Poor hiring decisions are generating losses of up to £15,000 for UK businesses, with two thirds of recruitment professionals admitting to losing a significant amount of money on hires that haven’t worked out, according to a study from independent job board, CV-Library.

The study, which explored the attitudes of 200 in-house and agency recruiters across the UK, also found that 19.5% of recruitment professionals have lost out on between £15,000 and £30,000 for their business, while 14.4% admit to losses of over £30,000. Other key findings show that 78 of recruiters estimate that it costs their business up to £10,000 to hire a new recruit. More than half, or 55.3%, believe that vetting candidates properly before they hire them would ensure poor recruitment doesn’t cost their business While a further 21.3% believe that keeping recruitment costs down by using tools like job boards and social media could help.

“To see in black and white just how much money bad recruitment is costing businesses is quite concerning,” Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library, said. “Today’s labour market is candidate led, and increased competition can often mean that businesses are rushing to snap up new hires, often missing out key stages of the vetting process in a bid to stay ahead of the competition.” 

The study states that another key issue is that many businesses are failing to keep up with the latest candidate trends, with 52.1% saying they don’t bother keeping on top of these trends, despite 68.1% believing that it is beneficial to do so. A further 59.7% said that these trends do not influence their recruitment strategy.

Recruitment professionals do understand the need to implement a strong recruitment strategy, with respondents believing that workers can be affected by poor hires. Respondents cited high staff turnover (44.4%) and decreased productivity (16%) as some of the biggest risks, followed by financial loss (22.2%), low morale (8.3%) and poor employer branding (6.9%).

“Many businesses fail at the first hurdle because they don’t recognise how important it is to invest in a strong recruitment strategy,” Biggins said. “Poor hiring decisions can have a detrimental effect on your business outputs, but also, the morale and productivity of staff. Understanding that certain hires can make or break your business is key and these mistakes can quickly be avoided if you are investing in the right tools to help you vet candidates, hire efficiently, and successfully onboard new starters.”