🙄 “Employee Leaving? Let Them Find Their Replacement!”

Sometimes the employer asks the leaving employee to find a proper replacement for their role. It seems logical. Yet, we think that this is one of the #blind_spots_in_recruiting — and here’s why.

Scenario 1: The company fires the employee

The employee asked to leave will likely be demotivated and resentful towards the company (even if they receive compensation). A resentful employee asked to find their replacement will be involuntarily focused on the negative or may even sabotage the process.

For example, they might quickly approve the first candidate they come across. Or they might intentionally hire someone who will be a poor performer.

Scenario 2: The employee leaves on their own

Even a specialist who is parting ways with the company on an amicable note is unlikely to be able to “sell” the vacancy well.

When someone has already decided to leave but hasn’t yet handed in their notice, they are in a state of “internal disengagement” (or burnout). The employee may still be physically in their position, but they mentally want to be somewhere else.

One of the goals of an interview is to tell the future employee why they should work there.

The departing employee may have a pessimistic or sceptical view of the company’s situation. For example, they may not have been able to do something they wanted to do, and they might tell candidates that it’s impossible to do it there.

Katerina Veselkina, IT recruitment lead at NEWHR, recalls a case from her practice. A client asked for help finding a new CMO. The company wanted all candidates to initially speak with the person leaving the position.

“We didn’t think this was a good idea and requested a meeting with the CMO”, says Ekaterina.

“At the first briefing, the employee spoke very emotionally about the difficulties with a stakeholder (which probably influenced his decision to leave). He said that it was unlikely that anyone else would be able to work with this stakeholder. The obvious conclusion was that the departing employee would say the same thing when talking to candidates”, she adds.

Scenario 3: The employee is getting promoted

It seems like the person is staying with the company and is interested in finding a great replacement. But there are still risks:

• Perfectionism: The specialist will want to find someone like them — the perfect candidate.
• Rushing: The person who is getting promoted will be in a hurry to find their replacement.

In such a situation, the hiring manager should lead the hiring process. The departing employee can be involved as a consultant.

👉 NEWHR Recruiting agency can help you find the best tech professionals and managers. Contact us via our website or email: 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐭@𝐧𝐞𝐰.𝐡𝐫