It’s estimated anywhere from ¥500,000 to ¥800,000 to hire a candidate according to the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM). Think back to yourself of a time where you hired someone, they come in and they start working, and after about a month, you notice “this is not the person you thought they were when you interviewed them.” This one step can really illuminate those challenges. Take up references from the candidate.
I recommend anywhere from 2 to 3 references, and I recommend that, you as the hiring manager take up those references yourself rather than allowing HR or some recruiter to do that. The reason I say that is that being in Japan we are able to ask questions that the rest of the world can’t legally ask. And because of that we can listen to the nuances about how someone is as a team player or an individual performer and how they actually performed on the job.
Often times, a former employer is not going to say anything poorly about a previous employee. But what you will hear is a change in tone. And if you are the hiring manager and you hear this, then you’ll know that this might not be the right person to bring on board in your company.
I often times hear that a lot of candidates don’t want to provide references. That’s a huge red flag. If someone that wants to join your company isn’t willing to give you references, then that’s probably a good sign that there is something that’s gone wrong in the past and their hiding that from you. In a smaller company a bad performing employee can really disrupt the company and it can be really expensive to let someone go. For that reason, I highly recommend, if you don’t do it already, add reference checks to your interview process.