As regular as clockwork we go from one Great to another.
It's been at least 3 months since the People Shortage, Resignation, Quiet Quitting, Quieter Hiring and Rage Applying, and here's another notable normal that is completely unsurprising.
According to recent data from LinkedIn, 2.23% of all hires last year were boomerang hires.
If you aren’t aware, a boomerang hire is when an employee returns to the employer they resigned from, after starting in a new role.
It’s nothing new and can be a good thing:
I returned to Workplace Law after 5 years at Whitehill Pelham (I only work for W companies), to refresh my career as the commercial lead for their HR and SHE training and consulting services.
I had been prompted to look at this role because Whitehill Pelham was stagnating following the death of the MD, the marvellous Kareen Nicholls, 18 months earlier.
I felt stuck in a rut and wasn’t developing myself.
Strangely enough, all of the issues that led me to leave WPL for WP Ltd, in the first place, were still there, although I was somewhat more mature, and saw a great opportunity to cut my teeth in solution sales.
Experience that held me in good stead when I launched my W business – Wyatt Bircham Recruitment – in 2011.
Boomerang hires have always been around; however, the data suggests the amount has more than doubled since the pandemic.
My belief is that this increase is a consequence of the economic whiplash immediately after Covid, and the competition for candidates.
Vacancies closed asap without due diligence.
It is entirely possible to close out a vacancy quickly, but it's down to good fortune, if you haven't started things out right, at the top of the process.
The boomerang hire is a symptom; however it’s not the illness.
Don’t forget that many employers will have filled their vacancy and won’t be able to boomerang their employee back.
While the reason for accepting a boomerang offer may lead to other decisions, such as leaving for other jobs.
That 2.23% figure may be representative of a much wider situation of hires not proving as expected, with all the consequences that brings.
What happens when you cut corners, recruit in an instant, make inflated offers, and neglect due diligence?
What happens when you are a candidate in this situation, caught up in a whirlpool and wooed by pace, vigour and exciting offers?
They may end up the wrong person for the job, if indeed you haven't made redundancies because of overhiring.
Especially when you continue to cut corners and neglect keeping in touch, not making people feel welcome, ignore pre-boarding and onboarding, probably don't even have a laptop ready on day 1.
A day 1 where the hiring manager has just gone on annual leave for 2 weeks.
As an external recruiter, this presents a consideration that more people new to jobs may soon be interested in a move.
How long until someone might be unsettled enough to be tempted by my call?
One month? Three months? The probationary period where they aren’t on a full 3 month notice?
There's a reason to focus on getting things right from first principles - it's so that when you do appoint, they accept for the right reasons. That you support new starters in the right way to give them every chance of success. And when they do start they aren't shocked by a role that was never what they wanted.
Get it right and you'll employ people for whom the grass is genuinely greener, and who will thrive by doing the things you need them to.
Rush to hire and fail to plan and you may well lose time, money and opportunity while blaming something you wish had nothing to do with you.
A better start to employment benefits all employees, including the ones that don’t boomerang. Better retention leads to simpler recruitment.
It does raise the prospect that, if you weren’t able to convince your departing employee to stay when they resigned, why not drop them a line to see how their new job is going?
Maybe you can even tempt them back.
If you do get them back on board, don’t forget why they left in the first place.
How can you improve their lot so that they stick around this time?
You may find the answers can benefit the rest of your people too.
While if you take a new role, it’s a great reason not to burn bridges with your old employer.
The Great Boomerang Hire - an opportunity to do better.
Back to recruitment writing, pt 4, in the next edition.
Thanks for reading.
Regards,
Greg
p.s. While you are here, if you like the idea of improving how you recruit, lack capacity or need better candidates, and are curious how I can help, these are my services:
- commercial, operational and technical leadership recruitment (available for no more than three vacancies)
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Just hit reply to check if my approach is right for you.