The Talent Initiative

I spoke to a frustrated candidate today and got the full greatest-hits album:

• “The recruitment market is broken. AI is the only answer.”
• “Great people don’t apply anymore.”
• “If you put a green ‘Open to Work’ banner on LinkedIn you look desperate.”
• “AI is taking all the jobs.”
• “AI is reading and rejecting my application.”
• “This is the worst market ever and it’s all AI’s fault.”

And look, I get it. When you’re applying into a black hole and hearing nothing back, it feels personal. It feels rigged. It feels like a machine is deciding your future.

But here’s the part hiring managers need to hear (and probably won’t love): the market isn’t “broken.” The forces haven’t changed. What’s changed is the noise, and a whole lot of hiring processes have quietly become lazy, low-trust, and low-conversation.

AI didn’t create that. It just amplified it.

The uncomfortable truth: you’re not “missing great people” — you’re filtering them out

If your hiring process is:

• Post an ad
• Wait for applicants
• Let the ATS/keywords do the first cut
• Take a week to review
• Ghost the rest
• Run 4 interview rounds because you’re “being thorough”

…then you’re not selecting for “the best candidate.” You’re selecting for the person most willing to tolerate a slow, impersonal, ambiguous process.

High performers, the ones you say you want, are often:

• already employed
• time-poor
• not refreshing Seek every night
• not interested in rewriting their resume to match your keyword soup
• not willing to do three rounds to prove they can do what they’ve already done

So when you say “great people aren’t applying,” what you often mean is:

• “Great people aren’t applying to us.”
• “Great people aren’t applying through this process.”
• “Great people aren’t applying when we take 10 days to respond.”

That’s not an AI problem. That’s a conversation problem.

The market hasn’t changed. Your expectations have.

Every cycle, we pretend this is the first time hiring got hard.

Yes, the volume is higher. Yes, it’s more competitive. Yes, people are anxious. But the fundamentals are boringly consistent:

• People hire people they trust.
• People refer people they respect.
• People move when the opportunity is clear and the process is human.
• The best candidates are found through targeted outreach and real conversations.

If you want a shortcut summary: relationships still matter. Probably more than ever.

Because when the market gets loud, trust becomes the filter.

What AI is actually doing (and what it isn’t)

Let’s clear up a few myths.

AI isn’t “taking all the jobs”

Some roles are changing. Some tasks are being automated. That’s been happening forever. But most organisations still need people who can:

• deliver outcomes
• work with stakeholders
• make judgement calls
• communicate clearly
• own problems end-to-end

If your role genuinely has no human judgement in it, then yes — it’s at risk. That’s not a hiring market issue; that’s a job design issue.

AI isn’t “rejecting everyone”

Your process is.

If you’ve built a system where:

• the ad is generic
• the screening is keyword-based
• the response time is slow
• the feedback is non-existent

…then you’ve created a machine. Don’t be shocked when candidates feel like they’re being processed by one.

AI increases speed and volume… it doesn’t create clarity

Candidates can apply faster. Hiring teams can screen faster. Everyone can generate more words.

But clarity still comes from humans deciding:

• what good looks like
• what matters most
• what you’re willing to trade off
• what outcomes the role must deliver

If you don’t do that work, AI just helps you move faster in the wrong direction.

“Open to Work looks desperate” — no, your hiring culture is just weird

Let’s talk about the green LinkedIn banner thing.

A person signalling they’re available is not “desperate.” It’s information.

The desperation is pretending everything is fine while you’re quietly panicking because the role has been open for 10 weeks and your team is burning out.

If you’re a hiring manager who dismisses candidates because they’re transparent about being open to opportunities, you’re not being discerning, you’re being performative. And if you’re a Recruiter, you’re just plain dumb.

Strong people get laid off. Strong people take breaks. Strong people leave bad managers. Strong people relocate. Strong people finish contracts.

The banner isn’t the signal. The signal is in the conversation.

If you want better hires, stop hiring like a vending machine

Here are five moves that will beat “the AI market” every single time.

• 1) Write the ad like you actually want a human to read it

Most ads are laundry lists written to satisfy internal stakeholders, not attract talent.

Instead:

• state the outcomes (what will be true in 90 days?)
• state the environment (pace, ambiguity, stakeholders)
• state the non-negotiables (2–3 max)
• state what you’ll compromise on

Clarity attracts. Generic repels.

• 2) Commit to a 48-hour response rule

If you can’t respond to an applicant in 48 hours, you’re telling the market:

• “We’re slow.”
• “We’re disorganised.”
• “We don’t value people’s time.”

You don’t need a perfect process. You need a fast feedback loop.

• 3) Replace “more applicants” with “more conversations”

Ten targeted reach-outs to the right people beats 200 random applicants.

If you’re relying purely on inbound applications, you’re outsourcing your hiring success to chance.

Talk to people. Ask for referrals. Reach out directly. Use your network. Use your suppliers. Use your customers. Use your ex-employees.

This is not revolutionary. It’s just work.

• 4) Screen for signal, not keywords

Stop asking “does their resume match the JD?”

Start asking:

• What did they deliver?
• What changed because they were there?
• What did they own end-to-end?
• What would their manager say they’re great at?
• What’s the pattern across their last 2–3 roles?

Keywords are easy to fake. Signal is harder.

• 5) Use AI to support humans, not replace them

AI is great for:

• drafting outreach messages you then personalise
• summarising notes
• building structured interview scorecards
• helping you write clearer ads

AI is terrible at:

• judging nuance
• understanding context
• assessing stakeholder fit
• replacing a real reference check

Use it like a power tool, not a decision maker.

The punchline: the best people still move the same way they always have

They move because:

• someone they trust reached out
• the opportunity was clear
• the process was respectful
• the hiring manager showed up like a human

If you’re a hiring manager reading this and thinking “we’re doing everything right, it’s just the market,” I’ll be blunt:

If your process is slow, generic, and silent, you’re not competing for talent — you’re hoping for it.

A practical offer (because ranting without solutions is just noise)

If you’ve got a role that’s dragging, send me the job brief and I’ll give you a straight answer on:

• why it’s not landing
• what the market is actually saying
• what to change to get a quality shortlist fast

No fluff. No buzzwords. Just the reality check most hiring processes desperately need.