The Bad Hire Podcast

She handled a few supplier accounts. When the supplier's yearly appreciation trip to Italy came around, she wasn't on the list. So she invited herself. It worked. Then she asked to bring a plus one, an intern who needed shadowing experience. The intern was her husband. In Episode 55 of The Bad Hire, Ken is joined by Morgan and Emma for a round of unbelievable workplace stories involving a new hire...

The company was growing fast. Startup to millions in revenue in about a year. So they hired a CFO who looked the part: glasses, résumé, all of it. One month in, the credit card bill showed $2,800 in auto repairs. New tires. His car. When they asked him about it, he wasn't sorry. He said he thought they'd want the points. In Episode 53 of The Bad Hire, Ken and Nathan are joined by special g...

Four months of searching. Three prior CFO roles. References that held up. On his first day, he came in early, got his badge photo taken, and sat down with the quarterly numbers. Around 10 in the morning, four federal agents walked into the lobby and asked for him by name. He'd been in the chair for less than three hours. In Episode 52 of The Bad Hire, Ken, Nathan, and Kylie break down another...

The job posting said Atlanta. The offer letter said Atlanta. The onboarding paperwork said Atlanta. The welcome email even included a parking map for the Atlanta office. On her first day, she showed up in Charlotte. She had assumed the job was remote. It wasn't. In Episode 51 of The Bad Hire, Ken, Nathan, and Emma break down another round of unbelievable workplace stories involving first-hour...

She worked a nine-hour first day for $28. Not $28 an hour. $28 for the whole day. She stayed until 6:30, a half hour past quitting time, and went home. At 7:30 that night, one of the partners called and told her to come back to the office. No emergency. No crisis. When she said she couldn’t make it back, he fired her over the phone. In Episode 50 of The Bad Hire, Ken, Morgan, and first-time co-hos...

She interviewed well, got the job, showed up for her first day… and then asked one very important question: Where are all the men? Turns out, she had taken the job expecting a large company to be the perfect place to meet someone. There was just one problem: her department was almost entirely women. So she left. In Episode 49 of The Bad Hire, Ken, Emma, and Kyrie break down another round of unbeli...

What do you do when an employee tells everyone she adopted a child, lost everything in a house fire, and then tragically lost the child — only for HR to discover that none of it ever happened? In Episode 48 of The Bad Hire, Ken, Nathan, and Kylie break down another round of unbelievable workplace stories — from a new employee lighting a cigarette next to 10,000 liters of acetone to a worker who le...

What do you do when an employee calls in claiming she was just carjacked and needs the entire week off… only for her boss to call her actual phone 30 seconds later and hear, “Hey, I’m driving. Who’s this?” In Episode 47 of The Bad Hire, Ken, Morgan, and Nathan break down another round of unbelievable workplace stories — from an employee who intentionally shot himself with a nail gun because of a w...

What do you do when a brand-new employee gets a company credit card on his first day… disappears at lunch… and comes back with $4,000 worth of suits, ties, and shoes? In Episode 46 of The Bad Hire, Ken, Emma, and Kylie break down another round of unbelievable workplace stories — from an employee with an impossible streak of family emergencies to a seven-figure executive who simply never showed up...

What do you do when an employee going through an incredibly difficult time starts crossing the line with her much-younger manager? In Episode 45 of The Bad Hire, Ken, Morgan, and Corey break down another round of unbelievable workplace stories — including a $1.7 million fraud scheme, an employee with increasingly ridiculous excuses for being hours late, and a new hire who takes her relationship wi...

What happens when a software developer spends years secretly building a “kill switch” designed to cripple the company the moment he’s fired? In Episode 44 of The Bad Hire, Ken, Nathan, and Morgan react to some of the most unbelievable hiring stories yet—from a programmer who sabotaged his employer with malicious code, to fake nurses who fooled healthcare systems, and a CEO who finally fired the mo...

What do you do when your top employee disappears without a trace… only to discover weeks later that he was secretly in witness protection? In Episode 43 of The Bad Hire, Ken, Nathan, and Morgan react to some of the wildest workplace stories yet — from a trusted employee who quietly stole hundreds of thousands from a newspaper, to a disappearing salesman whose real identity shocked everyone, to mul...

How does someone use 20 aliases, seven Social Security numbers, and fake credentials to get hired over and over again? In Episode 42 of The Bad Hire, Ken, Morgan, and Emma react to some of the most unbelievable hiring failures yet—including a fake nurse who treated thousands of patients, a hospital employee who stole millions in medical supplies, and a school district that knowingly hired a teache...

What happens when a “perfect” candidate can’t even flip a piece of toast? In Episode 41 of The Bad Hire, Ken, Morgan, and Emma react to another round of unbelievable listener-submitted hiring disasters—from fake résumés and sleeping employees to toxic managers and candidates who lie about where they’re from. This episode is packed with stories that prove a polished résumé means nothing if the skil...

How does someone steal $38.7 million from a company… without anyone noticing for years? In Episode 40 of The Bad Hire, Ken and the team react to unbelievable hiring disasters and workplace scandals—including one of the largest employee theft stories you’ll ever hear. From massive embezzlement to fake résumés, dangerous workplace mistakes, and employees who simply disappear, this episode proves tha...

What happens when an armored truck employee steals $200,000 on his very first shift? In Episode 39 of The Bad Hire, Ken, Nathan, and Emma react to another collection of unbelievable hiring disasters—from massive payroll fraud and fake résumés to executives who should’ve never passed a background check. This episode proves that one bad hire can cost a company hundreds of thousands of dollars… somet...

What happens when an employee claims his brother died, his mom passed away, his car was stolen, and he got COVID multiple times… only for everyone to discover it was all a lie? In Episode 38 of The Bad Hire, Ken, Morgan, and Emma react to listener-submitted stories involving fake credentials, viral firings, toxic high performers, and one employee whose excuses became more unbelievable with every p...

What happens when a CFO lies about a Stanford MBA for years… and nobody notices until an anonymous tip exposes everything? In Episode 37 of The Bad Hire, Ken, Morgan, and Emma dive into a series of unbelievable stories involving fake degrees, résumé fraud, hiring shortcuts, and the career-ending consequences that follow. From a receptionist who quit after three hours on the job to executives who b...

What do you do when a candidate shows up nearly an hour late to an interview… then answers personal phone calls in the middle of it? In Episode 36 of The Bad Hire, Ken, Nathan, and Emma react to a fresh batch of listener-submitted hiring disasters, including interview train wrecks, fake remote workers, workplace meltdowns, and employees who spent more effort avoiding work than actually doing it.  ...

A receptionist starts calling clients “Sparkles Chompers.” A salesman disappears without a trace. And a remote engineer gets caught using a fake video feed during Zoom meetings. In Episode 35 of The Bad Hire, Ken, Nathan, and Morgan react to some of the most bizarre hiring stories yet — including workplace boundary disasters, employees who completely disappear, and remote work scams that sound too...

A new employee accuses her manager of poisoning her with heroin. Another worker gets fired for scratching lottery tickets behind the register. And one admin casually announces on her FIRST DAY that she stops working at 2PM. In Episode 34 of The Bad Hire, Ken, Morgan, and Corey react to some absolutely unhinged hiring stories — from fake medical excuses and bizarre paranoia to fake references and e...

A bank manager physically grabs an employee by the arm. A new hire brags at lunch that his résumé is completely fake. And an MIT admissions dean spends 28 YEARS building a career on degrees she never earned. In Episode 33 of The Bad Hire, Ken, Emma, and Kyrie react to some of the wildest stories yet — from workplace power trips and résumé fraud to theft, manipulation, and employees completely expo...

A pizza delivery driver lasted exactly one delivery before getting fired. A firefighter showed up drunk on his first day. And a candidate with violent felonies asked why the company couldn’t “focus on her personality instead.” In Episode 32 of The Bad Hire, Ken, Nathan, and Emma react to some of the most unbelievable first-day flameouts and hiring disasters yet — from misogynistic pizza drivers to...

What happens when a single tweet destroys your career before your flight even lands? In Episode 31 of The Bad Hire, Ken is joined by Randall Wilson and Jamie Franco for an episode entirely focused on social media disasters, online reputation, and the hiring mistakes companies never see coming.   From racist tweets resurfacing years later to servers getting fired over Facebook posts, this episode d...

What do you do when your brand-new hire steals inventory… and then falls asleep an hour into their shift? In Episode 30 of The Bad Hire, Ken, Nathan, and Emma react to more unbelievable hiring disasters — from fake transcripts and stolen office supplies to employees who couldn’t actually do the job they were hired for.   This one is packed with chaos, confusion, and a few painful lessons along the...