Hiring Right Now: Why Finding Talent Feels Impossible, and What to Do About It

Hiring Right Now: Why Finding Talent Feels Impossible, and What to Do About It

The U.S. still has millions of open jobs, and organizations continue to report difficulty filling roles. At the same time, the average time it takes to fill a role remains high, and wage growth has moderated. These are the conditions that make hiring feel like a full-time job in itself.

 

The Headline Numbers (What I’m Seeing and Why They Matter)

 

Job openings remain high. The BLS reported roughly 7.2 million open positions in recent months. A sign the demand for workers is still substantial.

Most organizations still struggle to recruit. SHRM’s 2025 talent trends show roughly 69% of organizations reporting recruiting difficulties for full-time roles. That’s back to levels we saw before the pandemic peak, meaning the problem isn’t new.

Time-to-fill is long. Across many industries, average time-to-fill sits in the 35–44 day range (and longer for specialized roles). Longer hiring cycles mean lost productivity and a higher chance candidates take other offers.

Wage growth isn’t exploding; it’s steady. Recent measures show wages rising moderately (3–4% year over year in compensation indexes), which helps employees but also means employers must compete on more than salary alone to win people’s attention.

 

Process Matters as Much as Compensation

 

In today’s market, process matters as much as compensation. A strong candidate experience and fast decision-making materially increase your chances of landing the right person. That means timely feedback, clear job briefs, and predictable interview steps. When companies move slowly or provide vague feedback, top candidates interpret that as disorganization, and they move on.

 

How External Partners Can Help

 

If your internal team is already full, or if you’re tired of chasing candidates who vanish mid-process, a seasoned external partner can help in three ways:

Speed: agencies maintain active pipelines for common and niche roles, shortening time-to-interview.

Filtering: agencies sift out unqualified applicants so hiring managers see higher-quality candidates.

Strategy: a partner can set up ongoing metrics and collaborate on process improvements so your hiring engine gets better each month.

 

Hiring Right Now Is an Operational Challenge

 

Hiring right now isn’t a one-off problem; it’s an operational challenge that requires strategy, urgency, and partnership. The companies that succeed will be the ones who treat hiring like the strategic function it is: clear briefs, fast decisions, and a willingness to experiment with flexible resourcing.

If you’d like, I can help you:

  1. Audit your current hiring process in a 30-minute call,

  2. Build a fast-action plan to reduce time-to-fill, or

  3. Design a Managed RPO or contract strategy that fits your Q4 goals.

Let’s make hiring simpler and faster and get you the people who actually move the business forward, faster!