Thought cutting corners on hiring was a genius move. Your story of getting ghosted showed me it's just setting yourself up for failure. Now I vet people properly and sleep better at night.
Absolutely spot on. That quick hire who vanishes after two weeks costs way more than the time you "saved" skipping calls. Learned the hard way that a real reference check catches the "just left a job" line versus the "was fired for no-calls." Even a short paid trial task shows how they handle real work pressure. Skimping there just means wasting months fixing their mess or re-hiring.
Honestly I've hired some of my best people without doing all that extra stuff. Sometimes you just get a good feeling from someone in the interview and it works out. Spending weeks on checks and paid trials can mean you lose a great candidate to a faster offer.