The Cost of a Bad Hire: Harry Potter Edition

Last updated: 10-1-2026

We already know a bad hire can cost your company a lot of money, but there is more than just your recruiting budget to consider when making an important hire. In honor of The Boy Who Lived’s 35^th birthday, let’s see what J.K. Rowling’s immortalized Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers can teach us about the hiring process (Dumbledore certainly could’ve used these tips).

In Short: This list uses seven Hogwarts professors to make one point: charm (Lockhart), a clean-looking file (Quirrell), and a good story (Moody) all failed to predict who could actually do the job. The fix was never sharper instincts, it is a harder process: run the background check, call the references, and have a real conversation about culture before the offer goes out, the same checklist that made Remus Lupin the good hire on this list.

Putting a Number on “A Lot of Money”

In business, one of the best ways to boost profitability is by maintaining control of your expenses, and high turnover comes with a price. It’s estimated the cost of replacing an individual employee can range from one-half to two times the employee’s annual salary.

Professor Quirrell

Professor Quirrell may have appeared to be a competent molder of minds, that is, until it was revealed Lord Voldemort had been living on the back of his head all year. Your next bad hire may not have one of the most powerful dark wizards of all time hitching a ride, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have skeletons in their closet. Background checks are a simple and effective to learn more about a new potential employee before you bring them on the payroll. Yes, there’s probably nothing alarming in your “perfect” hire’s record … but we thought the same thing about “p-p-poor, st-st-stuttering Professor Quirrell.”

Professor Lockhart

Gilderoy Lockhart certainly had a decorated resume … that he completely fabricated. This led to a year of sub-standard teaching, cumulating in a couple of 12-year olds demonstrating more cunning and skill than their famed professor. Checking your candidate’s references before you make an offer is an easy way to make sure they are who they say they are (and have done all they claimed). A surprising number of applicants lie on their resume and they are not the people you want on your staff.

Skip the Check, Meet Your Own Lockhart

Data verification

Background checks can verify that someone is who they say they are and that the information on their resume is true. This can help you determine someone’s honesty and reliability, and improve the quality of your hires.

Though it’s always good to trust what job seekers are telling you, it’s worth pointing out that 40% of people lie on their resumes and three out of four employers have caught candidates in a lie.

Professor Moody

Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody, ex-auror and good friend of Albus Dumbledore, might’ve been a great professor . . . unfortunately he never got around to teaching (you might recall he spent 9 months in the imposter Barty Crouch Jr.’s trunk). Assuming your new hire isn’t drinking a flask of polyjuice potion every hour on the hour, you still want to make sure you can count on an employee to show up and excel at their job. Ask for details of their work experience during the interview process and set expectations up front. Then, if they are taken over by a death eater later you’ll know something’s up.

Professor Umbridge

To put it lightly, Professor Umbridge didn’t jive with the company culture at Hogwarts (something about her pure-blood mania and forcing students to cut open their own hand in detention didn’t sit well with the rest of the staff). Company culture should play an important role in your hiring process. Tell candidates about your culture in interviews and ask about what they value the most in a workplace. If they’re not a good fit you can move along.

The Good Hire: Professor Lupin

Remus Lupin, Harry’s third year Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, is an example of hire done right. Lupin was qualified, vetted, and genuinely cared about the job he was doing and got along with the staff (Snape excluded). Plus, he always seemed to have chocolate on hand. Now isn’t that the kind of employee you want on your team?

Bonus: Professor Snape – The Internal Hire

Dumbledore went with external hires for years before turning to Severus Snape for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position. He needed to wait until Snape was ready to take the job (even though Snape wanted it for years). Internal hires have the benefit of knowing the company and probably understand the expectations of the job better than someone coming from a different office. However, not all positions are the same and you want to make sure that employee has the qualifications, skills, or potential to succeed.

What can you learn about hiring and recruiting from the Harry Potter series?

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Frequently Asked Questions About the Cost of a Bad Hire

Can a bad hire create legal risk, not just a financial one?

Additionally, pre-employment background checks can help you avoid legal liability in the unfortunate event that something does happen at work. Negligent hiring can be a costly claim made against employers by an injured employee. This claim insinuates that an employer should have known about an individual’s history, and therefore should be held responsible. Do your due diligence and conduct a background check to demonstrate care and compliance with hiring and avoid expensive hiring mistakes.

Is the cost of a bad hire just financial, or is there more to it?

Finances are just one part of this price. Think of the time and effort hiring, onboarding, and training new employees can take. Not only can this add a lot to an FBC, field coach, manager, or franchisee’s plate, but sometimes, marketing and external partners may be needed to help recruit new employees or do “damage control” on bad press or reviews.