A bad hire costs far more than a wasted salary. It drains manager time, slows the team, unsettles customers and usually means hiring again within the year.
How often do hires fail?
A Leadership IQ study tracked 20,000 new hires over three years and found that 46% failed within 18 months. For years, many companies simply accepted that nearly one in two hires wouldn't work out, instead of fixing the process that produced them.
What does a bad hire cost?
The US Department of Labor estimates a bad hire can cost up to 30% of the employee's first-year earnings. For an entry-level employee on $36,000 a year, that's around $10,800. For a $75,000 hire, it's up to $22,500, and the true cost is often higher because some damage can't be measured.
Why do bad hires happen?
Usually because there's no properly structured hiring process. Decisions rest on a CV, a single conversation and a gut feeling, with no consistent way to compare candidates or evidence the choice. We cover the most common reasons in how to reduce hiring mistakes.
How does a structured hiring process help?
An improved process delivers:
- shorter hiring times
- better quality candidates
- better recruiting decisions
- higher retention
With Skills Velocity, candidates work through short role content and quizzes before interview, so you can:
- hire faster, with more transparency and compliance
- shortlist on candidate scores and performance, not just CVs
- reduce hiring risk, effort, time and cost
- keep evidence that the best candidate was hired
And because candidates have already started learning about the role, the best of them arrive further along their onboarding.
Book a discovery call and within 90 minutes you'll know how to fix your hiring issues.
