Over the last few weeks, I've talked with several managers who noticed things about their new hires that made them pause. They weren't sure whether what they were seeing was a genuine red flag or simply someone adjusting to a new role.
It's a fair question. You want to catch problems early, but you also want to give people a fair chance to succeed.
Red flags are real. First impressions matter. But be careful how much you read into them.
Let's be honest. Hiring is much more of an art than a science. You're always making decisions with incomplete information.
Some people are incredible at interviewing and turn out to be average employees. Others are terrible at interviewing and become some of the best people you've ever hired.
You can't know everything about someone from a few interviews. And once they start, you still need time to understand how they work, how they learn, and how they respond when things get difficult.
So first, give yourself a little grace. You aren't going to get every hire right, and you aren't going to know immediately whether you did.
More importantly, give your new hire some grace, too.
I've seen people come across as snappy or defensive during their first few weeks. My initial reaction could easily have been that they had an attitude problem. But sometimes, what looked like an attitude problem was actually a confidence problem. They didn't know the answer, felt exposed, and reacted defensively to get the attention off themselves.
I've seen people jump into meetings too quickly, trying to demonstrate how much they know. They end up giving an incorrect answer or contributing something fairly basic when they would have been better off listening, learning, and understanding the conversation first.
And I've seen people who looked like they weren't doing anything.
I knew they had an entire knowledge base to work through. I'd walk past their computer, and they'd still be staring at the same page.
It would be easy to assume they were lazy, disengaged, or simply not putting in the effort.
But what if they had read the first few paragraphs and understood none of it? Maybe the terminology was unfamiliar. Maybe the process made no sense without someone explaining how the pieces fit together. They got stuck, didn't know who to ask, and eventually stopped making progress.
From the outside, all three situations can look like red flags.
But the behavior you're seeing isn't always the same as the problem you're assuming.
That doesn't mean you ignore what you see. It means you take the time to understand what's actually happening before deciding what it means.
Five things I pay attention to
When I'm evaluating a new hire, I look beyond whether they're immediately good at the job. I pay attention to how they approach learning, how they respond to challenges, and whether they're making progress.
1. Are they asking questions?
You want people who are curious, engaged, and willing to ask for help.
But be careful about assuming that someone who isn't asking questions doesn't have any.
They might be completely lost. They might think everyone else understands something that makes no sense to them. They might be worried that asking a basic question will make their manager question the hiring decision.
Pay attention to whether they're trying to understand the work. If they aren't asking questions, create opportunities for them to do so. Ask what isn't making sense and where they're getting stuck.
2. How do they respond to feedback?
This is one of the most useful things you can observe early on.
Some strong hires are used to being good at what they do. They may have been the person everyone went to for answers at their previous job. Suddenly, they're the new person who doesn't know anything.
That can be an uncomfortable adjustment.
Sometimes, that discomfort comes across as frustration or defensiveness when you correct them.
What matters is what happens next. Do they think about the feedback? Do they make an adjustment? Do you see the same behavior again, or do they learn from the experience?
I can work with someone who doesn't know something yet. I need to see that they're willing to learn.
3. Do they follow through?
Let's say I ask someone to read through a process document by the end of the day, and they don't finish it.
That's worth a conversation. But before I conclude they aren't doing their job, I want to understand why.
Did they get interrupted? Did they get stuck? Did they read half the document, realize they weren't following it, and stop? Did they understand the assignment but decide it wasn't important?
Those are very different situations.
I'd ask them what happened, where they got stuck, and what they need to finish the work.
I'm not lowering my expectations. I'm trying to understand whether the issue is ability, clarity, support, or accountability.
4. Are they improving?
This is probably the most important question.
I don't expect a new hire to know everything in week one. I expect them to learn.
Are they becoming more comfortable in meetings? Are they starting to understand the terminology? Are they asking better questions? Are they completing tasks with less help than they needed a week ago?
Progress won't always be a straight line. Some people take longer to get comfortable, and some roles have much steeper learning curves than others.
But over time, I need to see movement in the right direction.
Someone who struggles initially but learns quickly can turn into an outstanding employee. Someone who starts strong but doesn't adapt to feedback can become a much bigger problem.
5. Have I set clear expectations?
This is the question managers often forget to ask themselves.
Before I hold someone accountable for missing a milestone, I need to know whether I clearly explained what was expected, when it was due, and what success looked like.
Did I give them the resources they needed? Did they know where to go for help? Did I check that they understood the assignment?
It's easy to blame the new hire when something goes wrong. Sometimes the problem is that we expected them to figure out things we never properly explained.
That doesn't excuse poor performance. It does mean I need to take responsibility for my part in setting them up to succeed.
Give them a plan, not just a pile of documents
This is why I'm a firm believer in a well-documented 90-day onboarding plan.
You shouldn't have to guess what your new hire is working on. They shouldn't have to guess what you expect from them.
A good plan lays out what they're learning, who they're meeting with, what milestones they need to hit, and how their responsibilities will increase over time.
I like to map out the first week in considerable detail, sometimes down to two-hour blocks. I schedule introductory meetings, identify the processes they need to learn, and give them specific milestones to complete.
As they become more comfortable, I gradually give them more independence.
The goal isn't to micromanage someone for 90 days. It's to create enough structure early on that they can become independent later.
I also want clear milestones throughout the process. They might include completing introductory meetings, learning a specific workflow, demonstrating a process back to me, or handling their first project.
These milestones give both of us something concrete to evaluate. Instead of asking whether someone seems engaged or looks like they're making progress, we can look at what they've actually learned and accomplished.
I've put together a template based on the approach I've used. It's a starting point, not a perfect solution for every role or company. Adjust it to fit your team, the complexity of the work, and how quickly someone should reasonably ramp up.
Get the free 90-Day Onboarding Plan →
Give them someone they can ask the "dumb" questions
Along with the onboarding plan, I'm a big believer in assigning an onboarding buddy for the first 90 days.
This is someone the new hire meets with several times a week to walk through processes, discuss milestones, and ask questions.
More than anything, this person is there to help them work through the things they might be uncomfortable asking their manager.
Nobody wants to look dumb. Nobody wants to make their boss wonder whether they hired the wrong person.
So sometimes, people simply don't ask the questions they need to ask.
An onboarding buddy gives them another person to turn to. Someone who can explain an unfamiliar process, walk through a task, let them sit in on calls, or show them how the work actually gets done.
You can give someone access to an entire knowledge base, but that doesn't mean they'll understand it. Sometimes they need someone to explain how the pieces fit together.
I've found this makes a real difference.
One important caveat: make sure your onboarding buddy actually has time to do this. Don't assign someone the responsibility of training a new hire on top of a full workload and then wonder why the process isn't working.
Give the buddy clear expectations, make time for the meetings, and explain what you need them to help the new hire accomplish.
The onboarding buddy and the 90-day plan work together. One establishes the expectations and milestones. The other gives the new hire someone to help them reach those milestones.
When does a red flag become a real problem?
At some point, you have to make a judgment.
If someone repeatedly misses milestones, doesn't follow through, or fails to apply feedback, you need to address it directly.
I like to document the expectations and use that document as a shared reference. We can both see what was agreed upon, what has been completed, and what still needs attention.
If someone misses a deadline, I'll ask them to walk me through what happened. I'll clarify the expectation and explain why it matters. If the same issue happens again, we'll have a much more specific conversation about the pattern.
I'm not going to let performance problems continue indefinitely just because someone is new.
But I also don't want to make an employment decision based on a first impression that I never took the time to investigate.
If I've provided clear expectations, appropriate support, regular feedback, and reasonable opportunities to improve, and the person still isn't meeting the requirements of the role, then I have much better information to make a decision.
Depending on the circumstances, that may mean a formal performance improvement plan or ending the employment relationship. The right decision depends on the severity of the issue, the progress made, and the company's policies.
The important thing is that the decision is based on what I've observed over time, not just what I assumed during the first week.
Give people a fair chance to show you who they are
When a new hire does something that concerns you, don't automatically dismiss it. But don't immediately turn it into a conclusion about their character, either.
Get curious.
Ask questions. Clarify expectations. Look at their progress. Make sure they have the support they need to learn the job.
And pay attention to the patterns that emerge.
Someone who struggles at first but responds to feedback, asks for help, and steadily improves may turn out to be one of your strongest hires.
Someone who repeatedly ignores expectations, refuses feedback, and makes no effort to improve is giving you different information.
You won't get every hiring decision right. None of us does.
But you can build an onboarding process that gives people a fair opportunity to succeed and gives you better information to decide whether they're the right fit.
Don't confuse someone who hasn't learned the job yet with someone who can't or won't learn it. Give them the opportunity to show you the difference.