You Don’t Have a Hiring Problem, You Have a Clarity Problem

You Don’t Have a Hiring Problem, You Have a Clarity Problem

Every engineering search reaches a breaking point.

A moment where everything either clicks into place… or the process stalls, drags, and quietly dies.

After over a decade recruiting firmware, embedded, hardware, and systems engineers across every imaginable industry, I’ve learned this:

 

 

Hiring struggles rarely come from the market. They come from misalignment.

 

And misalignment almost always shows up in the same place:

👉 The job requirements.

 

 

Most teams don’t slow down long enough to clarify what they actually need in a candidate vs. what would simply be “nice to have.” So they produce job descriptions that look polished… but aren’t rooted in operational reality.

And the fallout is predictable:

  • A flood of inbound applicants who aren’t even close
  • Outbound outreach that misses the mark
  • Candidates who check the boxes on paper but aren’t aligned
  • Hiring managers saying, “We’re just not seeing the right people”
  • Searches that drag for 8–12 weeks (or longer)

 

 

Here’s the truth most teams don’t want to admit:

**The problem usually isn’t the talent pool.

It’s the target.**

When everything is a priority, nothing actually rises to the top. Teams that label every skill as a must-have make it impossible to see what is truly essential. And when a job tries to include every capability imaginable, it ends up so broad that it becomes meaningless.

 

Why “Non-Negotiables vs. Nice-to-Haves” Is the Turning Point

 

This is Step 2 in the engineering recruiting framework I use with every client.

It’s simple, but it changes everything.

When a team takes the time to define:

 

  • What is absolutely required for success
  • What is strongly preferred
  • What is truly optional

 

…suddenly the search becomes:

  • Realistic — you’re targeting talent that actually exists
  • Aligned — everyone is pulling in the same direction
  • Surgical — sourcing becomes strategic instead of scattered
  • Faster — time-to-fill drops because the “guessing” disappears

 

 

This clarity transforms the entire recruiting process:

  • Better job descriptions
  • Higher-quality candidates
  • Fewer wasted interviews
  • Faster decision-making

 

 

And, most importantly:

**You stop hiring people who look good on paper…

and start hiring people who succeed in the role.**

 

What This Looks Like in Practice

 

When I run an intake call, I ask questions most internal teams never think to ask:

  • “What problems will this person solve in their first 90 days?”
  • “If you could only have three skills, what MUST they be?”
  • “What skills sound nice but aren’t essential to performance?”
  • “What are the deal-breakers?”
  • “What can be trained internally?”

This forces clarity.

Clarity leads to alignment.

Alignment leads to hires.

 

If Your Engineering Search Is Stalled… Start Here

 

Before you post the job, before you start sourcing, before you comb through resumes, ask yourself:

**Do we know exactly what we’re looking for?

And does everyone on the team agree?**

 

 

If not, you’re not ready to start the search.

Stop. Align. Clarify.

It will save you weeks (sometimes months) of friction downstream.

 

If you’d like to see how this fits into a complete engineering recruiting system…

 

Send me a message. I’m happy to walk you through the full framework I use with other engineering-driven organizations, and show you how to turn your next search into a winnable one.