By Aaron Agius According to a CareerBuilder survey, the cost of a bad hire costs about $17,000 on average. In addition to the economic cost to a company, a bad hire can create huge problems for workplace morale and may significantly decrease employee retention—especially if the hire is in a senior position. Unfortunately, bad hires aren’t always easy to spot. Oftentimes, people can say and do everything right during the interview, but when it comes to the actual job, they perform poorly.