There are few things as frustrating in recruiting as when a hiring manager stalls at the offer. It happens too often. Managers don’t understand that application volume has tripled, team size has shrunk, and they aren’t the only people hiring in your organization. Recruiters are tired. 

The older (implied, maybe, wiser) I get, the more I realize that’s kind of the problem. Most hiring managers really don’t know how hiring works. The people making the hiring decision all come from different companies and backgrounds. They were all raised in different homes where they learned their own values about work. Many are individual contributors who have had no training on how to hire or lead a team. That’s not conjecture - that’s data from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. Only 28% of employees reported receiving any formal management training while with their current employer.

But I don’t think training is the sole reason this stall at the proverbial finish line of an interview process is happening. Hiring managers don’t need to know all of the intricacies on how hiring works. They do have to be taught how to make decisions under pressure. 

Why Hiring Managers Lose Confidence Late In The Hiring Process

If you have ever struggled to pick a restaurant at dinner time, you know what I’m talking about. I joke, kinda. Yes, picking a dinner is important but it’s not “who to hire” important. When you’re hiring a person, you’re picking something that feels permanent. This is someone you’re going to have to interact with regularly. Bigger than that, as a manager, you’re selecting someone whose success impacts your own trajectory in your career. There’s so much pressure. 

But the pressure isn’t just making the decision, it comes down to believing you’re making the right decisions. Most hiring managers believe they have made the wrong decision at some point in their career. The stats actually shocked me on this one. SIA reports that 74% of employers reported they have hired the wrong person for a position. According to Robert Half, that number goes up to 95% in IT and Tech. If you ever wonder why that Tech VP is “so picky” about hires, that might explain something. 

In almost every case, they said it was because of a skill match. Someone lied. We didn’t ask that question. It’s what we don’t talk about that ultimately makes people wonder if they’re making the best decision. 

My Role Intake Template

A big part of managers feeling like they are not making the right decision is never defining what the right decision is. Recruiters let hiring managers make a laundry list of skills, they warn them it isn’t possible to get all of them, but that’s still a blurry finish line. Remember, the best machine in the world can’t find a set of skills you can’t define. You can’t convince people to take high risk decisions confidently without it. 

I find that that job post itself is not the right format for alignment. Unless you’re highly trained on a role and job postings, it’s very hard to look at 750 words and figure out what’s not there or what’s most important. You can thank social media for that adjustment in attention span. 

Instead, I make a chart and fill each category out piece by piece. Most jobs break down to these four categories: autonomy, aptitude, collaboration, leadership. With them, I make a chart and fill it out piece by piece so managers can easily scan the requirements to validate alignment. 

Here’s an example where I explain what each category is and how that might look in real life: 

Want to see more? Well, let’s hang out next week. I’m hosting a webinar - no sponsor, no sales pitch. It’s called A Billion Dollar Mistake: Why You Can't Ignore Job Postings In An AI World. I am going to talk about coaching hiring managers. I'll show you why I think job posts are the AI building block everyone should pay attention to, and throw in some how-tos to help you get started. 

I promise this is one of the easiest decisions you’ll make to improve hiring all week. Register here for free.