The first ninety days: why placements fail and how to stop it

We track every placement for a year. The ones that do not last almost always show the first sign inside ninety days, and the sign is usually the same: the job the person started is not the job they were told about.

Where the gap comes from

Not from lying. From the brief being written by someone who does not do the job, from the interview process running out of time before the hard questions, and from the first week being left to chance. Each one is small. Together they add up to a new hire who is quietly updating their CV by week six.

What we do about it

Every Northstar placement gets three calls: the day before they start, at the end of week one and at the end of month one. We call the hiring manager on the same days. If the two accounts disagree, we say so, early, while it is still fixable.

What employers can do

Have the first week planned before the offer goes out. A desk, a laptop that works, a list of five people to meet and one small piece of real work to finish by Friday. It sounds basic. It is also the thing most often missing.

The number

Ninety-two percent of the people we placed in the last twelve months are still in the role. The eight percent who are not mostly left inside the first quarter, and most of those told us why in the week-one call. We are working on the rest.