Applicants are not candidates

Application volume is the easiest number in hiring to move. Post wider, boost the listing, lower the requirements, and the inbox fills. What rarely improves at the same rate is the number of people who can do the job and want to stay in it.

The gap exists because applying and being right for a role require different things. Applying requires interest. Being right requires evidence — specific work done, motivation that matches the role, and expectations that line up with the offer.

When a search stalls, the instinct is to add reach. A more useful first question is who you have actually spoken to. If nobody has had a real conversation with the pipeline, more applications will simply produce more sorting.

That is the argument for people in the hiring process. A recruiter can hear a hesitation and ask a second question. A job board cannot.