By
Claire Morley-Jones
July 31, 2025
We’ve all been there. Someone hands in their notice. A key client lands. A manager waves the burnout flag. And suddenly, you’re in “just get someone in” mode. But when you hire in panic, you often end up with the wrong person, more problems, and the very thing you were trying to avoid; a costly mess to untangle. In this article, I’m sharing the red flags that signal a panic hire, the steps to hiring smarter (even when time is tight), and how to use your employer brand to attract the right people — the ones who’ll thrive in your team, not just survive.
A few months ago, I was chatting to a lovely business owner at a networking breakfast, about all kinds of topics (including her perfume!) when she leaned in over her coffee and said, “I think we’ve made a mistake with our latest recruit - can I get rid of him?” When I asked some more questions, it seemed as though his CV had been good, the interview was “fine” but once he’d joined they realised he didn’t really gel with the team. He just wasn’t clicking with anyone and a few people were already on the war path! Essentially, the lady I was talking to thought that the root cause of everything was that they’d panicked and tried to find anyone with a pulse in order to satisfy an existing client demand.
And unfortunately, that story isn’t unusual. It’s the kind of thing that all of us at HR180 hear from founders and FD’s all the time. In fact, most of us have a similar story buried somewhere; a rushed decision made under pressure, that ended up costing far more than we’d like to admit.
Hiring fast feels like you’re solving the problem. But too often, you’re just swapping one headache for another.
So, how do you hire smart? Even when time’s tight? How do you stop panic recruiting in its tracks? And how can you use employer branding to attract the kind of people who don’t just do the job, but elevate it?
I’m hoping I’ve got some tips for you here!
It’s an absolute reality that hiring happens in a pressure cooker (unfortunately!). Someone resigns unexpectedly, at the exact same time that a key client signs, at the exact same time that your best manager flags they’re close to burnout. You panic (well who wouldn’t!).
The reaction is perfectly human: “We need someone in now.” Sadly you skip the proper prep, dust off an old job spec, lower the bar slightly (even if only in your own head) and then continue to move things forward as quickly as possible.
It feels like momentum. But it’s often a trap. One that more people than you can shake a stick at, fall into!
I think we all know deep down that there is a cost to hiring the wrong people, not least the almost immediate loss of an agency fee. But a poor choice of hire at the mid-level costs around £30,000 on average in the UK. That’s likely to include:
• Recruitment costs (ads, agencies, time spent interviewing)
• Onboarding and training time (which for our business is very extensive just on systems alone!)
• Disruption to team performance
• Lost productivity or sales
• The cost of re-recruiting when it doesn’t work out
And that’s just the financial side. Add in morale dips, confidence knocks for hiring managers, and a sense of “why does this keep happening?” among your team, alongside the loss of faith in your judgement, and the emotional tax is real.
One client we support (a logistics firm with around 45 staff) rushed four hires at the start of the year due to winning a big contract. All seemed fine on paper and full training is given. But within six weeks, all four had left (one by the 3rd day!), team cohesion had dropped, and the manager was in crisis mode. When we reviewed the process, it was clear: they’d skipped the prep, hadn’t defined fit properly, and didn’t test behaviours at all. They had no employer branding in a highly competitive location where manual workers can still leave a job and have a new one in a few days! Clearly, we’ve worked hard to change the process so that there is less “panic” and a pool of potential employees waiting for a vacancy.
If you want to know if you’re on the edge of a mistake then you need to look out for these tell-tale signs:
If any of these sound familiar, hit pause because I can assure you that you’re hiring from fear, not strategy.
Let’s be clear: hiring smart doesn’t mean dragging your feet or drowning in bureaucracy. It means being intentional. Smart hiring is about three things:
Smart businesses build structured processes. That means:
Culture fit isn’t about hiring people you’d have a pint with. It’s about values, behaviours, and alignment. Are they adaptable? Curious? Do they show integrity? Will they thrive in your environment?
We’ve recently been working with an FD to introduce a “values alignment” section to their interview scripts and scoring and it has made a significant difference to the quality of discussions. They told Miranda, “it’s made us stop just chasing experience and start focusing on who’ll actually thrive here.” Ah, we like that!
Here’s a template structure we often use with clients:
Each interviewer scores out of 5, then you compare notes after. It's not perfect, and doesn’t suit every business, but it’s worlds ahead of “I just had a good feeling about them.”
Here’s our go-to framework to help clients stay out of panic-hiring territory:
Even a simple 12-month view helps. What’s coming up? What if someone resigns? Who’s nearing promotion? Think ahead.
If possible keep a warm bench so you have access to a small but carefully selected pool; talented people you’ve met, strong past applicants, freelancers who’ve impressed you, leavers you’d reemploy. Build light relationships as it has the potential to make future hiring faster because you just never know when the stars will align
.
Before you post anything, ask:
Don’t chase unicorns. Instead, look for potential and attitude. One of our clients found their best ops manager through a customer service background and even though she had zero industry experience she was sharp, systems-focused, and people-savvy. She’s since led a transformation project.
Create a bank of behavioural questions. Use scorecards. Rotate interviewers. Don’t “just wing it”. You’ll get better, fairer decisions and reduce unconscious bias at the same time.
Earlier I mentioned Employer Branding but not everyone knows or understands what this is! Miranda wrote this article back in March in you’d like more detail! However, the short version is that if smart hiring is the engine, your employer brand is the fuel.
Employer brand = What people think it’s like to work for you.
It’s highly like that you already have one, whether you’ve designed it or not. It’s your reviews, your social presence, your job ads, your team’s LinkedIn posts. It’s the experience someone has from reading your website to clicking “apply”.
Because smart hires are savvy. They research and they ask around. They look for signs of integrity and culture. And in competitive markets, your employer brand often makes the difference between a “yes” and a polite decline.
All too often job adds are boringly similar (especially if they’ve been written but an agency and not you!) Even if you’re asking an agency to support you with recruitment its worth having your own advert style, role profile and candidate pack. To get started, ask yourself:
If not start there. One client we support began posting “behind-the-scenes” videos from team offsites and internal wins. Within three months, they’d filled two roles from direct approaches. Employer branding isn’t fluff. It’s hiring strategy.
Top talent in today’s market are looking for different things to what you might be used to! On the basis of feedback we’ve received, we’re being told they want very realistic previews of the role so they understand what would actually be involved in the role over and above the bland words on the role profile.
They’re looking for flexible working options and hybrid work (where possible), purpose-led missions, even in what could be considered traditional sectors and clear development opportunities. They’re also looking for a more human tone of voice and people centred culture. One founder I know has started writing job ads that talked like he did in real life; funny, direct, human. His application rate has gone up despite the candidate pool being low, especially from people who “got” the vibe.
Here are three easy tools you can add to boost hiring quality:
Before making any hire, ask:
Have we reviewed and updated the job description?
Have we agreed what success looks like in this role?
Have we had more than one candidate at final stage?
Have we tested for both values and skills?
Are we making this hire out of strategic need, not panic?
If you can’t tick all five — pause.
Some favourites to assess fit:
“Tell me about a time you had to challenge a decision.”
“How do you handle repetitive or boring tasks?”
“What’s one mistake you’ve made — and what did you do next?”
“How do you prioritise when everything feels urgent?”
After interviews, ask candidates (even those you reject) for feedback on the process. It’ll tell you what your real employer brand feels like. We do this as standard for all our clients and it provides a wealth of very useful information that can lead to change.
Great hiring is not just a reactive function; it is an organisational strength. When you build it properly, you create a more resilient team, higher levels of trust in leadership, and stronger diversity, equity and inclusion outcomes. It also leads to clearer internal progression routes and more confident, capable line managers. Over time, hiring well becomes embedded in how your business operates. It becomes part of your culture, and your culture becomes your superpower.
Yes, it takes more time up front.
Yes, it’ll test your patience occasionally.
But hiring smart is ultimately faster. You’ll save yourself from costly mis-hires, team disruption, and endless re-recruiting. And you’ll build a workplace that good people want to be part of and not just for the job title or salary, but for the journey. So next time you feel the pressure rising and think, “We just need someone in now,” take a step back. Ask yourself:
Because the truth is, smart hiring doesn’t necessarily mean hiring slow. It means hiring right.
And if you want help building a process that works before you hit “post job” then just let’s us know! 😊
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