tough call either way, but there are ways to separate the wheat from the chaff. For starters, you could make use of leadership consulting solutions to find gaps in your hiring process. You could also initiate multi-stage interviewing processes, to get more eyes in the company on a given candidate and create a democratic way of vetting prospective employees.
