You have a job opening, and you have advertised for the position. Among the applications you have received is one from a former employee. And so here you are confronted with a question, should you consider rehiring a person who has left the company?
There obviously are differing opinions about the question. Some might dismiss the person immediately, arguing that if a person has left, presumably because he or she did not like the environment at the company or went on to something “better,” why should the individual be considered for rehiring?
So the circumstances under which an individual left the company are certainly something that needs to be taken into consideration.
There may be good reasons for rehiring, especially if the person left the company on good terms and was a good employee.
If, for example, the person was a good performer and did his or her job well, it might be worth taking a second look. You would need to know, of course, why the person left the company to begin with and whether the circumstances that led to his or her exit still exist or not. Was it because of a certain person? Was it salary? Maybe the employee didn’t like the brand of coffee.
This again is one of the advantages of considering a former employee – the person is a known quantity. You know the person, you know his or her personality, how the individual works with others, how hard he or she works, etc. You’ve seen how the candidate did the job day in and day out. You know if he or she will fit in or not.
This is a lot more information than you will have on the other candidates. Moreover, since the former employee has done the job and knows the job, he or she will be able to hit the ground running. There will be no need to get the person up to speed.
The former employee, in turn, also has a lot more information about the company than other applicants. The person knows what to expect. He or she knows what working at the company will be like and who the other people are. The candidate knows what he or she is getting into.
Another advantage is in fact that candidate worked at another company, before re-applying where presumably he or she received additional training, learned new and different approaches to doing things that might benefit your company – all of it paid for by someone else.
One thing to watch out for, however, is the individual’s commitment for the long term. If he or she moved on once, will it happen again, leaving you faced once ore with the task of looking for someone new?
Need help with staffing your Portland, Chicago or Lake Oswego business? Then contact the Opti Staffing Group. We’ll help you find great employees for your temporary, temp-to-hire and direct-hire assignments. We look forward to hearing from you.