*** Contributed Post

The course of true business never runs smooth, whether it’s through our own mistakes or the fault of others. But sometimes, it’s a combination of the two. When we’ve hired the wrong person, there can be a negative impact on our business dealings, but it forces us to look at ourselves and see what we did wrong. It’s difficult for us to bounce back, but how can we do this when we have hired the wrong people?

Don’t Waste Time

There can be the temptation to see if the problem irons itself out. By waiting so long, you may watch your business slowly go down the tubes. A once great product could slowly deteriorate, or if you plug the gap by getting another employee to step up to the plate, they may not develop the appropriate skills. But if you’ve hired the wrong person, you shouldn’t waste any time, get it sorted!

Admit Your Faults

Whether this is through your own personal misgivings, or you’ve got to take the bullet for the whole company, by admitting that you are wrong, and taking the positive steps to fix the issues behind it highlights tenacity and an honesty that is hard to come by. We don’t like to admit that we’ve done something wrong, and sometimes we don’t like to apologize, but even if you’ve had to fire an employee it doesn’t hurt to soften the blow and to apologize, but also, mean it. You may not even have to discharge them. Instead, you could reassign them to another department, where their skills are better utilized. You may find that this has a much better outcome across the board.

Fix The Problem

It might not be as simple as hiring the right person, you may have to fix the mess that the offender has made. If you’ve found yourself embroiled in legal hot water, there are always business litigation attorneys that can help you sail these choppy waters, such as Greene Broillet & Wheeler, LLP, but at this point, you will have made numerous mistakes that you can learn from. If the person you hired had the necessary skills but didn’t work well in the company culture, you know that you have to find someone who is more suited to the environment. Hiring the right person isn’t always an easy task, but it’s far simpler for us to learn about our mistakes when we have hired the wrong person. It makes us re-evaluate, not just our hiring process, but actually what we need from the ideal candidate. Does this mean that we need someone to have the necessary skills and that is it? Or do we need someone who is more dynamic and adaptable to the changing environment? It certainly depends on the industry in which you operate, but now, with such a focus on the importance of a nurturing company culture, skills and qualifications aren’t always the top priority.

We’ve all hired the wrong person from time to time, and we can beat ourselves up about it, or we can work at fixing the problem and learn from our mistakes.