Hiring the wrong person in a senior finance role doesn’t just hold the team back – it can cause serious long-term damage. From disrupted team dynamics and lost productivity to higher staff turnover and weakened culture, a poor hire at this level is expensive in more ways than one.
At Headstar, we’ve spent almost forty years supporting businesses with critical finance hires – and one thing is consistently true: skills can be developed, but character can’t be taught.
Why strong technical skills aren’t always enough
We’ve seen highly technical leaders join a team and completely misfire – not because they couldn’t do the job, but because they didn’t fit how the team worked.
They overpowered meetings, made decisions in a vacuum, ignored the culture — and morale dipped fast. You could feel the tension. Teams stopped speaking up. Staff turnover crept in. The ripple effect was real. In finance, where trust and influence are essential, a misaligned hire can quietly undo months of progress.
Bad hires don’t just cost money – they cost culture
According to the Society for Human Resource Management, replacing a poor hire can cost up to five times their annual salary once you factor in recruitment fees, training time, loss of productivity, and damage to the wider team.
And that’s before you consider the cost of team members leaving, increased workload for other, lost confidence in leadership and reputational damage.
So, if you’re hiring purely on technical ability, you’re taking a serious risk. You’re gambling on someone who might look right on paper, but derail everything in practice.
Character: Why it matters
At Headstar, we recruit for character, not just capability. Character-driven tests are built into every stage of our recruitment process.
Because a good hire should lift the team, not drain it. They should build trust, strengthen culture, challenge constructively, and add real value.
Skills might open the door – but character keeps it open
This character approach is how we recruit for own team, and it’s what we always advise our clients to do too.
The way someone behaves is just as important as what they know. That’s true whether you’re hiring a Finance Director, a Financial Controller, or a future CFO. All new hires are critical, irrespective of level.
Recruiting on character is your best defence against unnecessary disruption and your best shot at long-term business success.
Because skills might get someone through the door, but it’s character that makes them worth keeping.
