A majority (98 percent) of Singaporean leaders have hired the wrong person for the job, reveals recent research commissioned by Robert Half. According to the study, 98 percent of 150 Singaporean Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) surveyed have admitted to making a miscalculated hiring decision, with 24 percent discovering this within as soon as two weeks.

Matthieu Imbert-Bouchard, Managing Director of Robert Half Singapore, shared in media stating, “The three consequences of a bad hire included increased workload for colleagues (43 percent) as well as increased stress on managers (43 percent) and colleagues (41 percent).

The research found that the most common reasons why new hires did not meet expectations:

•    43 percent said new hires had a mismatch of skills required for the role

•    37 percent found them under qualified

•    35 percent felt they were overqualified

•    34 percent reported a misalignment in attitude towards the role

On recognizing the wrong hire the immediate actions of the organization laid off (35 percent), developing training programs to boost skills and partnering with a staffing agency to secure a replacement.  The report suggests that about one-third of the organizations (32 percent) dealt with it by finding an internal vacancy that would better suit the candidate, and 28 percent adopted a ‘wait and see’ approach to determining if the employee’s performance would improve.

Bouchard further stated in media, “Hiring the wrong person for the job can have significant negative repercussions for the business, with the cost of hiring the wrong applicant escalating beyond just financial repercussions.”

He said that besides causing a setback to a company’s productivity levels, team morale and stress levels could be negatively impacted by hiring a wrong.

He said to keep the hiring process on point, and in line with changing market demand, Singapore’s hiring managers need to regularly review their hiring policies to balance the recruitment process with the right level of efficiency and rigour.