In today’s competitive hiring environment, are you plumbing all the possible places to find top candidates? Have you considered rehiring former employees?

Beyond the policy, when your company and an employee part ways, is it ever okay to hire that person back?

The answer: It depends.

There’s always a question mark surrounding the hire of an unknown employee and whether he or she will be the best fit.  Significant benefits can come from hiring former employees. In most cases, you know these people, their personalities, their work ethics and why they left your company.

Things to consider before rehiring

Make sure to ask former employees all of the same questions you would ask unknown candidates. Find out about new experiences they have gained since leaving the company, as well as reasons they left those jobs.

Ask specific questions about their reasons for leaving the first time and what they have learned since they left. If they were laid off, dig into how it made them feel and how they overcame those feelings, if those feelings were negative.

You also need to consider how this will affect the team they will be joining. Are your rehires joining a new team or their previous team? How will former team members feel about this rehire?

Finally, consider the reasons former employees left the job initially. You need to remember what was great about them as well as what they needed to improve. Weigh the positives and negatives.

It’s a tough job to hire the right person. Former employees may offer a pool of terrific candidates. They may not. It all depends.