The Market Is Still Thinking And A Bit Cool. So Why Is Great Talent Still Hard to Find?

 

Hiring is slowing, but finding the right talent isn't necessarily getting easier. According to the September 2026 jobs report, the U.S. economy added just 29,000 jobs. Yet construction and manufacturing continued adding workers.

The takeaway? A slower job market doesn't automatically mean a stronger talent pool.

Experienced leaders, skilled tradespeople, and specialized professionals remain difficult to recruit. And while some companies are extending interview processes or waiting for the perfect candidate, top performers still have options. The smartest employers aren't confusing more applicants with better talent. They're identifying critical roles, building relationships early, and moving decisively when the right person comes along.

The bottom line: More candidates don't necessarily mean more qualified candidates. Companies that recognize the difference and work with us will have the competitive advantage.

The Hiring Market Isn’t Frozen. It’s Just… Thinking.

 

Welcome to the “low-hire, low-fire” economy: companies aren’t making dramatic cuts, but they aren’t exactly throwing job offers around like confetti either.

Hiring teams are moving carefully. Candidates are staying put. Everyone is waiting for someone else to blink.

But cautious does not mean closed.

Great leaders are still getting hired—especially when they can solve an immediate business problem, steady a team or create measurable growth. In this market, employers are less interested in collecting impressive resumes and more interested in finding the right person at the right time. 

The takeaway? Don’t stop recruiting. Recruit more precisely - call us and we'll do it for you. 

Because when companies finally decide to move, they won’t want 100 decent candidates.

They’ll want the one who makes the decision feel obvious.

AI in Hiring: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

 

AI was supposed to make recruiting faster and smarter... but it's also creating some real headaches for everyone involved. Here's the quick rundown on what's going wrong right now -

• Bias on Autopilot: AI tools trained on old hiring data keep repeating the same unfair patterns — screening out people based on gender, race, age, or disability. Lawsuits are piling up, and regulators (especially in the US and EU) are cracking down hard.
• Resume Spam Apocalypse: Everyone’s using ChatGPT to mass-apply with perfectly tailored (but super generic) applications. Recruiters are drowning in hundreds of near-identical submissions, and it’s getting harder to spot real humans.
• Candidate Experience = Trash: Ghosted by bots, auto-rejected with zero explanation, weird video interviews... a lot of talented people are just opting out of AI-heavy hiring processes.
• Missing the Good Stuff: AI is great at keywords but terrible at spotting potential, creativity, or weird-but-awesome career paths. Strong candidates keep getting filtered out.
• Legal Drama & Headaches: Companies are facing lawsuits, privacy complaints, and massive compliance costs. Plus, recruiters are somehow working more now, not less.

Bottom line -  AI is powerful but it’s not a magic fix. The smartest teams are using it for boring stuff while keeping real humans in the loop for final calls, skills tests, and actual conversations.

Treat Your Top Candidates Like Derby Horses

 After the amazing opportunity to go to Churchill Downs for a few days of horse racing including the Derby one thing became obvious fast, elite horses are not handled casually.

They are studied, prepared, protected, and surrounded by people who understand exactly what is at stake. No one waits until race day to figure out the strategy. No one treats a champion like a backup option. No one assumes talent alone is enough.

The same should be true for high-level executives and managers.

Exceptional people are rare. They are high-performing, heavily watched, and often already winning somewhere else. If they enter your hiring process, they are not just evaluating the role. They are evaluating the people, the pace, the communication, and the level of respect shown from the first conversation.

And like Derby horses, they can sense the environment.

If the process is chaotic, they notice.
If communication is slow, they notice.
If leadership is not aligned, they notice.
If they feel like one of many instead of one of few, they notice.

Top candidates do not need to be chased recklessly, but they do need to be handled with intention. That means clear expectations, thoughtful communication, a streamlined process, and a team that understands their value.

You would not bring a champion horse to the Derby and leave the gate unprepared.

So why bring a top candidate into a hiring process that is disorganized, delayed, or lukewarm? The best talent is not won by accident. It is won by preparation, respect, and timing.

At the Derby, the margin between winning and losing can be a nose.

In executive hiring, it can be one delayed call, one vague update, or one competitor who knows how to move faster.

Ideal Candidate vs. The Available One

 

Experience inflation is the gradual rise in job requirements — more years, more skills, more scope — without a meaningful change in the role/job itself.

What used to be a 3–5 year role is now posted as 8–10, often 

with an expanded list of “must-haves” that weren’t part of the job a year ago. It reads like higher standards. It functions like a smaller, slower pipeline.

The real issue? Hiring teams are writing job descriptions based on their ideal candidate — not the available one.

And in this market, that gap matters.

The best candidates aren’t unqualified — they’re being filtered out by inflated expectations that don’t match reality. Meanwhile, roles stay open longer, teams stay understaffed, and hiring managers double down instead of recalibrating. Smart recruiters are pushing back.  Not by lowering standards — but by redefining what “qualified” looks like in today’s market.

 

If the Role Doesn’t Tie to Revenue, It’s on the Chopping Block

There’s a quiet shift in hiring right now -  every role must prove its financial impact. Companies are asking one question - “How does this hire make or save us money?” If the answer isn’t obvious, the role stalls.

What’s we are seeing that’s getting approved - sales and revenue drivers, operations tied to output and roles that increase efficiency or protect margins. What’s getting cut or delayed - layered management, support functions without clear ROI and hires with vague impact.

What this means is experience isn’t enough anymore. You need to show how your work drives results — ideally in dollars.  Hiring right now is being run like a balance sheet. And the roles closest to revenue? They’re the ones moving.

Thankful!

 

TAG clients and friends! I’m so thankful for all the work we’ve done in the new year and it’s only February! My business partners, Michael and Lily are on fire and I’m proud of the work we do and very grateful for them. 

We continue to recruit, provide business coaching and resume writing.  Our reach is now National and our team is strong.