Bad Hire or Bad Job Fit?
Key Takeaways
- Some new employees end up being bad hires. But other times, the problems may have more to do with your company's hiring, onboarding, and support systems.
- If it seems a new hire is not working out, take a look at the job description. Is the employee actually being asked to do a different job than the one they were hired to do?
- Review the training and onboarding the employee received. Have you given them what they need to be successful?
- What changes will you make to your recruitment and selection procedures to reduce the likelihood of similar issues in the future?
There was some reason why the employee was offered a job. So what can you do if it seems like it's not working out? Option one is to simply say goodbye to the employee and start the job search over again. If there was a serious ethical or performance problem, you probably need to do just that.
But a firing has consequences: It can be hard on your staff and your company’s reputation. It doesn’t look good if there seems to be a lot of churn at your company.
It can also be expensive, because you’re likely to make the same mistake if you don’t look at your hiring practices and fix any problems there. It’s also a mistake if the new hire’s talent could be used somewhere else in your organization.
1. Review the job description
Then ask yourself these questions:
- Was the new employee asked to do what they were hired to do, or did the job change suddenly?
- Was the new hire asked to do unexpected tasks and take on responsibilities unplanned for?
- Do the requirements on the job description really reflect what is needed to do the job effectively?
- Have you conducted an audit of this job?
- Should you have others in your organization or in your industry give you feedback on the description?
- Does your team need to re-evaluate its immediate and long-term needs?
- Are some requirements weeding out people you could train?
If you’re going to re-hire for the position using a pre-hire assessment like PXT Select, perhaps the Performance Model you used needs customization. Do your organization’s requirements differ from the standard model? Does the position require a bit more verbal reasoning? Less sociability, etc.? Pre-hire assessments are important, but should only make up about one-third of your hiring decision.
2. Review onboarding and culture
Oftentimes it’s not the new employee’s fault at all, but weak or nonexistent training, onboarding, or mentoring:
- Was the new hire given all they needed to be successful right away?
- Do they know where to find resources?
- Do they understand internal lingo?
- Were they given more information about their co-workers than just their names and titles?
- Do they understand the mission of the team on which they work?
- Did they get necessary training in a timely manner?
- Do they understand your organization’s culture?
- Did at least one person on the team take them “under their wing” until they got settled in?
- Is it clear what behaviors are and are not acceptable, how team members and bosses prefer to communicate, what success looks like for individuals and the team?
- Are you getting negative feedback from other team members?
If your organization is using Everything DiSC on Catalyst, that's a great way for the new hire to learn about their team. The team can spend some time together discussing their DiSC group map. They can use the suggested Conversation Starters to help the new employee learn about their workstyle and communication tendencies.
3. Review the manager
Maybe the “bad hire” wasn’t the employee so much as it was a bad manager.
- Was there a personality mismatch here?
- Does this manager have a history of poor staff performance or disgruntled workers?
- Could the manager possibly coach the new hire to greater performance? Or could the two of them work on a development plan together?
If you're using Everything DiSC, look at a Comparison Report for the manager and new employee. Are there differences here that could be causing a problem? Could recognizing and discussing these differences help the two work better together?
4. Consider the talents of the new hire
Is it worth keeping this employee, but moving them to a different job? Do you have other openings or needs this person’s talents could fill? Take a closer look at their strengths, talents, and working style. Are there skills they’re demonstrating that aren’t being fully used? Could another role or team better align with what they do best? A thoughtful conversation about their strengths and interests may uncover an opportunity to reposition them within the organization—turning a challenging start into a chance for both the employee and the company to succeed.
5. Make changes to your recruitment or selection procedures
If this person was hired because they were the best of those who applied—but was still not good enough—then you should really take a look at your recruitment efforts and try new tactics.
If you got a good pool of applicants, but probably selected the wrong person, then look at how you made your selection.
If you weren’t happy with your applicants, consider alternate ways of recruiting or different posting placements.
Making bad hiring decisions can be embarrassing, costly, and emotional. Most organizations will eventually have to suffer through it, if they haven’t already. So the bottom line is, if you need to fire someone, do it quickly and respectfully.
But if the hiring decision itself was off course, you need to correct it before the next hire. Work with your HR department and have some honest discussions to help improve your selection process—and keep your bad hires to a minimum.
Posted 12/02/2019, Last Updated 07/16/2026
