Hiring great talent has never been more complicated, and the dam of the job market is starting to leak. Job postings are down, and internship opportunities are hitting their lowest levels since the pandemic. Employers are slashing hiring efforts, layoffs impact nearly every industry, and new grads are facing rising unemployment, despite a shiny new degree.
In a job market like this, hiring teams can’t afford to make mistakes. From misused AI to misleading job descriptions and unrealistic expectations, there are four common hiring flaws that could be costing your organization the very candidates you’re trying to attract.
Harvard Business School conducted a study that found 60% of employers say they struggle to find qualified candidates — yet thousands of skilled job seekers are getting rejected before they even get an interview.
What’s going wrong?
Many companies tell candidates to “network more” or “polish their résumé,” but the real problem often lies within the hiring process itself. From misused AI to misleading job ads and unrealistic expectations, modern talent acquisition is facing a trust and efficiency crisis, regardless of how many hundreds of applicants a job post may receive.
The good news? These problems have solutions.
Let’s break down the four biggest issues — and how to fix them before your best candidates slip away.
Hunting vs. Harvesting
Problem: Organizations have lost the ability to hunt top talent
In both Top Gun movies, the opening narratives describe the reason for Top Gun. Navy Fighter Pilots had lost the skill to “dogfight.” Some say Talent Acquisition has lost the skill to “hunt.” The Navy pilots were good – among the best in the world. But Top Gun made them “better”.
Currently, Talent Acquisition uses a combination of “post and pray” and “screening” as their primary value added to the process. Posting position openings, no matter how creatively, harkens back to the 1980s and “prays” that someone takes the initiative to see it and act (Post & Pray). Advanced AI and Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are like missile dependencies in the Top Gun movie. Both still require the candidate to take the initiative, and the ATS algorithms to “screen” the candidates for appropriateness to move forward with very little human interaction. Too many organizations put their reputations and brands at risk with the way their Talent Acquisition “harvests” candidates through the hiring process.
Top Gun for Talent Acquisition is a concept that sources the best of the best, who are not likely to look at job postings anywhere! With the amount of information available in today’s market, even the best ATS will not effectively engage the best of the best.
Recently, while searching through LinkedIn, I encountered one of these ATS systems firsthand and wasn’t very impressed. As CEO of my company, it suggested I would be a great match for an opening they had for a customer service manager. I can promise you that the company will never get a penny of my money! Not because of my perceived ego, but because if they are that far off the mark AND that impersonal in the hiring of their talent, why would I think their product, service, or cause was worthy of my resources?
Many elements of Top Gun for Talent Acquisition go into making a Hunter out of a Harvester: basics used in the search world such as “who do you know” networking; LI search; using Sales Tools to create target lists; strategies for making contact based on known tendencies; how to paint a picture on why top talent should consider your organization; being accountable to specific results; and finding top talent before its even needed.
If you want the best talent, don’t depend on someone who harvests information from an ATS. Develop hunting skills and go find what you need.
AI Reliance
Problem: Bias, Ghosting, and Over-Automation
AI-powered tools (like résumé scanners or chatbots) can filter out qualified candidates due to rigid keyword matching, lack of context, or built-in biases from historical data. As AI becomes more embedded in hiring, candidates are increasingly experiencing “ghost hiring,” where they apply for jobs that either don’t exist, are never reviewed by a human, or are simply posted while the organization promotes from within. The BBC reports that even highly qualified applicants are being rejected for roles within seconds due to automated screening — often without knowing why. This is most often due to rigid keywords that applicants may be using similar alternatives, meaning they have the right experience, but didn’t explain it in a way that the AI was built to accept.
Multiple studies are finding that these tools can perpetuate discrimination. For example, AI systems trained on past hiring data may favor candidates who resemble previous hires, reinforcing existing biases in gender, race, education, or experience, at no fault of intentional discrimination by the employer.
“The risk is not just that good candidates are being missed,” says the BBC, “but that hiring algorithms can encode and amplify bias at scale — all behind a digital curtain candidates can’t see through.”
💡 Solution: Human-AI Collaboration
- Audit AI tools regularly to eliminate bias and fix exclusion patterns.
- Use AI for efficiency, not decision-making — use AI to assist in narrowing pools, but ensure humans evaluate final applicants.
- Prioritize transparency: Make sure that candidates know when AI is involved and how it’s used in the process.
Pro Tip: Ask AI vendors for information on how their algorithms are trained and what fairness safeguards are in place.
Companies Lying or Withholding Info
Problem: Candidate Mistrust
Companies often omit key details (like salary ranges or indications of an unhealthy work-life balance), which leads to high turnover, bad hires, and employer brand damage. In fact, 36% of recruiters have admitted to lying in some capacity during the hiring process.
“Lying to candidates undermines an organization’s integrity and is bad for business,” Stacie Haller, chief career advisor for Resume Builder, said in a statement. “Candidates are making decisions based on the information they receive, and deceit only leads to bad outcomes for both the organization and the candidate. Honesty not only upholds an organization’s reputation but also is critical for cultivating success for both the company and the individuals it seeks to attract.”
💡 Solution: Radical Transparency
- Post salary ranges and benefits up front. It’s not just ethical — it attracts better-fit applicants.
- Encourage hiring teams to be honest about the challenges of the role — top talent prefers candor over sugar-coating.
- Gather candidate feedback post-interview to track perceived gaps between pitch and reality.
Additional Insight: According to a 2023 ResumeLab survey, 80% of candidates say they’ve been misled in the hiring process. Trust is now a competitive edge.
Unrealistic Job Requirements
Problem: The “Purple Squirrel” Fantasy
Employers often create long, rigid wish lists and requirements that rule out great candidates who could easily grow into the role with the right support. Not to mention, no one’s résumé will feature every task they have completed at a job. While candidates may not fit perfectly into a Purple Squirrel mold, they might have relevant experience within a different field or industry.
For example, a retail or restaurant manager with years of customer-facing experience creating schedules, completing paperwork, and leading a team will likely be more than capable of succeeding in an entry-level project coordinator role, despite lacking formal corporate experience, a certification, or even a degree. Strict job descriptions and automated filters often screen those kinds of candidates out before they ever have a chance to demonstrate their potential.
Rigidity not only narrows your talent pool but also alienates capable individuals who could bring fresh perspectives and transferable skills to the team. They could even do the job better than someone else who checks off the superficial boxes.
💡 Solution: Skills-Based Hiring & Internal Development
- Focus job descriptions on must-have skills, not a laundry list of nice-to-haves. You can cover those in the interview!
- Consider adjacent experience: Can a strong project manager become a good operations lead with onboarding support and education?
- Invest in onboarding and internal upskilling rather than searching for unicorns.
Read more: The Harvard Business School’s Hidden Workers report showed 60% of employers miss out on viable talent by over-indexing on rigid criteria.
The hiring landscape has changed, just like the rest of the world of business. It’s time for the strategies companies use to attract and retain talent today to meet the new challenges of today’s hiring landscape. In an environment where the best candidates are slipping through the cracks due to biased AI tools, vague job postings, or unrealistic expectations, organizations that evolve will win.
Today’s top talent isn’t just looking for a paycheck or a job — they’re looking for trust, transparency, and opportunities for growth. If your hiring process is outdated, overly automated, or hiding behind rigid buzzwords, you’re missing out on finding the right people to move your business forward.
The good news? Every one of these problems is fixable. Re-center hiring practices around clarity, fairness, and human judgment, and you can build a stronger team with a stronger reputation.
Want better hires? Start by being better at hiring.
If your organization is ready to bring your hiring up to speed, let’s get in touch! Promark is the guiding hand you need to perfect your talent acquisition process and treat your people with the dignity they deserve.