We're In The Weeds!

This Week’s Breakdown

If you’re here, it probably means these three things:

• You work in recruiting or TA.

• You’re barely holding it together.

• You’ve said “no worries if not!” more times this week than you’ve eaten actual meals.

  I could tell you all about the structure and weekly themes I have planned, but despite being recruiters you’re smart enough to just get it by paying attention for an issue or two so let’s get into it!

Let’s be honest: recruiting doesn’t feel like a function anymore, it feels like a fire. Every role is urgent. Every intake meeting is vague. Every tool promises to 10x your hiringwhile making your job twice as hard.

And somehow, through it all, you're expected to operate like a Michelin-starred kitchen.
Only there’s no prep. No communication. No actual chef.

Just Slack pings, conflicting feedback, hiring managers with the decision making power of a toddler, and job descriptions written by pasting the one from 5 years ago into ChatGPT and saying “make it better”.

Meanwhile, the tickets keep flying in:
“Find someone technical but also creative.”
“Make sure they’re senior, but not too expensive.”
“Oh and DEI is important, but don’t worry too much about it. You get it, thanks”

You do get it. That’s the problem. Because you’re good at this. But even the best chefs can’t cook without a kitchen that works.

So you keep going. You keep smiling. You keep asking “is this still a good time?” like a professional even when you’re absolutely not okay.

And when the chaos hits its peak
When the feedback contradicts itself
When the same role gets re-opened for the third time in two quarters

You take a deep breath, look around the walk-in full of expired intake forms and headcount plans that make no sense, and you say it.

Yes, Chef. And you make it happen still!

Recruited in the Wild

Seen on LinkedIn, overheard in the industry, or posted without shame.

Hey quick question: did anyone get pitched any new products this week that were going to 10X your hiring, fix your broken process and be the solution for a problem you didn’t even know you had?

I’m all for innovation, and let me be very clear I love AI solutions. But I would love for 2 consecutive days on LinkedIn where my inbox is not full of the newest AI solution to a problem I’ve never even thought about.

• Hey Mike, I’d love to show you my new AI solution to auto-generate rejection emails with empathetic emojis tailored to each candidate’s astrological sign.

• Do you have 15 minutes to check out our new ATS that can scan resumes for vibe fit based on a candidate’s Spotify Wrapped?

• We created a groundbreaking AI that instantly rewrites every job description in pirate speak (let’s help you landt hat backend buccaneer 🏴‍☠️)

Ok I’d actually like that last one, but not for the $99/mo self onboarding enterprise plan.

Honestly at this point I sort of wish someone would just create one of those ATS robots that can reject 75% of resume before a human ever sees them for me, or atleast one that screens out 75% of AI generated sales pitches about products that won’t be around next year.

I don’t want to be too groundbreaking in issue 1, but what if….and hear me out on this one….

What if, some of these AI software geniuses who are ready to fix hiring, spoke to some recruiters and TA folks and learned what their real issues are? What if some people in TA actually tried to create solutions based on problems the faced instead of being told what their biggest problems are by a recent college grad who is struggling to land a job in a tough economy and figured the only option is for them so single handedly solve the broken process.

Nah sorry, that’s nonsense talk, recruiters are dumb and they ruined hiring, there is no need to bring them into the conversations on how to make things better.

ATS Count

For those keeping track, there are at least 152 Applicant Tracking Systems on the market according to this directory by SHRM

And according to this article the ATS market will be worth $17B in 2025 and $30B by 2032!

Stay tuned for future updates as people keep on keeping on trying to reinvent the wheel and creating new ones that all do the same thing instead of adding basic features we would like to see!

Maybe I should start a pool for how many systems will exist by the end of the year, can we hit 180? One of them is bound to fix the job market and all of our issues!

Horror Stories

True recruiting nightmares from the field.
Want to share yours anonymously for a future issue? 

Submit your story Here 

(All stories in this section are submitted anonymously and potentially edited for clarity, removal of trackable information, and length. I can not verify the truth of any of them)

You know what is a really common thread through nearly every story that was submitted from my recent call for submissions (along with my own stories)? Nearly all of them involve the line This candidate has been on the job market for over 2 years.

I am not one to downplay the struggle of jobseekers - I’ve been there as have many of you - but sometimes people are struggling to get out of their own way, including today’s jobseeker who went from a slam dunk to a dodged bullet in the blink of an eye.

This story is short and to the point and a perfect story for issue 1 because we have ALL been there. The candidate who begs for feedback and then acts like you kicked their dog when you send it.

As I recently wrote in response to a tik to comment who told me my advice was not helpful “It’s probably because your personality is the reason behind your jobsearch struggles”

Cope of the Week

Because it’s either this or scream into a pillow.

Maybe this week your head chef (read: Head of Engineering) decided mid-interview loop that they actually don’t want to hire anyone after all.

Maybe a candidate ghosted you after the offer letter.

Maybe you spent 3 hours on outreach for a new role only to get a slack message “hold off on sourcing, I may need something different”

Being a recruiter in 2025 often feels like working in the kitchen on The Bear. The chaos is constant. The tickets never stop. Everyone’s yelling “Yes, chef”! And no one knows who the chef even is anymore.

This newsletter isn’t going to fix the broken kitchen. But it might help you make it through today’s shift. And remind you that if it feels like a mess, that’s because it is.

 Forward this to someone in TA who's barely holding it together and let’s grow this community of recruiting professionals barely hanging on by a thread, but happy to keep hanging on.

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