Poor hiring decision can cost ‘third of salary’, travel firms warned

C&M Travel Recruitment co-owner and managing director Barbara Kolosinska has warned travel businesses that making a poor hiring decision can cost them thousands, often about a third of the person’s salary.

Kolosinska said research has shown that the average cost of a “bad hire” is about £6,000, which includes costs involved with the job advert, agency fees and recruitment, but the expense can often be considerably higher.

“It can cost about 30% of a person’s overall salary,” she said. “If their salary is £60,000, it can cost about £20,000. That’s taking into account the cost of on-boarding, off-boarding, managing the existing team and recruiting again.”

When considering which candidate to recruit, she said, it is important for a hiring manager to trust their “gut instinct”.

“It’s usually about going with the gut,” she said. “Usually a gut first instinct is 99.99% spot-on,” she added.

If confirmation is required, she added, a business should consider inviting the candidate to meet the rest of the team to see if the person is a “good fit”.

“You can have the best footballer, but if they’re not a team player, they can bring the team down,” she said.

Tom Mcloughlin, founder of marketing agency SEO Travel, suggested it was better to avoid hiring a candidate at all than recruiting someone who was not right for the job.

“It’s much better to hold your horses and go back to the start and go again because maybe someone else will pop up at another time,” he said.

Kolosinska agreed, cautioning against “knee-jerk” hiring decisions.

The pair were hosting an online presentation for small and medium-sized businesses in the travel sector.