Why the Best Hires Come From Rejected Applicants

Hiring & Firing with Fexingo: Recruitment, Performance, and Workforce Decisions · Jun 22, 2026 · 11m · transcript

This episode explores a counterintuitive hiring strategy: tapping the pool of candidates you previously rejected. Lucas and Luna examine research from a 2025 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research that tracked 1,200 hires across 50 companies. The study found that candidates who were initially rejected but later re-recruited for a different role performed 15 percent better on average and stayed 40 percent longer than traditional hires. The hosts break down why this works: rejected candidates have lower expectations, higher motivation, and a more realistic understanding of the…