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How Not to Hire Someone
Let’s be honest—when you’re buried under a mountain of accounting and tax compliance deadlines and navigating the whirlwind of restructuring work, the last thing you want to hear is, “We need to hire someone.” But that’s exactly what I was told—while managing a large team, working 12-hour days, and balancing a workload that felt like two full-time jobs. We all know the saying: make hay while the sun shines. And during that time, the sun was blinding.
The directive from above? “Just find another body.”
I didn’t have the time to post ads, interview, or assess cultural fit. So when I was told, “Pick that person over there—they don’t look that busy,” I did just that. A quick chat with their manager, who was surprisingly enthusiastic to let them go (a red flag I missed), and boom—we had a new hire.
No job analysis. No competencies. No structured interview.
Hindsight? It’s 20/20. The hiring process I used was fast—but it wasn’t confident.
Where It Went Wrong: My Experience vs. the Proper Hiring Process
Let’s compare my “just get it done” approach with the structured Recruitment Process Flowchart from our Hiring Fast With Confidence – The Guide
|
Recruitment Step |
Best Practice (from the Guide) |
What I Did |
|
1. Evaluate Staffing Need |
Review business needs, assess if the vacancy should be filled or if work can be redistributed. |
Didn’t assess the need—just responded to pressure to “find someone fast.” |
|
2. Define the Job |
Conduct job analysis, identify required skills, and create a job description and person specification. |
No job description or defined competencies |
|
3. Construct Job Description & Competency Framework |
Document the role, required skills, responsibilities, and behaviors to guide hiring. |
Skipped entirely. |
|
4. Write the Job Advertisement |
Create a compelling ad that targets the right talent pool. |
No ad posted—internal grab based on availability, not suitability. |
|
5. Select Advertising Media |
Use a mix of job boards, social platforms, and referrals to reach quality candidates. |
Didn’t advertise at all. |
|
6. Collate Resumes |
Collect and screen candidate applications based on selection criteria. |
No external applications were considered. |
|
7. Shortlist Candidates |
Use a shortlisting grid against essential/desirable criteria. |
No shortlist. Chose the first available body. |
|
8. Arrange Interviews |
Schedule structured, competency-based interviews with a clear plan. |
Had a quick, unstructured chat. |
|
9. Develop Interview Questions |
Create competency-based questions to evaluate past behavior and performance. |
No questions prepared. |
|
10. Conduct Interviews |
Use a panel and standardized process to ensure fairness and depth. |
No structure, just instinct. |
|
11. Testing & Assessment |
Include personality, skills, and cognitive testing to validate capabilities. |
Completely skipped. |
|
12. Reference Checking |
Speak to previous supervisors using job-related, structured questions. |
Spoke briefly to current manager—who was oddly happy to offload them. |
|
13. Selection Decision |
Compare interview notes, test results, and references to reach consensus. |
No data to compare. The “decision” was based on convenience. |
|
14. Make Offer |
Clearly communicate offer terms, show enthusiasm, and follow up in writing. |
Made an informal offer with little structure. |
|
15. Administer Rejections |
Politely and promptly communicate with unsuccessful candidates to preserve brand and future interest. |
No one else applied—so no rejections administered. |
|
16. Plan Induction & Onboarding |
Structure onboarding to boost early productivity and team integration. |
Minimal onboarding. No formal plan. |
What I Learned (The Hard Way)
-
Speed without structure is risky. Rushing a hire saves no time if it creates more problems down the line.
-
No testing no proof. Skipping assessments left me blind to skill and personality mismatches. Without a cognitive test, I had no insight into their ability to reason, solve problems, or make decisions
-
“Available” doesn’t mean “right.” Internal candidates still need to go through a proper vetting process.
-
Process equals confidence. The process doesn’t slow you down—it helps you hire faster and smarter.
Final Thoughts
It’s been nearly 20 years, and yet my bad hire experience still lingers. Not because the person was awful—but because the process was. Or more accurately, because there was no real process.
When you’re overwhelmed, it’s tempting to take the quickest path to “solving” the problem. But hiring someone without proper checks—especially without testing their skills, ability, or personality fit—isn’t solving anything. It just shifts the problem down the road, where it becomes bigger, messier, and far more disruptive.
What I’ve learned since then is simple: the right process protects you. It gives you the structure to slow down just enough to make a smart, informed decision. And testing? That’s the piece that turns assumptions into certainty.
These days, I don’t make a move without using the right process or the right testing. Because once you’ve lived through the cost of a bad hire, you realize: it’s not about hiring fast—it’s about hiring fast with confidence.
You can download our Hire Fast With Confidence – The Guide here.
Donna Roughan | With 22 years of expertise in accounting and business advisory, Donna has held pivotal roles, notably as a Director at PwC, and has executive experience in both finance and operations.
