You won’t hire a number 2 candidate for a critical job after you discover the high cost of settling. The definition of “settling” includes “accepting less than the best.” To me, that doesn’t sound like a desirable recruiting result. Until now, after losing your number one candidate, you most likely thought that offering the job to your second-ranked candidate (or lower) was the natural thing to do.

But most won’t likely continue that practice after they learn about the staggering performance drop-off that occurs when you “settle” on your number 2 (or worse) candidate.

The two best alternatives to settling