Why the Best Candidates Aren’t Always Applying: Rethinking the Traditional Job Posting

Posting a job is one of the first steps most companies take when they need to hire. Write the description, publish it on a few job boards and wait for applications to come in.

Sometimes that works. Other times, you end up with 300 applications and only a handful of people who actually meet the requirements. Or you have the opposite problem: the job sits open for weeks without generating enough qualified candidates.

The issue isn't necessarily the job posting. It's expecting the job posting to do all of the recruiting.

For many positions, especially roles requiring specific experience, technical skills or industry knowledge, some of the strongest potential candidates aren't actively searching job boards. They're already working. They may be open to something new, but they aren't spending their evenings submitting applications.

Reaching those candidates takes a different approach.

An Applicant Pool Is Only Part of the Talent Market

When employers rely primarily on inbound applications, they're recruiting from the group of people who happen to be looking for a job at that moment.

That can absolutely produce great hires. Active job seekers are an important part of the talent market, and there are plenty of highly qualified people actively looking for their next opportunity.

But they aren't the entire market.

Recruiters spend a significant amount of their time looking beyond incoming applications. They search for people with relevant experience, talk to candidates they've worked with before, ask for referrals and reach out directly to professionals who may be a fit.

That's particularly important when the qualifications get more specific.

If you need someone with experience operating a certain piece of manufacturing equipment, managing a particular type of property, working within a specialized legal practice or leading a hard-to-fill finance function, posting the position and hoping the right person sees it can make an already difficult search even harder.

300 Applications Don't Necessarily Mean 300 Options

Applicant volume can look encouraging on a recruiting dashboard. But anyone who has spent time reviewing resumes knows that volume doesn't always translate into qualified candidates.

A hiring team may receive hundreds of applications and still spend hours trying to find the handful of people worth interviewing.

This is one of the biggest differences between job advertising and active recruiting.

A job posting asks, "Who is interested in this job?"

Recruiting also asks, "Who has the background to do this job, and how do we reach them?"

That second question opens up a much larger conversation.

Instead of sorting through 300 applications hoping the right person applied, a recruiter can start with the requirements of the position and identify people who are more likely to match them.

It doesn't eliminate the value of job postings. It gives employers another way to build the candidate pipeline.

Recruiting Passive Candidates Takes More Than Sending a Message

There's also a misconception that passive recruiting simply means finding someone on LinkedIn and sending an InMail.

Good recruiters know there's much more to it.

A candidate who isn't actively job searching usually needs a compelling reason to consider making a change. That means understanding what matters to them and being able to have a real conversation about the opportunity.

Is the compensation competitive? Is there room for advancement? Is the commute realistic? What does the schedule look like? Why is the position open? What makes the company or opportunity worth considering?

Recruiters hear these questions every day. They also hear why candidates turn opportunities down.

That feedback gives employers useful insight into how their jobs are competing in the market. If qualified candidates consistently decline because of pay, schedule, location or another factor, the solution probably isn't posting the same job on another job board.

Sometimes the recruiting strategy needs to change. Sometimes the offer does.

This Is Where a Recruiter's Network Starts to Matter

One of the most valuable things a recruiter builds over time isn't a database. It's relationships.

Recruiters talk to people when they're looking for work and when they're not. They learn who has certain skills, who may be ready for their next move, who recently finished an assignment and who wasn't interested six months ago but might be interested today.

That's why an experienced recruiter can sometimes look at a new opening and immediately think of several people they want to contact.

They know who to call.

For employers, that can be particularly valuable when a position needs to be filled quickly or when previous recruiting efforts haven't produced the right candidates.

Where Staffing Partners Fit Into the Hiring Process

Most internal HR and talent acquisition teams understand the value of proactive recruiting. The bigger issue is often time.

Sourcing candidates takes work. So does reviewing applications, conducting screens, following up with candidates, scheduling interviews and keeping people engaged throughout the hiring process. Multiply that across several open positions and recruiting can quickly consume an internal team's capacity.

A staffing partner can add recruiting resources without requiring an employer to build that additional capacity internally.

At Eastridge Workforce Solutions, our recruiting teams work with employers to understand the actual hiring need first: the experience required, the skills that matter most, the realities of the local talent market and what a successful hire looks like.

From there, recruiting can include job advertising, direct sourcing, referrals, existing candidate relationships and outreach to people who may not otherwise have considered the opportunity.

For employers, that can mean:

• Reaching candidates outside the traditional applicant pool
• Spending less time reviewing applicants who aren't qualified
• Getting a clearer picture of candidate availability in the market
• Understanding how compensation and job requirements compare with competing opportunities
• Adding recruiting capacity when hiring demand increases
• Building a more targeted pipeline for difficult-to-fill positions

The goal isn't to send the hiring manager as many resumes as possible. It's to help them spend their time with candidates who make sense for the role.

A Job Posting Should Be One Part of the Recruiting Strategy

There is still plenty of value in posting jobs. Inbound applicants can and do become great hires.

But when a position is difficult to fill, applications aren't producing the right candidates or the hiring team needs to move quickly, posting the job again isn't always the answer.

Sometimes you need to expand the search.

That could mean actively sourcing candidates, tapping into existing networks, revisiting compensation or job requirements, or bringing in additional recruiting resources.

Because the right candidate may never see your job posting.

And even if they do, they may not apply.

A recruiter can start the conversation.

Looking Beyond the Applicant Pool?

If your team is spending more time sorting through applications than talking to qualified candidates, Eastridge can help.

Our recruiting teams combine targeted sourcing, candidate relationships and market insight to help employers reach the talent they need, whether those candidates are actively applying or need the right opportunity brought to them.

Tell us what you're hiring for, and we'll help you find the people worth talking to.