Two weeks ago, a candidate joined one of our searches — full-time job, family, a life outside of this process.
Right now, he’s our frontrunner. Not because he’s the most qualified person in the pipeline. Because he shows up.
Every time we’ve asked for a 30-minute window, he’s found one. He’s heading into round three this week. Meanwhile, one of his competitors — stronger resume, better pedigree — asked to push his interview because it landed on his regular pickleball morning.
I’m not making that up. Pickleball beat a job that would’ve been a real step up for him.
He wants it more than he wants to protect his calendar. That’s the whole edge.
I see the hiring-manager version of this constantly, too. We have a client who says he wants to hire fast. Last month we had a strong candidate ready to go, and he needed four days to “prepare” — turned out he had a board meeting that week and couldn’t think about anything else until it was over.
Come on. You can find 30 minutes. And here’s the part hiring managers keep missing: your board likes hearing you’re interviewing. A board watching you scramble to fill a critical seat does not want “we’re still figuring out our calendar.” They want to hear you’re moving — and better yet, that you’re about to hire.
Every reschedule costs more than the day it moves. The candidate loses momentum, we redo the coordination work, and the “fast” hire slides another week.
Emergencies happen. Fine. But if hiring is actually a priority, your calendar will say so. If it isn’t, no amount of “we need to move fast” will make it true.
Here’s the other half, and it’s mostly on hiring managers: you have to act on what’s in front of you.
If a resume isn’t perfect but something about the candidate caught your eye, get on the phone. What’s on paper is never the whole story — the thing you’re actually looking for is often the thing they didn’t think to write down.
We had a client pause a search because they had “enough candidates in the pipeline.” Then the pipeline went quiet — people took other offers, timelines slipped — and suddenly they needed to fill the role yesterday. Never stop interviewing until someone has signed. Have a plan B, C, and D. Not because your top candidate isn’t good — because momentum is what actually gets roles filled, and it dies the moment you stop moving.
If you’re the candidate: make the time.
If you’re the hiring manager: make the time.
Everything else in a search is negotiable. That one isn’t.
If your pipeline just went quiet, or you’re a candidate stuck waiting on someone else’s calendar — hit reply.