By Jane Weston

Like many HR professionals, you have just spent weeks or possibly months recruiting your latest new hire. With the recruitment process complete and the new hire settled in their role, you prepare to move onto the next challenge…or so you think.  What happened when the new hire tendered their resignation? 

The first few months in a new role are exciting and should be filled with energy, enthusiasm and exhilaration but, what if the role of the company is not meeting a candidate’s expectations. How is HR to know? Better yet, how is HR to manage it?  Of course fear, apprehension and positive stress can be welcome additions for both the recruit and the organization but, if dread and dismay become a dominant theme there is possibly something to be alarmed about.

Bad hires are costly. For the organization, a recruitment effort can cost somewhere around one to two times the annual salary of the position. When we consider the time and effort going into the selection process, it is a lengthy and risky endeavor for employers and arguably one of their key costs. 

Fox business reported in September 2012 that CEO turnover has hit a high and both Forbes and Harvard Business Review have reported that CEO turnover can be near 40 per cent within the first 18 months with 64 per cent of new CEO hires never even making it to their fourth anniversary. 

The London Stock exchange, FTSE-350 did a study of 280 senior executives and found that a third of them consider quitting their jobs within the first 90 days and a further third plan to stay less than a year. 

Perhaps the tenure in positions is not what it once was and those now entering the job market can anticipate multiple careers in multiple roles in multiple companies during their working lives. Can HR accept that some new hires are just transitory?  We can quantify the financial costs but the intangibles impede organizational growth and possibly our society. CRG Group reports that 75 per cent of individuals dislike their career.  HR has enough challenges with the unhappy that stay; should we worry about the few that can leave?

But back to the failed hiring process, how can HR professionals mitigate the outcome? Being misemployed or the realization that an employee is a square peg in a round hole can be stressful and should the parties not worth through the transition it can be back to square one, for both the organization and the new hire. 

Fortunately HR professionals can help. By utilizing assessment tools that marry the employer needs and identify the type of candidates an organization needs along with the types of values that will fit in a corporate culture. Then, use this awareness to assess potential candidates. Finally, take the learning from these steps to train internal mentors to identify and watch for potential areas of rub with scheduled check-in sessions with the new hire particularly if the individual is in a leadership or change related position. The organization itself can be a force.

HR can factor all of this into the recruitment process. As part of the orientation a candidate could have pre-scheduled check-in sessions or another re-interview process during their first few months on the job. Dust off the interview questions or areas of any concern and explore those with the candidates. Other techniques such as regular meetings with a new hire to establish and monitor a goal list with specific deliverables to help keep both parties on track and connected. For senior level positions HR could utilize an executive coach, with defined and jointly formed goals, as part of the onboarding process.

With the cost of failed recruitments at such a financial and emotional cost, employers are wise to invest in assessments and consider the day the new employee walks in as the beginning of an employment relationship. A relationship established for success.

Jane Weston is a senior HR professional, founder of CareerMatch and educator in the Management Department at Western Washington University.