Why Not Hiring is Better than Hiring the Wrong Person for the Job

Most hiring managers have been there before… the point of despair when you feel you need to find somebody, ANYBODY to fill an open position. When this happens it is natural to want to lower your hiring standards just to get a warm body on the bus. While this can be tempting it will invariably rob your organization of possibility and profits. Our philosophy is that it is better to not fill a position than it is to hire the wrong person for the job.

Talent Management is all the rage these days… everyone is talking about it. The labor market has been tight for some time and promises to stay that way for years to come as Baby Boomers continue to exit the labor force.

On occasion we’ll have a client call with a tone of despair in their voice and tell us how badly they need to hire someone for a particular position. “Somebody… anybody” they tell us, “We just need to fill the position!”

Our clients are clients for a reason: we have effectively demonstrated the value of our strategic hiring system and they have experienced firsthand the benefits of using our hiring systems and job fit testing process. At this point in the conversation our response is always the same: “You need to hire the best candidate for the job. Settling for anything less will only rob your organization of possibility.”

What our client decides to do next is of critical strategic importance. Do they wait for the right talent for the job or do they spring for the next candidate who is a “good enough” fit for the job? There is a vast difference between these two decisions.

Our philosophy at TargetSuccess has always been that it is better to leave a position unfilled than it is to hire the wrong person for the job.

Here’s why:

  • Loss of Employee Morale –The wrong person for the job will inevitably perform at a lower level than others who are a good fit for the job. Poor performance is quickly spotted by the top performers in your organization. If this sub-par performance is tolerated, those who are performing at a high level will feel that they are being held to a different standard than others. Eventually your high performers will become resentful of this performance double standard and demand an increase in their compensation.
  • Employee Turnover Costs – If your organization doesn’t grant the requested pay increase to your top performers chances are pretty good that they will leave for “greener pastures.” These individuals will search out employment with organizations with reputations for performance excellence. If your top performers leave because of the tolerated poor performance of fellow team members, your organization will again be in the same position it was a short time ago – looking for the right talent – except this time they will be without the service of their top performing team members.
  • Diminished Customer Experiences – A bad hiring decision will negatively affect your customer’s experience with your organization. The wrong person for the job won’t create a positive customer experience in the way a team member who is a good fit for the job will. Ultimately these poor customer experiences will be reflected on the bottom line.
  • Increased Operational Costs – The wrong person for the job won’t produce as much as someone who is a good fit for the job. To put it simply… a greater number of inputs will be needed to generate the same level of output. This leads to increased operational costs and lost profits.

You simply cannot afford to hire anything less than the best talent for the job. Hiring the wrong person for the job will reduce the performance of your organization and rob it of possibility. For this reason it is always our recommendation to our clients that they think strategically, think long-term, and hire the right person for the job the first time, every time.

Our resolve will not be shaken: It is far better to leave a position temporarily unfilled than it is to hire someone who is not a good fit for the job.

Need a hand identifying the right talent? Give us a call, we can help.