Why Some Searches Die On The Vine
Have you ever heard (or actually said) this:
”If we just stay focused on working these job orders harder, we will eventually get them all filled.”
I know, it seems very logical.
But that’s not how things really work. Thinking like that keeps recruiters working on searches that are never going to be closed, and as a result, both the recruiter and the client end up frustrated. Or, even worse, the search gets cancelled and the client relationship suffers.
Let’s get real. Here’s the simple truth:
Most job reqs that stall don’t have a candidate problem.
They have a clarity problem.
Of course, sourcing matters, but it’s no substitute for having a clear understanding of the requirements. When you keep pushing candidates to a hiring manager who keeps saying “no,” you’re just treating the symptom and not the real problem.
Getting it right requires recognizing the pattern, stopping long enough to fix the foundation, and having the client conversation that most recruiters avoid.
But, when it’s done properly, something shifts. The search that was going nowhere suddenly has direction. The hiring manager who was rejecting everyone now sees someone who fits.
But, how does this all happen?
It gets accomplished through direct questions about why previous candidates didn’t work, forcing a real conversation about trade-offs and the willingness to tell a client that their search, as it stands, is destined to fail.
Besides just pushing harder on stalled searches, many recruiters also misdiagnose why their searches aren’t closing. They often assume that they just need more and better tools or more candidates. The assessment they should make is whether they have a definition problem or a decision problem.
Unclear requirements indicate a search definition problem.
A lack of urgency indicates a client decision problem.
How a search is defined (and designed) should be evaluated on whether the parameters actually match what the role needs, and client decision making should be evaluated on the ability to move the hiring manager toward a timely candidate choice. When you get clear on those two issues, your fill rates will improve, your time-to-fill metric will drop, and you stop wasting time on searches that were never going to be filled.
So, be the recruiter that knows the difference between the two. The recruiter that can stop a search when it needs to be stopped. The recruiter who tells a client the truth about why the search isn’t working.
That is what separates recruiters who fill roles from those who just stay busy.