There’s a quiet shift happening in the hiring market.
Many organizations still rely heavily on job postings and inbound applications to fill important roles. But the strongest professionals — the ones consistently delivering results and leading meaningful initiatives — often aren’t actively applying for jobs at all.
They’re busy succeeding where they are.
Yet many of them are still open to the right opportunity.
Understanding that difference has become one of the most important elements of successful hiring today.
When Strong Candidates Aren’t Applying, Hiring Can Stall
Many employers assume that if a role isn’t getting strong applicants, the talent simply isn’t available.
In reality, the strongest professionals are often not part of the applicant pool at all.
They’re performing well in their current roles and evaluating opportunities carefully rather than actively searching.
That means hiring often requires a more proactive approach — identifying professionals who are already succeeding elsewhere and having thoughtful conversations about what the next step in their career might look like.
When those conversations begin, something else valuable happens as well.
Employers gain a clearer view of what the market actually looks like.
A Real Example of Market Feedback in Action
Recently we partnered with a highly respected healthcare organization that was trying to fill a critical role within one of their departments.
Their employer brand was strong and their organization was well regarded in the community. However, they were located in a smaller, more remote town, which made attracting experienced professionals more challenging.
Before working with us, they had engaged a specialized recruiting firm for nearly two years without successfully filling the role.
From the outset, they were confident in their compensation structure. As a large healthcare organization, they had invested heavily in external data and guidance from governing bodies that advise healthcare systems on how their compensation compares both locally and regionally.
They consistently shared that they believed they were well aligned with the market.
However, through dozens of direct conversations with candidates in a relatively short period of time, a different picture began to emerge.
What we were hearing repeatedly was not just about base salary — it was about how the overall compensation package was structured. Candidates were evaluating the full picture: base, incentives, flexibility, and long-term opportunity.
In some cases, the data the organization had received may have been accurate at one point — but the market had clearly shifted.
The reality on the ground, reflected through real-time candidate conversations, no longer aligned with the assumptions they were working from.
Over the course of several months, the organization extended multiple offers.
The first few were declined.
Not because the role itself wasn’t appealing — it was — but because the offer, as a whole, didn’t fully reflect what candidates were seeing and expecting in the current market.
By continuing to share detailed, candid feedback from those conversations, the organization began to adjust — not just the numbers, but the structure and positioning of the opportunity itself.
The fourth offer was accepted.
And more importantly, it was accepted because the organization aligned with where the market actually was — not where it had been.
This is something we see more often than most organizations expect — particularly in markets that are shifting quickly.
What Those Conversations Reveal About the Market
When we conduct a search, we’re not simply identifying potential candidates.
We’re having dozens of detailed conversations with professionals working in similar roles across the market.
Through those conversations we learn:
• What candidates are actually earning today
• How their compensation plans are structured
• What their bonus and incentive programs look like
• The details of their benefits and PTO structures
• What career paths and growth opportunities they see ahead
• And importantly, what it would realistically take for them to consider making a move
This kind of information reflects real-time market conditions, not just industry reports or compensation surveys.
Even organizations with strong internal HR teams and access to advisory data often don’t have this level of visibility.
Why Market Data Alone Isn’t Always Enough
In industries such as healthcare and finance, organizations often receive compensation guidance from governing or advisory bodies.
Those benchmarks are useful.
But they don’t always capture what is happening in the market at a specific moment in time.
The most accurate insight often comes from direct conversations with professionals currently working in those roles.
Search firms can provide that visibility — but the process works best when organizations are willing to listen closely to the feedback and adjust when necessary.
What This Means for Employers
If your organization is struggling to attract the right candidates for an important role, it may not be because the talent isn’t available.
More often, it’s because the strongest candidates:
• aren’t actively applying
• evaluate opportunities carefully
• and are responding to a market that is constantly evolving
The organizations that succeed in hiring these professionals are typically the ones willing to listen closely to what the market is saying and adapt when necessary.
And when I step back and look at this more broadly, it actually reminds me of something we focus on at the very beginning of every search.
During our intake calls, we spend a significant amount of time asking detailed questions — and yes, some of them overlap or sound repetitive. But that’s intentional.
The goal is to fully understand what success in the role truly looks like — not just on paper, but in reality. What the day-to-day entails, where the challenges are, what kind of person will thrive in the environment, and what the role is ultimately meant to accomplish.
By the end of that conversation, we’re not guessing.
We have a very clear picture.
It’s what I think of as a “sniper mentality” — not in an aggressive sense, but in terms of precision. When you fully understand what the target looks like, you can be far more intentional and effective in how you approach the search.
That same principle applies to hiring in today’s market.
The clearer the understanding — of the role, of the candidate, and of what the market is actually saying — the more successful the outcome tends to be.
If you’re working on a role that hasn’t quite come together yet, it may not be the talent — it may just be a matter of getting a clearer picture of what the target really looks like.
If you’d like a second set of eyes on it or to compare notes on what we’re seeing in the market, I’m always happy to have a conversation — no sniper training required.
