I hear this all the time from managers:
"Recruitment isn't doing their job right." "Shortlists aren't coming on time." "There aren't enough candidates." "The candidates they send are terrible." "It's so hard to find good people."
And then the question: "What can I do to make them move faster?"
Here's the uncomfortable truth: you're probably the bottleneck.
Not because you're slow to respond. But because you've unknowingly made your mandate harder to work on than everyone else's.
The mindset shift.
Hiring is a delegated job, not an abdicated job.
You've handed the sourcing and coordination to someone else. But when they're struggling to deliver, it's still your accountability to make it work.
In most organizations, your recruiter is juggling multiple stakeholders — all equally convinced their role is the most urgent. Pressure doesn't work. Escalation doesn't work. Going higher up the chain might get you a short-term win, but it's not sustainable.
The only way to consistently get your hiring done on time is to become the path of least resistance.
Not by lowering your bar. By reducing the friction you've created.
The friction you don't see.
When your recruiter sends you a list of candidates, how do you respond?
