Too much of a good thing

Too many talented people are looking for a job but disappearing in a sea of indifference. But let's not be too quick to blame it all on sloppy recruiters.

Recruiters used to be skilled fishermen, going out in a small boat to find and catch the elusive prized fish. Now they are bottom trawlers dragging up everything and discarding 99% of what they stir up that cannot be consumed directly.

Not by choice: most are trying to maintain an outdated business model in a sea of change. They still processing transactions, but increasingly fail at the human function they claim to serve. Their world has changed – but most of them have not, yet. They adopt automation, but not the strategies to manage it.

The hiring funnel has become grotesquely asymmetric, with AI tools on both sides trying to solve the problems they create. ATS and AI filters and AI resume writers are like a humidifier and a dehumidifier in the same room, duking it out.

Ghosting is one of job seekers' top frustrations, but most recruiters simply do not have the ability or tools to respond. Their overwhelmedness can easily be mistaken for arrogance or indifference when you are on the wrong side of it.

The mass-market recruitment model of job boards versus spray-and-pray applications has lost its relevance. My last two hires were all in-network and based on referrals and personal recommendations.

Recruiters: what is your way back to shore?