Why One Bad Hire Can Cost You More Than You Think

Sometimes the cost of a bad hire is easy to see. Other times they go unnoticed for far too long, further perpetuating the problem. The costs can be separated into two types: tangible and intangible. Your tangible costs of a bad hire are easy to spot; they are what you directly spent money on. Examples are recruiting expenses, training investments (such as time and resources) and severance/re-hiring costs. All these explicitly cost your company money, and each time that you hire quickly you might be sacrificing these things. 

Intangible costs are harder to spot. They relate to relationships, company environment, and productivity. A bad hire can impact the success of your company’s working environment, or possibly your relationships with your clients. Your employees are a representation of your company, meaning that if the hire was rushed it’s possible you might not have found the best representative for your company. In addition, your company’s internal environment can become less productive, due to gaps in skill or performance, and overall team morale can decline due to frustration. Whether the costs of a bad hire are tangible or intangible, both can cause damage to your company internally, and should be avoided. So why do companies often find themselves with a bad hire?

Breaking Down the Root Causes of Bad Hires

Most bad hires aren’t bad people; they are just the wrong match for the role or the company. Bad hires happen when employers rush the hiring process, use vague job descriptions, have no structured interview process, don’t check references, or just simply overlook the cultural fit within your office. 

Rushing through the hiring process forces you to skip steps and settle with a candidate due to time constraints. Vague job descriptions bring in a larger pool of candidates, but they may be missing critical skills due to the description not listing them. Using detailed job descriptions allows you to pre-screen candidates and prevents underqualified people from applying.

The structure of the interview process is crucial to ensuring that candidates feel as though your company has structure. When interviewing is lackadaisical it makes candidates feel inclined to treat the job as such. The structure of the interviewing also sets a schedule and allows for a hiring timeline. 

When employers feel the need to rush into hiring someone, they often skip the reference checks and other crucial screenings. References exist so that employers can hear feedback about their new potential employee. When this step is overlooked, potential problems are as well. 

Lastly, you should ensure that candidates fit within your company’s culture and environment. If a hired candidate does not match the mission of your company they are not going to help you achieve it. Every person has their own culture they bring to the table. It’s important to note that companies should be hiring employees that fit within the company culture. Miscommunication throughout the hiring process can result in problems identified too late, thus leading to a bad hire.

Your Action Plan to Avoid Costly Hiring Mistakes

The ways to avoid making a bad hire can seem self-explanatory, especially after we’ve addressed why bad hires occur. The first way to avoid a bad hire is to slow down. As we said previously, rushing through the hiring process only makes things worse and thus further wasting your company’s time. To avoid a bad hire, slow down and take the time to define exactly what you are looking for, not just skillsets but also personality-wise. Using a structured interviewing process can help with time management. Following a step-by-step procedure for screening and interviewing candidates helps filter candidates though scheduled events, allowing for a productive hiring timeline. In addition, having set interview questions allows for interviews to flow easily, and for you to easily determine whether a candidate is going to be a good fit for you and your company. 

Working with a professional recruiting company such as Optimum RTS removes the stress of hiring and finding the perfect candidate. We handle that for you. We vet hundreds of candidates a week, specifically pinpointing what our clients are searching for, both skills-wise and personality-wise. Once we have located a candidate that we think will be a good fit on paper, we interview them prior to sending them to you. By interviewing candidates throughout the whole process, it allows us to ensure that you are only receiving candidates qualified for your job. We don’t just fill jobs; we find the right people for the right roles. 

Once we have submitted the candidates to your company, you interview them and then finally decide whether the candidate will become an employee. If you feel as though we did not find the right match, we start the entire process over and will continue until we have found your perfect candidate. We are only paid once, and that is when you have decided that the candidate is exactly what you’re looking for. In addition, if a recently hired Optimum RTS candidate doesn’t end up working out, we will start the search again without any added fee until you are satisfied. Our proven recruiting process helps clients avoid the costly mistake of a bad hire. Whether you’re hiring entry-level or executive-level, temp or perm, we are here to help. 

Bad hires are more common than they should be, especially when there are effective ways to avoid them. By learning how to identify and prevent bad hires, you can save your company both time and money. At Optimum RTS, we’re here to help you find the right person for the job. With our expertise, your company can avoid the costly consequences of a bad hire and stay focused on what you do best.

Let’s start off by defining who your customer is. Immediately, you envision the person currently utilizing your service or products. Typically, these people would be called your prospect, patient, client, shopper, patron, etc. Other people fall into this category as well, however, when you examine this a little closer. A customer is not always only the person using your services. It could be the parents of a child in school, the family members of a parent using your services. It could be the candidate you’re attempting to hire or the employees in your organization, or even your manager or one of the company’s vendors. In brief, it is everyone you come into contact with during the course of your work day. Beyond your work day, the term “customer service” can be substituted for just being polite in your interactions with everyone you meet. 

Now that we have defined who a customer is, let’s dig deeper into why understanding their emotional state might be important to a successful and positive interaction. To do this, think of a child and his or her parents going back-to-school shopping. In this scenario, there are two clients you will be faced with, and both may have very different emotional states. The child may be excited about going back to school, buying their new binders, pencils, and backpacks, whereas the parent is cranky about all the money they are spending, and trying to corral their children, the traffic, or crowds in the stores and malls. In both cases, how they are feeling has a direct relation to the way you or your employee will need to interact with them. For the child you will need to show that same excitement, and for the parent you might need to just be courteous and efficient. Now let’s look at a new patient being referred to a Home Health Agency. What could be the mental state of this customer? They could be scared, feeling vulnerable, tired of being sick and within the healthcare system, ready to be home, and concerned for the potential financial burden they might incur. Initially, the patient is not your only customer in this case, and each one of those involved may have one or more of the aforementioned emotions going on. As an example, when speaking to Mr. Smith and his wife, your ideal customer service would lead with empathy, reassurance, competence, and the timely nature of nursing, therapies, and caregivers. Whereas, when dealing with Mr. Smith’s daughter or son, you may want to switch the focus of your customer service to being efficient, actively listening, and providing concise descriptions of services and cost. This sounds easy, like basic information, but honestly, in most interactions, everyone is only thinking of themselves. For instance, the cashier at the office supply store in the first example might only see a grumpy lady and an obnoxious kid, or the staffing coordinator at the home health agency might be put off by the curt conversation Mr. Smith’s son is having with her. In both cases, the person who should be providing customer service has focused on themselves rather than the customer.

As you begin to read this list of best practices, think about your customer and their emotional state and how you would need to modify these best practices to be most effective.

Top 7 Customer Service Best Practices:

1. First Impressions: How your client initially interacts with you has nothing to do with you. Do not personalize a person’s attitude or behavior.
2. Observe and Drive: In face-to-face interactions, look your client in the eye, and all interactions use active listening skills to determine what the needs are and the driving force behind their need or question.
3. Be the fixer: Be concise in your response and only promise or solve issues that can be done at that time. Apologize and explain how you will get the information to answer the question or solve that problem. Be as specific as you can about the expected resolution time frame.
4. The Follow-up: Follow up on what was promised by keeping your client aware of your progress, should the timeframe you set move.
5. Make it personal: Personalize your customer service by introducing yourself and using your customer’s name when appropriate.
6. Smile: Smile. Really, it’s that simple. This applies when you are face to face or talking to someone on the phone. A smile can be heard as loudly as it can be seen.
7. Remove yourself: Remember, this interaction is not about you.

In my 26 years in recruiting, sales management, and national sales as a trainer and now a business owner, I have seen communication and customer service lead to unbelievable successes and an equal amount of failures. The primary causes of those failures occur when the person providing the service did not fully understand the “why” behind an attitude or question of a client. Without that understanding, even the best customer service plan will fail.

About the Author: John Dalton is the owner of Optimum RTS, a medical employment and consultant company. He has taught and consulted for clients that have just opened their doors to Fortune 100 companies. He can be reached at jdalton@optimumrts.com and you can visit his website at www.optimumrts.com

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Happy New Year! I trust this message finds you well and that you had a joyful holiday season. As we step into a new year, I want to extend my warmest wishes for an excellent and prosperous 2024. At Optimum RTS, we value the relationship we’ve built, and as always, we remain committed to supporting your hiring needs. If you find yourself in need of talented professionals to join your team, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Our team is ready to assist you in finding the right candidates to drive success in the coming year.

Thank you for your continued partnership, and we look forward to contributing to your success in 2024!

Best regards,

Daniela Giraldo

Manager of Staffing Services

New Year New Goals!

Start 2024 strong, by setting clear intentions for your career.

As we stand at the threshold of a new year, it’s the perfect time to reflect on our professional journey and set forth on a path of self-discovery and growth. Creating new career goals and intentions allows us to redefine our aspirations, chart a course for success, and ultimately cultivate a more fulfilling and purposeful professional life.

Here are some easy ways to fulfill your 2024 career goals.

Break your goals down into smaller steps: By breaking your large goal into smaller, more easily achievable actions, you can proactively work towards the big picture.

Create specific but flexible goals: Understand that you are not going to be able to achieve everything in one day, being successful is all about being adaptable. Not everything goes as planned. We may have to change our course, but we must maintain our focus.

Make your goals challenging: To grow we must push ourselves out of our comfort zones. Your goals should push you to achieve the things you desire.

Hold yourself accountable: Remind yourself daily of what your goals are. Each of your daily goals should push you towards your main goal. You can hold yourself accountable by creating reminders or expressing your desires to a non-judgmental third party that will help motivate you towards personal success.

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Happy Holidays from Optimum RTS!

All of us here at Optimum RTS wish you and your families a Happy Holidays! As we look back on this year, we are so grateful for all of you. The opportunity to work with each of you is the gift that keeps giving. As we head into the New Year, know that we are always here for all of your business needs.

Unwrap Your Dream Job: Strategies for a Successful Job Hunt During the Holidays

Here are some easy tips and tricks that are guaranteed for a successful job hunt: 

• Be Selective: Search for jobs that excite you. Your passion for a position makes an impact during an interview.
• Personalize your resume: Ensure that your resume paints a full picture of who you are. Highlight all of your best skills and accomplishments.
• Learn a New Skill: Learning a skill that pertains to your desired position makes you an even more desirable candidate. If you can’t learn a new skill, hone a skill you already know!
• Ask Questions: Optimum RTS is always here to answer any questions and aid you in your job hunt.

Use this link to visit our Newsletter Page: https://conta.cc/3RFwj8D

“As a 30-year expert in the field of recruitment, staffing, and sales, I am seeing a dynamic change in the way my clients and our South Florida community on the whole are looking at their employees and hiring practices. Let’s look at the numbers that lead me to say this. In a recent survey done by our medical society, out of 8 choices, team/workflow and employment advice came in last with only 3.5% of respondents reporting that was important compared to billing/documentation and other financial issues.

I find this surprising, because in my opinion, that’s like the captain of a cruise ship being concerned with the destination, the food, and the weather as opposed to concern for the crew in the engine room, the chefs in the kitchen, and the crew members at the helm steering the ship around the storm. How does this happen? It’s quite easy, actually. As leaders it is our responsibility to look to the future to see what events could have an effect on our services, but by doing so our teammates around us become invisible. This issue becomes even more apparent in times of high stress or turmoil such as what COVID-19 has thrust upon the world. What is important to remember in the example above is these crew members keep the engine running, cook the 5-star meals and help navigate the ship, and truly have the biggest impact on financial issues.

So, what can we do to change this in our office? First of all, we need to evaluate our offices and make a clear determination as to who is revenue-producing and who is not, and who may play a combination role toward the goal of revenue production. An example could be your front office person. Is she or he revenue-producing? Maybe not directly, from a 10,000-foot view, however do they help the flow of patients through your office? Do they help with insurance verification? Do they help schedule patients and ensure they are called the day before to decrease no-show patients? If the answer to any of those questions is yes then, yes, they are revenue-producing and those activities should be increased. Likewise, let’s look at your Medical Assistant. Obviously, this position is a revenue-producing position and each time they room a patient, take vitals, assist the physician and have other patient interactions they become part of that visit bill and therefore are revenue-producing. What about when they are filling out lab slips, contacting pharmacies, cleaning out the Doctor’s voicemail and other tertiary duties? In those cases, they are no longer revenue-producing and those duties should be passed to the lowest paid non-revenue-producing person in the office. By eliminating the busy work of a revenue-producing person you will make them more profitable, and that increased income certainly outweighs the cost of your other employee.

How does this translate into your hiring practices? Prior to COVID-19, if your office manager, who may be the most important player when it comes to revenue production in your office, ran an ad for an open position they would probably receive upward of one hundred resumes. Today, with unemployment above 12%, they will receive five hundred resumes. That translates into almost 16 hours before the first in-person interview takes place (average 2 minutes per resume = 1000 minutes / 60). Then add another 10 – 15 hours for interviews and paperwork before an offer is made and that is if you only run one ad for one week. The question you need to ask is how much revenue did my office manager not produce to fill the lowest paid position in my office? I know the numbers and it is far less than you would spend by using an agency to assist you.” John Dalton, Owner Optimum RTS, West Palm Beach, Florida..

Palm Beach Medical Society’s Heroes in Medicine

We are so proud to have John Dalton, Owner of Optimum RTS, be chosen as Chair of the Palm Beach County “Heroes in Medicine” event and to serve alongside co-chair Judy Dunn, RN and Gregory Cotes for 2019….CLICK FOR MORE INFORMATION