The Fence Is Falling Down: What’s Broken in Recruitment Today
Employers are struggling to find not just great applicants—but great employees.
Phantom jobs. Authentic candidates are lost in a sea of casual browsers.
The hiring system is bloated, outdated, and misaligned from every angle. So the real question is: who’s winning? Besides LIZ, (LinkedIn, Indeed, and ZipRecruiter), with a combined valuation of $96.6 billion.
Let’s Start with the Numbers
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
Roughly 6 million people start a new job each month in the U.S.
The U.S. has around 205 million able-bodied adults between the ages of 18 and 64
There are approximately 7.5 million open jobs
Each corporate job attracts 250+ applications, which puts us at over 100 million job applications submitted monthly
What does that leave us with?
Overwhelm. Burnout. Frustration.
For both the recruiter and the candidate.
The Soul-Crushing Reality of Today’s Job Search
This isn’t just inefficiency. It’s extraction disguised as opportunity.
Qualified people are ignored.
Exceptional candidates are filtered out by AI.
Even in high-need sectors like healthcare, law enforcement, and finance—people are asked to jump through hoops just to be seen.
There’s nothing more demoralizing than needing a job to cover your mortgage or buy groceries—and being stuck in a hiring loop that doesn’t even tell you how (or if) it ends.
And then there's the Monday when the “right fit” quietly becomes the “wrong fit”... and no one discusses how it ends with dignity.
The Job Description? Let’s Be Honest.
Go look at a job posting from a Fortune 500, a local hospital, or one of the SHREK firms: Spencer Stuart. Heidrick & Struggles. Russell Reynolds. Egon Zehnder. Korn Ferry.
Ask yourself:
How many people have applied?
When was it posted?
Is the job post insightful and real—or is it just a polished corporate wish list?
GBI Factor: The Good, the Bad, and the Interesting
Let’s stop pretending job descriptions are marketing content. They should be clear, grounded, and human and then with a flair of smart marketing.
The Good: What’s working? What’s strong and sustaining here?
The Bad: What’s broken, chaotic, or frustrating?
The Interesting: What’s the twist? Where’s the unexpected opportunity or complexity?
Job seekers don’t need perfection. They need honesty.
No, AI Isn’t the Fix- But, it can help
Software can’t read nuance, career pivots, or leadership potential. If you're reviewing 100+ resumes to make one hire, the issue isn't talent—it's a lack of clarity in what the job requires. Scrap AI to read your resumes and ask it to build you an honest, no-BS, job profile based on your website, current job profile, and social.
What If Job Seekers Boycotted?
Imagine if candidates refused to apply to:
Jobs posted for more than 30 days with no explanation or indicator
Listings with 100+ applicants and zero communication
Any job posting without:
A deadline to apply
First-round feedback expectations
A target start date
And what if we all pushed back on any application process—absent of the FBI or the United Nations—that:
Takes more than 10 minutes
Can’t be completed on a phone
Doesn’t disclose salary range, sign-on bonus, cost of benefits (employee + family), or 401(k) contribution
Because let’s be real:
If your application takes more than 10 minutes and gives no real context for the opportunity—
you’re not attracting talent, you’re exhausting it.
Where Are the Metrics That Matter?
Kudos to the few job boards that list applicant numbers.
But let’s be honest:
LinkedIn and Indeed don’t reset application counts when jobs are reposted.
So, what do you see? Likely inflated. Possibly irrelevant.
Now imagine if we tracked:
Original post date
Number of unique applications
Active candidates under review
Disqualified applicants (with reasons)
Time-to-hire metrics
We track sales funnels. We track marketing campaigns.
Why aren’t we tracking recruitment with the same discipline?
Speaking of Black Holes…
Let’s talk about those auto-generated Indeed email addresses.
They’re intended to protect privacy—but in reality:
Recruiters can’t respond
ATS systems can’t connect
Candidates have no idea who they applied to
It’s not privacy.
It’s a brick wall.
Here’s the Ask—for Both Sides of the Fence
Employers: Bring Your Humanity and Own the Process. If you’re recruiting human beings, you need to show up like one.
Stop ghosting.
Stop reposting phantom jobs.
Don’t ask for more than you’re willing to give.
Never get off the phone with a candidate without communicating the next step—and honoring it.
And- PICK up the phone because recruitment, great, successful, honorable recruitment is about relationships and it doesn’t start with a text message or end with a rejection without words.
Own the disqualification process:
Not enough experience? Say so.
Prefer local? Be upfront.
Salary expectations don’t align? Be honest.
Candidates - Take it on the chin and don’t push back with an attitude.
A high-integrity job profile makes disqualification clear, fast, and respectful.
Job Seekers: If You’re Serious, Be Serious
Track your applications. Use that brilliant mind to create a dashboard and track your efforts.
Know who called you and who rejected you.
Know who to follow up with. Who to go the extra mile with to make a connection or get an introduction?
Skip emotional posting on social where your network or new boss can view it—this is a professional process.
Customized resumes? One resume should suffice for the job sector you’re applying to.
Tailoring resumes word-for-word may help occasionally, but how often? It’s a false promise rooted in false hope—especially when the job never even invited you to apply.
Be strategic. Be grounded. Be professional.
Monday Morning: Remember the Other Side
This is more than filling a role.
This is about livelihoods. Families. Dignity. Mortgages. Health benefits. Retirement.
If you recruit, hire, or lead—remember: you were a candidate once too. Remember how it felt and be better.
And the fence between employers and job seekers?
It’s falling down.
Let’s rebuild it—
With structure.
With honesty.
With mutual respect.
