Recruiting Insights

Intangible Compensation When we talk about compensation, most people think about salary, bonus, equity, and benefits. Naturally, all those things matter. People should be paid fairly for the work they're doing, and comp is one of the biggest factors most people consider when deciding whether to accept a job. However, there are many things that can make a job extremely compelling that never show up on an offer letter: a manager you trust, flexibility, autonomy, working with pe

A good recruiter can do a lot more than find candidates. They can help you understand the market, pressure test your expectations, identify where your process is creating friction, help you make tradeoffs, and ultimately improve the quality of the hiring decision. But that only works when the relationship is set up the right way. Over the years, I’ve worked with hiring managers who treated recruiting as a true partnership and others who treated it primarily as a service funct

Artificial Intelligence has broken hiring. Not necessarily because AI is inherently bad, and not because candidates or employers are wrong for using it. The problem is that both sides are using increasingly powerful tools to optimize against a hiring system that wasn’t designed for any of this. AI has made it incredibly easy to apply for jobs. Candidates can tailor résumés, write cover letters, answer application questions, research companies, and prepare for interviews in mi

If finding a job feels harder than the headlines suggest it should, you're not imagining it. The U.S. added 162,000 jobs in August, and unemployment held at 4.1%. On paper, that sounds pretty healthy, right? But hiring activity tells a different story. LinkedIn reported that U.S. hiring in July was more than 7% lower than a year earlier and roughly 26% below its pre-pandemic pace. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also reported 7.3 million job openings in July, but only 5.1 mill

Let me be honest with you. In today's competitive job market, the candidates worth pursuing aren't just looking for a paycheck. They're looking for meaning. They want to work for organizations that actually stand for something, and if your company isn't clear about what that is, you're going to struggle to attract the best talent. I've seen this shift firsthand. The candidates who have options (and those are the ones you want) are increasingly asking themselves a fundamental

In today's competitive job market, attracting mission-driven talent is more crucial than ever. Organizations that prioritize purpose and values often find themselves not only attracting top candidates but also retaining them longer. This blog post will explore effective strategies for hiring individuals who are aligned with your mission, ensuring that your team is not just skilled but also passionate about the work they do. Understanding Mission-Driven Talent Mission-driven t

There's something that often gets overlooked in recruiting conversations. We spend so much time evaluating whether candidates have the right skills and experience that we sometimes forget to ask a more fundamental question: Will this person thrive here? That question is about culture fit, and I'm going to be direct with you. It matters tremendously. Not just for the candidate's sake, but for your entire organization. What Culture Fit Means Let me be clear about what I mean by