The Real Cost of Hiring the Wrong Restart Advisor
The Real Cost of Hiring the Wrong Restart Advisor
(A starts-first view with some simple maths)
At Red 5 People, we don’t just recruit for Restart contracts—we’ve lived them.
A few years ago, we worked alongside one of the country’s top-performing Restart teams. That gave us rare, daily insight into:
How the best Advisors build trust with harder-to-help participants.
How strong teams consistently hit tough job start and sustainment targets.
And what separates a good hire from a truly great one.
It’s why we recruit differently today. Because when you’ve seen success close up, you know what it really takes to deliver it.
Why Getting Restart Hiring Right Matters
On Restart, results = starts.
Starts drive contract performance, income, and reputation with the DWP.
But when hiring under pressure, it’s easy to underestimate the true impact of a mis-hire. A few missed starts each month quickly add up to missed targets.
What’s a Restart Advisor Worth?
A strong Advisor typically supports 8–10 job starts a month.
That’s around 100–120 participants into work each year—before even factoring in sustainments.
Every extra start counts. Even a 2–3 start difference between hires can decide whether a contract is on target or falling short.
Two Hiring Scenarios
1. The Wrong Fit
5 starts per month
Leaves after 6 months
Annualised: ~60 starts
Disruption from rehiring, retraining, and lost momentum
⚠️ Good people on paper aren’t always the right fit for Restart. The cost isn’t just financial—it’s in lost starts and missed momentum.
2. Increased Odds with Agency Support
10 starts per month (at the top end)
Stays the year
Annualised: ~120 starts
Often drives team culture upwards too
🌟 By sourcing against proven success, aligning roles to careers, and screening with a warts-and-all approach, agency support increases your odds of securing and keeping high performers.
Quick Comparison
| Scenario | Starts / Month | Annualised Starts | Stability |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Wrong Fit | 5 | ~60 | Missed targets, disruption |
| Increased Odds with Agency | 10 | ~120 | Consistent delivery, lifts team |
Where Agency Adds Value
It’s not that internal hires can’t succeed—they often do. But with agency support, your odds of finding and keeping high performers are higher:
Sourcing against proven success: We don’t just advertise and hope. We work with you to understand which of your own hires have delivered best on Restart, combine that with our wider experience, and then directly approach people with similar profiles.
Career and salary alignment: We make sure the role fits the candidate’s long-term career path, and that salary expectations are realistic. That way, they’re not a short-term “stopgap” who leaves after a few months.
Warts-and-all screening: We tell it straight. Candidates hear about the challenging customers, the tough targets, the pressure of delivery. If they’re still motivated, that’s a strong sign they’ll stick.
Target focus: Starts aren’t optional—they’re the job. We screen specifically for resilience, drive, and comfort working to hard targets.
The result? Candidates who know what they’re signing up for, are committed for the long term, and are more likely to deliver those all-important starts.
Final Thought
The real risk isn’t the small cost of an agency fee.
It’s the lost starts and missed targets when the wrong hire derails delivery.
To put it into perspective:
A “wrong fit” might deliver ~60 starts a year.
A high performer can deliver ~120 starts a year.
That’s a difference of around £60k in contract revenue (before sustainment’s).
With agency support, you improve your odds of consistent, high-performing Advisors—and with them, a far stronger chance of meeting your Restart contract goals.
If you’re ready to build a team that sticks, delivers, and drives impact—we’re ready when you are.