Is Your Hiring Process Hurting Your Bottom Line?

Bad hires can be one of your largest expenses – and among the most avoidable. Building a better hiring system can help you to reduce the cost of hiring and improve your bottom line. Be aware of both the direct and indirect costs of an ineffective hiring process and look for strategies for improvement.

Direct Costs

The costs of severing a current employee and the cost of replacing them can add up quickly. Direct costs include severance pay for the departing employee, any short-term or contract staffing costs to fill the role in the interim and the expenses associated with recruiting a replacement. This can all be avoided by hiring better in the first place.

Indirect Costs

Training. It takes a great deal of time and energy to get a new employee up to speed. There could be several months before the new employee is fully productive while the rest of the team picks up the slack and helps to train them. If this was a bad hire, the process will need to be completed once again, further reducing productivity.

Morale. Every time an employee leaves the company, it impacts employee morale. The gossip mill fires up. The team wonders if he was let go or left of his own accord, and if so, what he may know that they don’t. They will be required to pick up the slack while the position is vacant and pitch in on training when a new candidate is hired.

Improve Your Process

A faulty process usually weeds out the best candidates, not the worst. Your hiring process is the first interaction a candidate has with you and will color their perception of the company, so make sure that it welcomes the candidates you want to attract.

Reassess Your Application

Cumbersome application processes can turn busy candidates off. Top prospects with plenty of options will quickly lose patience with a cumbersome application process. Unemployed or entry to mid-level candidates may be willing to fill out multiple pages of information, but passive or in-demand candidates will just move on to the next opportunity.

Reconsider Job Postings

Bad job descriptions won’t bring people with the right skills. Be clear about what you are looking for and what you have to offer. The more thorough and candidate-focused your posting, the better the chance of making an accurate, long-lasting match.

Use Automation Carefully

Relying too heavily on automated resume review can allow highly qualified candidates to fall through the cracks. Keyword-based screenings are fine for staff positions, but executive-level resumes should be assessed by hand.

Commit To Follow Through

Lack of follow up can allow the best people to fall through the cracks. Top candidates will be juggling multiple interviews and even offers if you don’t act quickly enough. Keep them updated throughout the process and don’t drag out the hiring process.

Need help building a better hiring process? The expert team at BrainWorks can help you craft better job descriptions, attract stronger candidates and screen for a more accurate fit. To learn more, read our related posts or contact BrainWorks today.