Why Recruitment Is Broken
03 / Aug / 2021
Craig Elvin from Executive Heads looks at what is happening with recruitment and why recruitment is broken.
By: Craig Elvin
I wanted to bring your attention to this report from Thomas International that is available here.
Earlier this year they surveyed 500 businesses to understand what was happening with recruitment and the statistics are quite shocking.
While the report has positive news for candidates, stating that 64% of businesses are going to be increasing their recruitment activity again, the rest of the report does not make for comfortable reading.
In the 500 businesses that responded, 57% of new hires are not working out and a quarter of those bad hires have either left or continue to perform sub-optimally.
PricewaterhouseCoopers estimated cost of a bad hire can range between 50 to 150% of an employee’s annual salary.
So these, and other damning insights, led them to conclude that recruitment is broken – a sentiment that we share here at Executive Heads.
If you want to understand what lies beneath PWC’s comments you can use our free calculator here to understand the true direct and indirect cost of a bad hire and the effects that it has on your business, but beware, you might not like the results.
And, if you’d like to see how we are addressing some of the issues that are raised in the report, and helping our clients to access the best talent for their organisation, while helping them to increase their retention then please click here.
About the author
Ex-military engineer, Craig Elvin has more than 15 years of experience working with clients and placing leaders in a range of sectors across the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Craig works with growing and ambitious businesses to attract, assess and nurture the best talent for critical leadership and senior managerial positions.
Latest Blogs
Leadership Communication: The Leadership Skill That Matters Most When Change Is Constant
Why Most Executive Interviews Fail – And the Cost Is Far Greater Than You Think
Upcoming Events
Executive to NED: Making the Move
18 / Sep / 2025
How to Build a More Valuable Business: The 8 Drivers That Increase Your Multiple
26 / Mar / 2026
Business Leaders Event: Turning Strategy into Action
25 / Jun / 2026