The number one problem I have seen is that people become willing to compromise and take any interchangeable carbon unit just to fill the job. Perhaps they are tired of interviewing (it can be a very tedious process). Perhaps they just figure they will never find the right person so the kinda ok person is fine. But most of the time, no-one is better than the wrong person. It may be hard to see, but there is a real drain on the team to bring a new person up to speed, and to get them going, particularly if they are not a good fit for the team. The effort of covering the empty spot is often quite a bit less than dealing with a bad fit.
The second problem that I see is that insecurity will stop people from hiring outstanding candidates. I learned a long time ago that you want to surround yourself with individuals who are smarter than you are. It can be intimidating at first, but the results are fantastic. I have seen hiring managers who say they only want A players but in fact they are hiring B+ players so that they maintain the status of the smartest in the room. The difference may appear subtle but the results are not. Development teams should be built of incredibly smart people.
The third problem is that when hiring managers make a mistake and somehow the wrong person gets on board. Very few are then willing to deal with it in a timely fashion. It is hard to let someone go. But keeping a bad fit on your team is almost always damaging to the team, the product, and to you (because people either see you as unable to act [i.e. make a f**king decision] or worse, unable to see the issue).
I sympathize with the first problem. I am struggling with this right now. I am building out an R&D team in a startup. The opportunity for people joining is fantastic, in my humble opinion, because of the responsibility and the potential financial upside. But getting the candidate stream flowing, and finding people with the breadth of skills I would like to have with the right personality fit for the team continues to be an arduous task.
I keep reminding myself that my patience will pay off. I remind myself that if I do hire the wrong person, I may be stuck with the third problem above - having to remove them from the team. But I am also rethinking the criteria for hiring. I am willing to give up on skills that I would like to have if I can get someone who is smart, adaptable, with the right attitude, solid experience, and who has a personality fit with the rest of the team. Skills can be learned, but you cannot change personalities and you most certainly cannot "teach smart".
Remember the importance of team. The best way to be successful is to surround yourself with great individuals who mesh together to form a stellar team.
