Clarity Replaced Patience

Patience and trust used to be enough, but they aren't anymore.

I started out recruiting in a high-volume tech firm. The work ran on call sheets, in-person coffees, patience, and trust. Things moved slowly, then all at once. I learned from recruiters who'd weathered the dot-com bust and the 2008 financial crisis, and what those years taught them was simple: stay patient, trust the process, and the right candidate comes around.

Then 2020 hit, and the patience driven relationship model suddenly stopped carrying as much weight.

Conversations that used to build over weeks started closing in days. Share the number, get the answer, move on. Candidates weren't being rude. They had more options in front of them than at any point in their careers, and they had learned that waiting to see how things turn out is a risk they carry alone.

So they stopped waiting. They want to know exactly what they're going to get from a new opportunity.

Reading that change in behavior as a request for clarity instead of impatience or entitlement forces you to answer what some consider to be the most basic hiring process questions:

"What does success look like in this role?"

"What's the compensation structure?"

"What's your remote or hybrid policy?"

"What happens after this interview?"

None of those are hard questions, but if you don't decide them beforehand, it comes off as hiding something.

This is what I mean when I talk about most people problems are clarity problems. The candidate who ghosts you after round two, the offer that gets rejected out of (seemingly) left field, the new hire who seems lost in month two: are those people or clarity problems?

Here is a test you can run this week: Take the four questions above and answer each one for the role you're hiring (or last hired) for. Come up with one or two sentences each. If you can't do that, your candidates can't either.

The last question should be answered at the end of every interview. Tell the candidate what the next step is, who it's with, and when they'll hear from you.

If steps aren't clear, candidates won't wait around.