Short version:
We hired two developers thinking they were senior but are actually junior, how can we help them to improve without hurting their feelings?
Long version:
My company is having problem hiring new persons for my team. In less than a year they hired 2 senior developers that in the day to day life proved to be more of a junior.
Now we have this situation where these guys think they are seniors because hired with such title and pretend to do everything as they please because they know what they are doing (they don't).
I proposed to my managers to avoid to give such titles to the new hires and let the time decide where they position themselves. So that if we hire someone that looks like a senior but proves to be a junior we can easily pair him with a more experienced developer to learn the job, without hurting his pride or having to do a step back and getting in the awkward situation where we are forced to confrontate with him on the matter.
The problem I'm trying to find a solution for is the situation with these two persons.
They were welcomed in the company with high expectations and initially we even gave them freedom of action, one of them was even told by his manager that he would have guided a team.
Now we are living with these two developers that aren't improving because they think they are the top and that don't accept any help for the same reason.
How could we change the situation so that they can improve and become useful members of the team?