A hiring mistake cost thousands in lost productivity. The speaker kept a new employee who was clearly wrong for the role because of ego and hesitation, despite gut instincts in the first week. The lesson: trust your instinct early and act fast, or the cost compounds.
I took on a new hire and I knew by the end of the first week they were not the right person. And then I kept them and I kept on making excuses for them, kept on justifying them because it was my decision to hire them. And guess what? It cost me a fortune. When you hire somebody, it doesn't matter whether you hire on resume, you hire on culture and a combination thereof, which is what we do. At the end of the day, you've gotta make sure that when they start, your gut feel will tell you very quickly, are they the right person for your business? And if they're not, you should move them off quickly. You've heard the statement, hire slow, fire fast. I don't like the term fire. I like the term let them go to a place that will serve them to a higher place in terms of their own abilities and own talents and own skills. But the thing for me is I kept that person and it kept on bugging me. I'd lie awake at night going, they're not doing what they need to do. But I didn't want to do the hard work and let them go and say goodbye to them because my ego got in the way. And my ego said, maybe they're okay. Maybe they will fit in eventually. Guess what? Your gut tells you within that first week or two whether they fit in or they don't fit in. And then you've got to listen to your gut, take the right action and do what's good for your business. Otherwise, it will cost you a fortune. And at the end of the day, there'll be a final statement. You said, I wish I'd done this sooner. And sometimes when you let them go, they also go, I knew it was coming. Thank you for doing it.
