How to improve hire quality for long-term team success

Improving hire quality starts with shifting your focus from simply filling a vacancy to identifying the specific work behaviours and cultural alignment that drive long-term performance.

Key takeaways

• High-quality hiring requires a multi-dimensional approach that evaluates organisation fit, personality, and technical skills.
• Data-driven assessments reduce reliance on gut feel and help mitigate unconscious bias during the recruitment process.
• Understanding the 'work personality' of your current team allows you to identify specific gaps that a new hire needs to fill.
• Improving hire quality directly impacts employee retention, team morale, and overall business productivity.

We have all been there – the 'perfect' candidate on paper joins the team, only to struggle with the company culture or clash with teammates within the first ninety days. It is a frustrating, expensive, and time-consuming cycle that many HR leaders find themselves trapped in. When we talk about how to improve hire quality, we aren't just talking about finding someone who can do the job; we are talking about finding someone who will thrive in your specific environment.

The traditional CV-first approach is increasingly proving insufficient for modern teams. A list of past responsibilities does not tell you if a candidate is a Doer who will execute tasks with precision or a Pioneer who will challenge the status quo. To truly elevate the calibre of your intake, you need to look beneath the surface of technical experience and understand the human element of work.

The hidden cost of poor hire quality

Before we can improve hire quality, we must acknowledge the weight of getting it wrong. A poor hire doesn't just cost the business in recruitment fees and salary; it creates a ripple effect across the entire organisation. When a new starter isn't the right fit, existing team members often have to pick up the slack, leading to burnout and a dip in morale. The time spent by managers on performance coaching for a mismatched hire is time taken away from strategic growth.

In many mid-market businesses, the 'gut feel' still reigns supreme in the interview room. While intuition has its place, it is often a mask for unconscious bias. We tend to hire people who remind us of ourselves, rather than the person the team actually needs. By moving toward a more objective, data-led framework, we can ensure that every new addition adds genuine value to the collective. This is where a People Intelligence Platform becomes essential, providing the insights needed to make informed decisions rather than hopeful guesses.

Moving beyond the CV to assess organisation fit

To improve hire quality, we must redefine what 'qualified' looks like. Technical skills are the baseline, but organisation fit is the predictor of longevity. This involves assessing how a candidate's values and work preferences align with your company culture. At Compono, we define this through three distinct lenses: Organisation Fit, Job Fit, and Personality Fit. When these three align, you don't just get an employee; you get a high-performer.

Consider the difference between a Coordinator and an Auditor. Both might have the same accounting qualifications, but the Coordinator will excel in a fast-paced environment requiring quick decisions, while the Auditor will provide the meticulous, detail-oriented scrutiny needed for complex compliance. If you hire for the skill but ignore the personality, the quality of the hire remains low because the individual is misaligned with the role's daily demands.

Using a tool like Compono Hire allows you to automatically score and rank candidates based on these deeper dimensions. By front-loading the recruitment process with science-based assessments, you ensure that the people reaching the interview stage are already vetted for the traits that matter most to your specific team culture.

The role of work personality in team performance

One of the most effective ways to improve hire quality is to look at your team as a puzzle with a missing piece. Every high-performing team requires a balance of different work activities. Our research shows there are eight key activities that define success: Evaluating, Coordinating, Campaigning, Pioneering, Advising, Helping, and Doing. If your team is full of Campaigners who love 'selling the dream' but lacks Evaluators to weigh up the risks, your hire quality will only improve if you intentionally seek out that analytical missing link.

Understanding the work personality of your candidates helps you predict how they will interact with existing staff. For example, if a manager is an Advisor who values collaboration and flexibility, they might struggle to manage a highly rigid, directive hire without clear communication strategies in place. By knowing these traits upfront, you can hire for 'complementary' rather than 'identical' traits, which is a hallmark of high-quality recruitment.

Standardising the interview for objective results

Even with the best data, the interview remains a critical junction. To improve hire quality, the interview must be structured and consistent. Every candidate should be asked the same set of core questions, allowing you to compare 'apples with apples'. These questions should be designed to elicit evidence of the behaviours you identified as necessary during the personality assessment phase.

Instead of asking, "Tell me about yourself," try asking, "Can you give me an example of a time you had to coordinate a complex project under a tight deadline?" This forces the candidate to demonstrate their practical approach. When you combine structured interviewing with the insights from a platform like Compono Engage, which helps you understand existing team dynamics, the likelihood of a successful, high-quality hire increases exponentially.

Key insights

• Hire quality is determined by the alignment of a candidate's natural work preferences with the specific needs of the team and organisation.
• Relying on CVs alone ignores the behavioural traits that lead to long-term retention and high performance.
• A balanced team requires a mix of work personalities – such as Doers, Pioneers, and Helpers – to cover all essential work activities.
• Objective, data-driven recruitment processes are the most effective way to remove bias and improve the calibre of new hires.

Where to from here?

Improving hire quality is an ongoing journey of refining how you see and value people. By integrating personality science into your recruitment workflow, you can move from reactive hiring to strategic talent acquisition.

• Explore: Compono Platform
• Talk to an expert: Book in a 15-minute chat to get a walkthrough of Compono.

How can I measure the quality of my hires?

You can measure hire quality by tracking metrics such as 90-day retention rates, time-to-productivity, and manager satisfaction scores. Additionally, comparing the candidate's initial assessment scores with their eventual performance reviews can help validate your hiring criteria.

Why is culture fit so important for hire quality?

Culture fit – or organisation fit – ensures that the candidate's values and work styles align with the company's environment. Without this alignment, even the most skilled employee may become disengaged, leading to lower productivity and eventual turnover.

Can personality assessments really predict job performance?

Yes, when based on established psychological theory. Personality assessments help identify a candidate's natural motivations and work preferences, which dictates how they handle stress, collaborate with others, and approach problem-solving in a professional setting.

How do I reduce bias when trying to improve hire quality?

The best way to reduce bias is to use objective data points, such as standardised assessments and structured interview guides. By focusing on measurable traits and 'work personality' rather than subjective impressions, you create a fairer and more effective selection process.

What is the difference between a skill and a work personality?

A skill is a learned ability, like coding or accounting. A work personality relates to the activities a person is naturally motivated to engage in – for example, whether they prefer leading a vision (Campaigner) or scrutinising details (Auditor). Both are essential for a high-quality hire.