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Development ServicesHere's an uncomfortable truth: the majority of developers you'll interview for a junior to mid-level position won't be great. That isn't to say they'll be bad hires, necessarily, but in many cases, these candidates are working to put in their 9-to-5 as simply as they can.
But the bad candidates are out there, and the cost of hiring them can sometimes outweigh the cost of not hiring someone at all. After all, you're not just losing time, money, or effort during the recruiting period, whether or not you choose "the right" candidate. There's also the fallout of dealing with the incorrect work and wasted man-hours that 'wrong' employee could bring with them. Their errors could cost you contracts, longterm work, and your reputation within the business community.
From the missed hires you'll miss out on to costs of training, getting the right developers is important. Join us, today, as we break down three ways in which hiring a developer with the right skills can save you money, and how bad recruitment can hurt you.
Impeded Productivity
Making the wrong hire for any project is always a risk, and there's one reason that's far more common than any other. If you bring the wrong employee into the mix, the time you'll end up wasting is impossible to get back. And that kind of a setback can be a death knell for many projects.
90% of the time, a so-called "bad hire" is a serious liability on a development team. When an employee can't do their job or seamlessly replace the previous employee, your project is operating at a loss. Wasted time means an investment that isn't making any sort of measurable return.
And, of course, an adjustment period is to be expected for any new employee, junior or senior. But there comes a time when your business is investing the same amount into one staffer as they might another, for less production.
As development teams often tend to carry each other and collaborate in ways that help to "lift up" individuals, there is some leeway, here. But a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. And there will come a tipping point where a "green" developer has to either make your business money or be a liability. If left unchecked, this kind of issue can have a significant impact on speed and efficiency of your development. The results and overall performance of the work your team puts out depend on their aggregate skills. This can also lead to intra-staff frustrations, as other team members are forced to pick up duties that outside of their job description. This has knock-on effects on everybody's productivity and performance.
Negatively Impacted Morale
When somebody is brought onto a team to do a certain amount of work and they can't fulfill that responsibility, it may not even matter why. Whether as a result of a lack of skills or a lack of motivation, bad hiring decisions can quickly impact the rest of their team.
It starts with failed and unmet deadlines. The disappointment that comes from a project going poorly when one person is to blame can be difficult for people to deal with. This can lead to serious dents in morale, as amateur developers struggle and drag the rest of the team down, with them. Conflicts between the new hire and the rest of their team members can also grow from the hiree's own insecurities. If you hire developers with negative attitudes towards their work, the mood can shift.
There is any number of reasons why a new hire may feel unable to fit into your existing team. But a bad hire can ruin the atmosphere in the office from the inside out, and this has a direct impact on the quality of the work your team is putting out.
The Cost Of Finding A Replacement
The simple fact is that it costs money to hire a new employee. And, if you think hiring a professional is expensive, replacing them costs even more. This is why many businesses offer training and onboarding services to help their employees adapt to their new positions. Because replacing a staffer immediately after hiring them can and often does run into a lot of money.
And the hiring process can be brutal on the organizations, as well, especially when it comes to the cost per hire. They have to prepare job posts and make sure they're advertising the position effectively. They'll have to sift through resumes and application forms and cover letters, all before finally getting to the interview.
Even after a new employee comes aboard, the expenses to onboard them can add up. There's training, missing hours from your day, quality control, and various other issues you'll run into. Your site could very well not be as productive during this time, as operations pause while they learn the ropes. In order to correct the error of hiring the wrong developer for your project, you may have to redistribute people and resources to cover their work. Then you'll have to put off their part of the development while you scramble to find a replacement. Then you'll have to train that replacement.
Consider The Cost To Hire The Wrong Developer
In modern business hiring, the big picture is what's most important. There's little-to-no doubt that a misstep in your hiring can lead to long-term impacts in your organization. It takes time to correct the errors and wasted manpower spent on an underperforming employee. It takes money to run a replacement job ad to find a new candidate because the first one didn't work out.
What's most important, during the hiring process, is to lay a good groundwork to get a candidate who fits the bill, the first time. It is important that businesses take the steps they need, in the beginning, to vet new developer candidates for the role.
Looking for help solving your business' challenges? Want to grow your development team in a real and healthy way? Check out some of our other expert blogs, today, and get started building an operation that works for you.
