I’ve been struggling to feel inspired when it comes to writing about hiring. Half the headlines I see are atrocious lies about AI and the others are regurgitating the same one-liners most outlets have posted for the last 15 years. I’m sure longer. That’s just how long I’ve been reading and writing about improving candidate experience and recruiting strategies. 

Hiring is just as broken as it was when I started. Look at the data. Candidate complaints are the same as they were in 2009. Job posts are still unrealistic. Applicants still quit online applications halfway through because they are ridiculously long. Most candidates never get feedback regardless of how far they make it in the hiring process. Hiring still takes way too long. To use one of my grandfather’s favorite one-liners - I feel like I’m pissin’ in the wind. That’s a Southerner’s code for a futile effort.

In pondering my writer’s block, I see that I’ve been looking for inspiration in all the wrong places. My inspiration doesn’t come from the trends and hot topics. I don’t create to be a thought leader on AI or to present trends at some tech conference. I don’t want to forecast the future when there’s so much work to do right in front of us. 

I am a storyteller. Anthropologist. Practical thinker. People are my inspiration. 

I write for every person that was ever told they have to work harder or be better than others just to get access to the same opportunities, often with less pay. For the woman in her 60s who gets rejected for HR jobs because she never got a college degree even though she has done the job. The immigrant with all the determination and none of the corporate pedigree to get their foot into the door at those big-name startups. The recruiter who wants to do the right thing but doesn’t know how. The queer kids who worked their way up a non-traditional path.  

I write to change recruiting’s mind one story at a time. I write for you. For me. To open doors for every person who has been held back from opportunities to change their lives based on policies that just don’t make sense. I feel inspired knowing these educational moments will change the lives of people I’ll never meet. People who believed there was a ceiling for their career and found an even higher peak. I can find inspiration for them.