You hit a wall.

The role has been open for too long.

Candidates aren’t moving forward. The hiring manager isn’t seeing anyone they really want. The team is getting frustrated, and the work that depends on this hire keeps piling up.

The advice you hear generally falls into two areas:

1. Try harder.

Post the job again. Increase the outreach. Contact more candidates. Add another recruiter. Push the team to move faster.

Nothing wrong with this advice.

Sometimes the answer really is more activity, more persistence, and a larger pipeline.

2. Change course.

Rewrite the job description. Change the requirements. Expand the search. Adjust the compensation. Try a different recruiting strategy.

Again, nothing wrong with this either.

Sometimes you need to rethink the search.

But here’s a third question that isn’t asked often enough:

Are we solving the right problem?

When a critical search isn’t producing the right candidate, adding more activity doesn’t necessarily produce better results.

Sometimes the issue isn’t the number of candidates.

It’s the decisions being made throughout the search.

Are we clear on what success actually looks like?

Are we looking in the right places?

Are we evaluating candidates against the things that truly matter?

Are we asking the right questions during the interview?

And perhaps most importantly:

Are we recognizing the difference between someone who looks qualified and someone who is actually likely to succeed?

That’s where judgment matters.

I was fortunate to have two leaders from different industries take time out of their busy schedules to share some of what they’ve learned with me.

One shared this perspective on interviewing:

“Be authentic and confident in what you know, but equally confident in areas you need to explore or develop further. As a leader, I prefer self-awareness and honesty over someone filling the space with made-up answers or just trying to oversell.”

That’s not just good advice for candidates.

It’s good advice for hiring managers, too.

The goal of an interview isn’t to find someone who gives the best answers.

It’s to understand who you’re actually hiring.

Another leader shared this perspective on KPIs and accountability:

“KPIs aren’t designed to point blame. They’re designed to drive action.”

I think the same principle applies to recruiting.

When a search isn’t working, the goal shouldn’t be to determine who is responsible.

The goal should be to determine what needs to change.

Maybe the candidate pool is wrong.

Maybe the profile is unrealistic.

Maybe the compensation isn’t aligned with the market.

Maybe we’re screening for the wrong things.

Maybe we’re moving too slowly.

Or maybe we’re simply overlooking the right person because we’re evaluating resumes instead of recognizing potential.

The best hiring decisions don’t happen because someone worked harder.

They happen when the right questions are asked, the right information is gathered, and experienced judgment is applied along the way.

That’s how a hiring process moves from activity to progress.

And ultimately, from an open role to the right hire.

Better decisions. Better hires.