When a headquarters does not work, the first number that appears is the search fee. It is the most visible and almost always the least important.
The real cost is elsewhere: in the months that the position operated at half-speed, in the decisions that were postponed waiting for the person to settle, and in the team that began to look the other way before the board found out.
A wrong hire is rarely paid on the payroll. It is paid in the business.
The majority of medium-sized companies in Chile continue to choose the fastest search, not the one that understands the business. It's a reasonable decision when you look at the calendar and not the result: the vacancy is pressing, and filling it feels like moving forward.
But filling the vacancy and solving the problem are not the same. The profile that orders a position is not deduced from the description; It is deduced from the decision that that person is going to have to make in twelve months. And that requires reading the organization before reading the first CV.
Hiring wisely costs more time at the beginning and much less business later. The difference is rarely seen in the interview. You see it a year later, when the first line runs—or when you have to start over.