Notes from the team
Hiring trends, market signals, and recruiting craft.
Occasional posts on what we are seeing across labor markets, compensation, hiring patterns, and the craft of running a good search.
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The Hiring Pipeline Nobody Talks About (Trade Schools and Apprenticeships)
Every skilled-trades employer is chasing the same exhausted talent pool. The players figuring out trade school partnerships and apprenticeship pipelines are already winning. Here’s how to actually do it without sounding like a brochure.
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Speed Is Your Best Recruiting Tool (And Yours Is Too Slow)
The average skilled-trades company takes 44 days to fill a role. In 2026, that is basically throwing the hire away. Here is what is actually moving the needle on speed-to-hire – and why the companies doing it right do not have bigger recruiting teams.
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The “Perfect Candidate” Job Description Is Costing You Good Tradespeople
Your “perfect candidate” job description isn’t attracting top trades talent—it’s filtering them out. Here’s what actually works.
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The Skilled Trades Retirement Cliff: What Nobody’s Talking About (Except Maybe Your Competitor)
There’s a report sitting on a lot of desks right now that employers are pretending not to see. JLL released it in April. It’s not dramatic. It’s not clickbait. It’s just a stack of numbers that, when you look at them long enough, start to feel a little terrifying. 2.1 million skilled trades jobs could…
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The Visible 25%: Why Your Job Postings Are Reaching the Wrong People (and What to Do About It)
Most recruiting budgets target 25% of the talent market. The best people for your open roles aren’t job hunting. Here’s how to reach them without sounding like a recruiter.
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Culture Fit Is the Wrong Lens for Skilled Trades Hiring — Here’s What to Use Instead
# “Culture Fit” Is the Wrong Lens for Skilled Trades Hiring — Here’s What to Use Instead Let me start with something I’ve learned from years of sitting in on hiring decisions across recruiting agencies: the worst hires don’t fail because they couldn’t do the work. They fail because nobody ever actually tested whether they…
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You’ve Got More Leverage Than You Think — If You Know How to Use It
The transportation and logistics job market gives experienced candidates real leverage right now. But having leverage and using it are two different things. Here’s how to actually make it work.
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The Hiring Gap No One’s Fixing (And What Smart Contractors Are Doing About It)
The labor gap in construction and insurance isn’t getting better. Here’s what’s driving it and what hiring managers are doing differently to close it.