Your Best Candidate Isn’t Looking. It’s Time to Stop Hiring Like They Are.

Written by: Kelli Kendall

Hiring processes are typically built for people who want a job. You post the role, wait for applicants, sort the pile, and schedule interviews when your calendar has enough room to squeeze a conversation in.

That process usually works fine for people who are looking. So where does it stop working?

When the person you want on your team is a rockstar.

How many times have you heard a hiring manager say, “Honestly, I’d be fine with someone average. Sometimes they coast, sometimes they nail it”? Never. Everyone wants the cream of the crop. The thing is, there’s only so much of it to go around.

The people worth hiring are comfortable

I don’t mean they’re on the couch in sweatpants. I mean they’re the best. They hit their goals. They are not clicking refresh on a job posting on a Tuesday night. They’re figuring out how to win this week where they already are.

They’re not wondering if the grass is greener somewhere else. They’re busy watering their own.

So the person you want isn’t showing up in your applicant pile. They’re too busy being the ideal team player somewhere else.

A soft job market doesn’t change this. It actually makes it more obvious. The pile gets bigger, not better. You get a huge volume of people eager for any job, most of whom aren’t the right fit for your team or the role, and a very short supply of people you’d actually hire. You stop recruiting and start digging for a needle in a haystack you built yourself.

You’re not competing with their salary. You’re competing with the devil they know.

To a top performer, you’re a stranger. They don’t know you. They don’t trust you yet. They have no idea what to expect. Even if your opportunity is better, they don’t know it, and you haven’t proved it.

Here’s what they’re risking just to explore your offer, let alone take it: their tenure, a comp plan they understand, and the ability to deliver results in a pinch because they know exactly how things work. Their relationships with colleagues. Their relationship with their boss. A future promotion that may or may not exist. And a reputation they’d have to rebuild from scratch. Their reputation doesn’t port over like a phone number does when switching carriers.

Top performers price all of that in. They’re not naive about what’s out there. In-demand people get hit up for opportunities constantly. You don’t have to tell them they’re the best thing since sliced bread — everyone else already is.

The data backs this up. In July 2026, the New York Fed’s labor survey found the lowest salary the average worker would accept to take a new job hit a record high at $88,387. In the same survey, people’s expected odds of landing a job offer fell to 18%, the lowest since early 2021.

Truly great offers are scarce, and top performers know it. To take on the risk of an unknown offer, one that maybe looks too good to be true, they need security.

Fi-nan-cial Se-cu-ri-ty. If that sounds greedy to you, you might not understand risk pricing, or what they’re actually putting on the line to make a move. And to be real — a top performer doesn’t need to move.

A bigger comp plan alone rarely motivates a real contender. The better question is: what is this person giving up to say yes to me? By taking themselves off the market, what are they saying no to? And how do I make that easier?

You can answer that with a real ramp-up period. You can answer it with a protected bonus window. You’re asking them to step off solid ground onto a bridge they’ve never crossed, so show them it holds.

If you can’t bring a truly great offer to a qualified candidate, the counteroffer will win. Even when it’s a smaller number.

Treat every candidate like a lead

Every home improvement leader I know can recite speed to lead in their sleep. Call within minutes. Set the appointment fast, or watch it disappear.

At the Leading Ladies of Home Improvement panel this summer, Megan Beattie asked a question that stuck with me: “Are you treating each candidate as just as important as a lead?” Now consider how your company treats strong applicants. Is it days before they hear from you? A week? Whenever someone gets to it?

Hannah DeLozier of Tony Hoty Training and Consulting put it plainly. Screen by phone first, then get the interview on the calendar within 24 to 48 hours. Push it out four or five days, and the candidate has already seen other opportunities. By then they may not even want yours. All that attention raises the perception of their own value.

A great inbound candidate is a lead you didn’t have to pay an aggregator for. Act like it.

Stop worshipping the resume

People who’ve been job hunting usually have polished resumes. That’s part of looking. Their job right now is finding a job, and they’re working hard at it, so of course the resume looks great.

Plenty of strong leaders have never had to write a resume at all. Their roles came through word of mouth and a reputation that did the talking. Some of the best performers in this industry still have resumes that look rough: typos, odd formatting, a background that doesn’t match the title.

Even though great leaders are often polished, polish can’t be the signal of greatness. Another panelist pointed out that AI is writing a lot of resumes now.

A resume can’t tell you how someone bounces back from a day full of “No.” A phone call can. Get them on the phone and listen to how they talk about their last job. If everything was someone else’s fault, there’s your answer.

A great resume and great numbers from somewhere else don’t guarantee great numbers with you. Those results may have come from a leader, a culture, or a lead source you don’t have.

The bottom line

The best people, especially in this industry, are employed, comfortable, and not spending their free time reading job ads. You don’t find them by waiting, or by going with the cheapest option.

You go to them. You move fast once you have their attention. And you make an offer that gives them an undeniable answer anytime someone asks, “So why did you leave?”

Everything else is just shuffling the pile and praying you pull the “right one.”

 

I’m Kelli Kendall, an executive recruiter in home improvement. I spend my days talking to the rockstars who aren’t looking AND helping the companies who want them make an offer worth leaving for. If you’re hiring, or thinking about it, my calendar link is on my profile.

Stay golden ✨