Construction recruiters understand your pain points better than anyone when hiring.

You advertised an open position in your company, read through applications and resumes, conducted interviews, and made an offer in the hopes that you found the right employee. For a while, it seemed that you did.

Then you realize that you hired the wrong person. No one enjoys firing an employee. Every termination creates a ripple effect that begins with the position and echoes throughout the department and the company. Even your customers may feel it.

A bad hire can be a costly mistake. Some estimates suggest that an employee’s replacement cost is 30% of the worker’s salary. Other human resources specialists have calculated that replacing construction employees could cost as much as 2.5 times the employee’s salary.

Money won’t be your only loss if you make a bad hire. When employees leave, they take institutional knowledge with them. Their absence also may create a workflow disruption that results in loss of productivity, customer dissatisfaction, and a bruised reputation for your company.

You can replace poor-performing employees with the right people for your key roles. First, you must know the signs of a bad hire to recognize when to act. Then you can correct your hiring mistake and get back to business.

Construction recruiter insights about making a bad hire

The signs are always present. They’re just hard to recognize in the beginning.

When the new hire onboards, you allow for a learning curve, and you even expect a few mistakes along the way. Hopefully, the errors will be minor compared to the new employee’s contributions. As time goes by, the employee and the team appear to collaborate, and they begin trusting each other.

How can you spot the moment things go wrong? Employees exhibiting the signs of a bad hire:

  • Arrive late to work, leave early, and have excessive absences.
  • Refuses to take responsibility for their work – or their mistakes.
  • Make toxic remarks about the company, their colleagues, or you.
  • Spend most of the day complaining.
  • Fail to meet job performance standards.

Fortunately, you can attract good hires for your company.

Correcting the mistake

How can you overcome the challenge of a bad hire?

  1. Make your expectations about the job and its performance indicators clear.
  2. Explain your company brand and culture to new hires.
  3. Make part of your interview practical – let the candidate show you, their skills.
  4. Avoid rushing hires. Take time to be more selective and check references.
  5. Correct lousy behavior immediately; provide additional training if necessary.
  6. Terminate the employment as soon as you realize the hiring mistake.

Start on the right foot from the beginning by letting your recruiter find suitable candidates for your key roles.