What Happens When You Don’t Hire the Right Candidate?

5 minutes read
Aug 19, 2021

Sometimes decisions that we make fail to live up to our expectations. No matter how thorough the process of making them was - tiny details we might have missed, can make a big difference. 

Let’s take renting or buying an apartment as an example. After a lot of time invested in searching and looking for the right one, finally, you think you’ve got it. The paperwork is done, you bring your stuff in and boom - the rooms have no blinds. It's the middle of the summer, so good luck having a free sauna in your new home, every day for the next few months. 

We can use a similar comparison to people, or employees, to be more precise. There’s the whole selection process, interviews, tasks… you are sure they are the right person for the job. Quickly after the onboarding process is over - you realize that something’s off. Let’s talk about what happens when you don’t hire the right candidate. 


Back to the Drawing Board

Mistakes are there to help us improve, right? So, whether or not you decide to keep that person in the company, make sure to put in practice what you’ve learned, with future hires. Apart from money and other resources spent, the most valuable one is lost - time. 

For starters, you should rethink things and try to figure out why everything worked out the way it did. How did a  perfect candidate turn out to be a complete misfit for the company? Once you get answers to those questions, there are two options to consider:

1) Everyone deserves a chance, so if the initial hire wasn’t the right choice, you can contact the runner-up. At this point, you could be on a tight schedule, so it’s a way better solution than starting the whole recruitment process from the beginning.

2) Consider getting help from a professional hiring agency, with experienced individuals ready to put their knowledge and effort into ensuring that you are making the right choice. We at FatCat Select have unique and tested methods for filtering out only the best fit for your business. 


The Miscalculated Decision Will Influence the Whole Team

Hiring a talented candidate who gets along nicely with the company culture and other employees will surely boost everyone’s morale and lift their spirits up. Doing the complete opposite - you’ve guessed it - will cause the contrary effect. 

They could be the nicest person in the world, but not “clicking” with their colleagues can create dissatisfaction among everyone. Imagine your firm as a perfectly functioning highway, with no delay or stoppings. 

All of a sudden, a new car enters the road. The driver does it clumsily, making the person behind them break heavily. In a matter of a few seconds, now there’s a traffic jam and nobody's happy about it. The same applies to the flow of your business - one wrong person in the team can slow things up and create a commotion. 


Apart From Time, It Costs You Money and Nerves

We’re all well aware that the hiring process isn’t cheap. From the first selection step to the employee’s onboarding - you spend a lot of resources. There’s the advertising cost if you want to spread the word about your job opening, salary for the recruitment team, equipment, materials used, etc. 

Also, the managers in your company won’t be amazed to realize they’ll have a hard time with the newcomer. It will affect their productivity and make their daily life more stressful than it needs to be. Consequently, all that dissatisfaction will reflect on you, as the owner of the business. 


Bad Reviews About the Firm - Potential Loss of Talented Individuals

Let’s take the candidate’s position for a second. They invested time, effort, knowledge, and skills to go through your selection process and climb their way to the top. Perhaps your business is a dream come true for them, and all of a sudden you decide to let them go. What’s next? 

If you don’t manage to deliver the information carefully and they take it too personally, there’s a chance for negative feedback on one of those websites that people use to “scan” employers. Something in the lines of: “They’ve hired me after a month and a half of interviews and tasks, only to give me a two weeks notice period right after.”

Some of your future applicants might come across that comment and reconsider hunting job openings that you’ll have. The conclusion is: when you don’t hire the right candidate, the effect of it might be a long-term one.  

Conclusion

Choosing the wrong person for the job and/or company culture mostly affects the following: 

  • Company’s expenses (both in terms of finance and time)

  • Overall productivity and morale within employees 

  • Firm’s reputation and overall company culture. 

These three are enough to make huge changes in the way you handle your business. Remember the traffic jam and that one car which completely messed up the flow of others. 

We understand that as an employer, you already have too much going on. Having to recruit a new and reliable person is a challenging task to add to all that. That’s why your safest bet is to get a hiring agency such as FatCat Select to help you out with outstanding experience in the field. Contact us here so that we can discuss how to get top talent into your offices.