A failed hire in a key position costs far more than the salary paid during the probation period. Here are the orders of magnitude from available studies, the hidden costs to remember and the levers to secure your strategic hires.
The figures: from €30,000 to more than two years’ salary
- According to estimates reported by Welcome to the Jungle, based on work by Manpower, HR Voice and Opensourcing, the average cost of a failed hire in France is between €30,000 and €150,000.
- For leadership roles the bill rises further: a study by economists Eileen Appelbaum and Ruth Milkman, cited by the AESC (Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants), estimates that a mis-hire can cost up to 213% of an executive’s annual salary.
- By comparison, an in-house hire for a standard role is often estimated at €5,000 to €8,000 (École du recrutement), and recruitment firm fees generally represent 15% to 30% of annual compensation.
Direct costs
Time spent by HR and managers on the first recruitment; salary and social charges paid during employment; advertising or agency fees; exit costs; and then the cost of a new recruitment process.
Hidden costs, often the heaviest
For a key role, most of the cost is invisible: missed sales targets, delayed projects, a demotivated team, sometimes a chain of departures, lost customers and a damaged employer image. For a sales leadership role, several months of vacancy or under-performance hit revenue directly.
Why hires fail
The most common causes: a poorly scoped need, a talent pool limited to active job seekers, assessment by people who do not really know the role, an insufficient fit with the context (growth, turnaround, transformation) and no onboarding follow-up.
How to secure a key hire
- Scope the need precisely with the role’s line manager: context, challenges, success criteria at 12 months.
- Widen the talent pool to employed profiles through direct approach.
- Have candidates assessed by a peer who has held the role and knows the industry.
- Compare several candidates (at least 3 to 4) against explicit criteria, with reference checks.
- Secure onboarding and require a guarantee that goes beyond the probation period.
The Businessful Minds approach
Our partners have held the roles they recruit for, in your industries. The result: 95% of assignments succeed without triggering our “Satisfaction or Replacement” guarantee, which runs for up to 12 months after the start date, and 1.5 months on average to the job offer.