The Cost Of A Bad Hire In Digital Learning & How To Avoid It

Hiring candidates for digital learning jobs can be particularly challenging. Unlike other digital sectors, eLearning jobs require an established set of skills and qualifications that can be hard to come by in the competitive world of recruitment. But, taking time to hire the right candidate for the right role is essential since the opposite could lead to potentially major issues.

As specialist recruiters in the digital learning sector, we know the importance of securing the perfect candidates for your LMS jobs, instructional design roles or beyond. Effortlessly connecting hiring managers with the ideal candidates for their vacancies, at Instinct, we can help you elevate your operations and optimise your recruitment process.

Recognising how robust eLearning solutions can revolutionise how your business functions, we prioritise helping you to put the right people in the right places as quickly and efficiently as possible. This is why we offer a 24-hour turnaround time for companies looking for contracted candidates. To make the most of this kind of efficiency, submit a vacancy or contact us today to optimise your eLearning capabilities.

We specialise in finding you the best eLearning candidates in the industry so that a ‘bad hire’ is firmly off the cards. But, to discover the pitfalls of a bad hire and the efforts of a lesser eLearning recruitment service, read on.

What is a ‘Bad Hire’?

When hiring for a new role, a robust recruitment and interviewing process should take place. But sometimes, due to various circumstances, the individual you eventually hire may not live up to the expectations you laid out for them upon their arrival. Failing to fulfil what is required of them, these bad hires can go on to disrupt the workflow and performance of your wider team.

What Are the Costs and Consequences of a Bad Hire?

The costs and consequences of a bad hire can vary from one sector to another – while a creative business may feel economic hurt, improper recruitment in the medical sector could lead to major consequences. Specialist NHS recruitment agencies should be used for those in the relevant sector to make sure they don’t waste valuable time and taxpayer money when hiring for new roles.

The Financial Costs of a Bad Hire

Financial losses of varying severity can be experienced as the result of a bad hire, regardless of the specific sector, with these losses including:

• The cost of hiring for the role (including money spent on paying recruiters, running advertisements and paying hiring managers).
• The cost involved in the onboarding and training of the individual to a high standard.
• The salary given to the bad hire during their time in the role. This includes any benefits they might have received during their employment.
• The costs involved in the lack of productivity during the time when the individual was employed.
• The eventual cost of re-hiring and going through the onboarding and training process once again for the bad hire replacement.

One 2017 study from the Recruitment & Employment Confederation claims that billions of pounds are lost from UK businesses each year thanks to improper recruitment. The study further claims that, thanks to the financial consequences listed above, the poor hiring of an individual at mid-manager level with a salary of £42,000 could cost a business more than £132,000. The full report also adds that an average of £9,730 is lost in the recruitment and training of a new employee, with a further £9,625 lost in wasted productivity.

Other Hidden Costs of a Bad Hire

While some costs of a bad hire are obvious, others are more subtle, affecting your cash flow and the future of potential business collaborations. Indeed, a bad hire can result in a whole range of financial difficulties for your company, with money being lost through:

• Missed deliverables: Work being completed late or to an insufficient standard can damage your reputation with the client.

• Increased stress levels: Accommodating the bad hire may result in increased workload and stress, which can have an impact on mental health and the number of sick days taken by employees.

• Eroded trust among your employees: The hiring of an unsuitable individual might make your employees doubt hiring managers and seniors.
• Missed opportunities: If your bad hire was onboarded during a particularly important time, you may have missed an opportunity for greater financial and general business success.
• Severance package: If the bad hire receives a severance or redundancy package during their departure, the business will have shed cash.

The Operational Consequences of a Bad Hire

Bad hires can affect more than just your cash flow. A disruptive, unqualified hire in the eLearning sector can cause a whole range of issues that can damage several areas of your business. While the influence of a bad hire on your business can vary massively from one individual to the next, the operational consequences of their disruption can potentially cause:

• Damage to team synergy, efficiency and output.
• Harm to customer relationships.
• Harm to the reputation of your business and brand.
• Decreased morale among your workforce.
• A loss of general productivity and performance, thanks to the disruption of the bad hire.
• Wasted time, particularly among hiring managers, HR personnel and trainers.
• The compromise of your business security.

Five Ways to Identify a Bad Hire

There are a variety of ways in which a bad hire can be identified in your business, particularly someone brought in to work in the eLearning sector. Often, these hires come after an individual has overstated their abilities, lied about their qualifications or simply cannot keep up with the pace of your organisation.

Affecting the performance of your whole business, identifying a bad hire in the eLearning sector is crucial. Here are five warning signs to look out for:

1. Distinctly Different Personality

When recruiting for a new role, the interview stage is the first real chance you get to assess a candidate’s personality and suitability for the position. But, since they’re often high-pressure situations, with applicants doing much preparation for an interview, you may not get an accurate reading of what the candidate is actually like.

They may present as being enthusiastic and hard-working, but once the role is secured, they may become unmotivated and unwilling to learn.

1. Their Claimed Skills Don’t Match Their Performance

In the eLearning sector, a potential candidate must have an array of specific technical and digital skills for employers. Unfortunately, however, to secure a position, a candidate may exaggerate just how experienced they are with a certain tool or programme to get the role. Then, once they are in the position, their lack of claimed skills doesn’t match the necessary level of performance.

Considering just how technical the eLearning sector can be, a new employee should (within reason) be expected to hit the ground running, armed with the necessary skills and qualifications as claimed on their CV.

1. Inability to Assimilate With The Company Culture

The importance of synergy in a company culture cannot be understated. An engaged, motivated workforce will be ready and willing to embrace the inherent values of the business into their everyday work. If a new hire comes into this system and fails to assimilate or, worse still, threatens to upend the health of the company culture, they should be removed.

In addition to embracing the business culture, new hires should be expected to abide by company rules and practices. If a new hire doesn’t abide by these codes and expectations, they should be removed.

1. Conflict and Lack of Communication

Moving naturally on from a new hire’s inability to assimilate is their lack of potential to communicate and learn, causing conflict as a result of their disruption. If a new hire is failing to listen to the recommendations of their peers and is frequently clashing, their behaviour should be closely monitored, particularly if their skills aren’t meeting expectations.

Communication is king. Do what you can to make sure that they’re settling in properly with honest and open dialogue. But if they’re failing to communicate their issues and challenges, then it may be a sign that they’re not suitable for your business.

1. Negative Attitude

If you’ve taken years to foster a strong and positive working culture in your business, never forget how just one negative individual can sow doubt and toxicity among your workforce. If your new hire is pessimistic, critical, and generally negative in how they go about their work, you’ll want to consider a one-to-one intervention and potentially a dismissal.

How to Avoid a Bad Hire

While it’s useful to be able to identify and potentially eliminate a bad hire from your company, the easiest way to prevent them from disrupting your company is to create a robust onboarding process. Perfecting your hiring process will help you to avoid hiring unqualified eLearning ‘experts’, saving you time, money and resources in the process. Creating a comprehensive onboarding process involves:

• Performing a reference check: Check with previous employers that the candidate has the right work ethic and relevant eLearning qualifications. 

• Incorporating assessments into the interview process: Use the interview process to learn more about the candidate than their personality. Set them an activity or assessment that asks them to put their claimed skills to the test. How well they do on this test will determine their suitability for the role. Just be careful not to ‘turn off’ prospective candidates with an exhaustive process. 

• Using a probationary period: A probationary period is a space of a few months in which the employer can assess the progress of the new hire, and the candidate can assess the suitability of the role for them. If you decide to let a person go while they are still on probation, you can do so with a shorter notice period.

• Using your existing team of employees: Your employees are already accustomed to the pace and culture of your business, and, since they’ll be working directly with the new hire, they’re in a good position to assess their progress. Ask your current team to keep an eye on the progress of the new hire, help their development and provide feedback on any areas of concern.

• Being proactive: Be vigilant and proactive when monitoring the possible warning signs of a new hire. Feedback on any areas of improvement with the new hire, and maintain a strong line of communication so that they also feel happy asking you questions. Strong communication will help to foster improvement, but will also make dismissal more straightforward if necessary. 

The Basic Skills You Should Expect From an eLearning Hire

If you’re looking to hire an eLearning professional, there are a number of skills you should expect, regardless of which discipline you’re looking to fill. A reliable hire in the eLearning industry should possess a range of technical soft skills and be fluent in digital literacy, allowing them to effortlessly fulfil their position, no matter if it’s in design, development or admin and maintenance.

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Instinct Can Help You Avoid a Bad Hire

Perhaps one of the easiest ways you can avoid a bad hire in the digital learning sector is to collaborate with a quality eLearning recruiter like Instinct Resourcing. Taking your onboarding responsibilities, our tireless work allows you to focus on the things that matter to your business, all while we handle finding you the perfect candidate for your new position. Actively seeking professional, hard-working candidates, there are several benefits to working with a specialist digital learning recruiter. We can help you avoid bad hires by:

• Screening candidates for the necessary skills and qualifications before submitting them to the next stage of interviews with your company.

• Offering an aftercare service that allows you to track the progress of your new hire with access to our timesheet portal.

• Offering a boutique service that prioritises your needs and seeks new hires from a vast talent pool of qualified candidates and individuals from across the eLearning industry.

To pierce through a crowded eLearning market, work with Instinct, a specialist digital learning recruiter, to connect you directly with the candidates that you need. Streamline your recruitment process and save time and resources by allowing us to take care of your onboarding while you focus on the work that matters most. Effortlessly elevating your operations, Instinct Resourcing is the solution to your eLearning needs.

Reach out to us today