--- title: "Why Hiring the Wrong Employee Is One Expensive Mistake" id: "40809" type: "post" slug: "why-hiring-the-wrong-employee-is-one-expensive-mistake" published_at: "2017-12-07T23:10:17+00:00" modified_at: "2026-11-09T16:13:47+00:00" url: "https://associationsnow.com/2017/12/07/why-hiring-the-wrong-employee-is-one-expensive-mistake/" markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2017/12/07/why-hiring-the-wrong-employee-is-one-expensive-mistake.md" excerpt: "A recent survey from CareerBuilder suggests that it can cost employers thousands of dollars to make up for an employee that isn’t a good fit. Observers suggest that the problem might be with the person doing the hiring as much..." taxonomy_category: - "Career Development" taxonomy_post_tag: - "AssociationsNow" - "Business" - "employee selection" - "Hiring" - "interview" taxonomy_content_format: - "Article" taxonomy_role: - "C-Level" - "Director" - "Manager" - "VP" taxonomy_persona: - "Association Professionals" --- [Home](https://associationsnow.com/) » [Articles](https://associationsnow.com/format/article/) » Why Hiring the Wrong Employee Is One Expensive Mistake We all want to make sure we hire the right person, but sometimes that doesn’t happen—the person isn’t a fit for the role or doesn’t grasp the organization’s needs. And when an organization gets that wrong, it can get costly—very costly. One recent survey from CareerBuilder [put the cost of making a single wrong hire at $14,900 in the past year (opens in a new tab)](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nearly-three-in-four-employers-affected-by-a-bad-hire-according-to-a-recent-careerbuilder-survey-300567056.html) , a situation that roughly three-in-four employers have dealt with in the past. The survey, conducted online by the pollsters at Harris, noted that many respondents felt that bad hires had affected productivity (37 percent), cost the employer precious time (32 percent), and hurt the quality of the organization’s work (31 percent). The report noted that the most likely factors behind the failure of an employee included poor work quality (54 percent), poor attitude (53 percent), work conflicts (50 percent), and attendance problems (46 percent). Most interestingly, skills deficiencies were a major factor in many cases: In cases when a company made a bad hire, the employee didn’t have the necessary skills (35 percent), or lied about their qualifications (33 percent). And when a worker’s skill didn’t match their claimed abilities, as was the case 45 percent of the time, it often was seen as a sign of a poor hire. So what’s the reason for bringing on a bad hire? Often, it may lie not with the employee, but the manager, who may not have the right skills for interviewing a potential hire. Arte Nathan, a human resources advisor and founder of The Arte of Motivation, recently told the Society for Human Resource Management that it’s important to consider a person’s interviewing and hiring skills. “Instead of blaming the person who was hired, we need to blame those who are doing the hiring,” [he told SHRM (opens in a new tab)](https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employee-relations/pages/cost-of-bad-hires.aspx) . “There is an assumption that because someone is a manager, they know how to interview and hire the right person for the job. Hiring managers need to know what they are looking for [and] how to ask the right questions, discern candidate responses, and get the right person for the job.” The recruiting firm Robert Half likewise made the case that it’s easier to hire correctly the first time around, rather than trying to fix an on-staff problem. The firm estimates that it takes 17 weeks to resolve a bad hiring decision, including nearly nine weeks to let the person go. “The wisest hiring managers put in the time and effort on the front end to make sure they have the best available pool of applicants for every job opening,” the company [explained in a blog post earlier this year (opens in a new tab)](https://www.roberthalf.com/blog/evaluating-job-candidates/the-cost-of-a-bad-hire-can-be-surprisingly-high) . “And determine whether they have good procedures in place for evaluating candidates.” Of course, things could always be worse: You could be replacing someone who you actually want to keep. That, according to the CareerBuilder survey, comes at a cost of $29,600 per employee this year. [Ernie Smith](https://associationsnow.com/author/ernie-smith/) Ernie Smith is a former senior editor for Associations Now. [More articles by this author](https://associationsnow.com/author/ernie-smith/) Tags: [#Business](https://associationsnow.com/tag/business/) [#employee selection](https://associationsnow.com/tag/employee-selection/) [#Hiring](https://associationsnow.com/tag/hiring/) [#interview](https://associationsnow.com/tag/interview/) **Stay Informed** [Subscribe to our free newsletter](https://associationsnow.com/newsletter/) , *Associations Now Daily News*, to find out what’s happening in the association world every business day. ## You Might Like - [Video🚀 The Agile Association Professional: How to Pivot Your Career Path When the Strategic Plan ShiftsJuly 28, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/07/28/the-agile-association-professional-how-to-pivot-your-career-path-when-the-strategic-plan-shifts/) - [VideoCommunity Voices: Kristine MetterSeptember 15, 2021](https://associationsnow.com/2021/09/15/community-voices-kristine-metter/) - [VideoCommunity Voices: Nat BartholomewSeptember 15, 2021](https://associationsnow.com/2021/09/15/community-voices-nat-bartholomew/) - [TemplateMembers onlyMember Onboarding ToolkitNovember 5, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/11/05/member-onboarding-toolkit/) ## Comments **Comments are for ASAE members.** [Learn more about comments on this site.](https://associationsnow.com/comments/) [Log in](https://associationsnow.com/login?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fassociationsnow.com%2F2017%2F12%2F07%2Fwhy-hiring-the-wrong-employee-is-one-expensive-mistake%2F%23comments) to your member account or [join ASAE](https://my.asaecenter.org/select-a-membership-type/) !