Broken HR advice #3: 'Hire slow, fire fast'
Half right. The data says fire fast is sound, hire slow is selective survivorship bias from companies that could afford it.
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- The 'fire fast' half is empirically supported: bad hires kept past 6 months damage team productivity 1.5–2x their salary cost (Robert Half meta-study).
- The 'hire slow' half is mostly survivorship bias. Slow hiring is correlated with successful companies because successful companies can afford to lose candidates; it is not a cause of success.
- The real heuristic: hire decisively but with calibrated bars, fire with humanity but without delay.
This piece of advice gets repeated by people who haven't lost a Series A finalist to a competitor that moved in 10 days. Speed is a competitive weapon in hiring. Bars are a competitive weapon. They are not the same thing.
What the evidence says
The better frame
- Indefinite panel rounds
- Recruiter ghosting between stages
- Decision deferred to absent stakeholder
- Calibrated bar, defended
- Sub-2-week loop with debrief inside 24h
- Offer team that can move same-day
Hire with a high bar, low cycle time, and a written decision. Fire fast, with severance, with dignity, with a debrief about what the hiring process missed.
- Greenhouse Hiring Benchmark Report — Greenhouse
- Robert Half — Cost of a Bad Hire — Robert Half
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