Is Hiring a Gamble? Not If You Avoid These Mistakes
For many business owners, hiring feels like one of the riskiest things they can do — an expensive, time-consuming process that might end in disappointment. But as Helen explores in this practical webinar, the real risk isn't hiring; it's hiring badly, or not hiring at all.
🎥 Watch the full webinar here:
Why Getting Hiring Right Is Everything
As a business owner, you're constantly juggling three priorities: your team, your customers, and the business itself. The team almost always gets deprioritised when things get busy — yet it's the team that determines whether your customers are well served and your business grows. Get the right people in place, and you create a virtuous circle. Get it wrong, and you're stuck on a hamster wheel, doing everything yourself.
Helen highlights a striking Gallup statistic: UK employee engagement is now at an all-time low of around 10–11%! That means the majority of people in most workplaces are either disengaged or actively undermining those around them. A single "bad apple" has a disproportionate negative impact on team morale, productivity and culture — and yet many leaders delay dealing with it out of fear they won't find anyone better. They almost always find, once they act, that it was far easier than they expected.
The Most Common Hiring Mistakes
Helen outlined five key mistakes — plus two "bonus" ones:
- Delaying getting started. Waiting until you're overwhelmed means you'll rush the process, compromise on quality, and potentially damage your business before help even arrives.
- Not looking broadly enough. Seeking a "perfect fit" who can do everything from day one limits your talent pool. The best candidates want growth; they're not looking to repeat their last job. Equally, advertising only on your own website or social media won't reach people who are actively job-seeking.
- Thinking you're in control. The best candidates are in demand. A slow, cumbersome process will lose them to a faster-moving competitor. Speed and a candidate-centric approach are essential.
- Believing everything candidates say. CVs are increasingly AI-generated, and hypothetical interview questions ("What would you do if...?") give you very little useful information. Ask about what candidates have actually done, and look for real, verifiable evidence throughout the process.
- Offering too soon. One hour-long interview is rarely enough to make a high-stakes hiring decision — or for a candidate to decide if they genuinely want to join you. The process needs to be a two-way street.
- Not setting clear expectations about culture, working patterns and performance from the outset.
- Being too cheap. Skimping on advertising reach, or haggling over a small salary difference, can cost you the best candidates — and the return on a great hire far outweighs the extra investment.
The Takeaway
Hiring well is a learnable skill, not a gamble. Build a robust, repeatable process; be genuinely excited about the person you offer to; and treat candidates with the same care you'd want them to bring to the role. The right team is the single biggest unlock for a more successful, less stressful business.
