Hard Truth #001: Your Hiring Sucks Because No One Owns the Strategy
Most Hiring Problems Start With No One in Charge
There’s a myth that recruiting is just about finding the right person.
It’s not.
Recruiting is decision-making under pressure. It’s strategy, psychology, storytelling, and speed. If it’s not owned, it fails — period.
Here’s how it usually plays out:
The hiring manager wants someone “amazing” but can’t define what “amazing” looks like.
HR posts a job that’s either 1,000 words of nothing or copy-pasted from an old file.
The recruiter scrambles to find matches for a role no one can articulate.
Leadership gets involved — until they vanish — and then show up again at final round to blow it all up.
No clarity. No speed. No ownership.
But yeah — blame the recruiter.
What Real Hiring Strategy Looks Like
If you want to land A-level talent, you need a hiring strategy that includes:
1. Clear Outcomes
“What does this person need to accomplish in the first 90 days? 6 months?”
If you can’t answer that, you’re not hiring — you’re hoping.
2. Candidate Positioning
What’s your pitch to the candidate?
Why this company, this team, this mission?
If you can’t sell the opportunity, you’ll lose to companies that can.
3. Fast Feedback Loops
Slow teams lose talent. Full stop.
Top candidates won’t wait a week for your team to “circle back.”
If you're not ready to move fast, you're not ready to hire.
4. One Person Driving the Process
Someone has to own the strategy — and not just send calendar invites.
That person keeps everyone honest, keeps decisions tight, and builds the hiring plan from intake to offer.
What’s Actually Killing Your Pipeline
Your job post sounds like it was written by AI.
Your interviewers aren’t aligned on what “good” looks like.
Your process leaks candidates because no one follows up.
And your candidate experience sucks — even if you don’t realize it yet.
These aren’t market problems.
They’re leadership problems.
They’re fixable.
The Fix
If you're hiring for a critical role — don’t wing it.
You need someone who will:
Lead intake strategy like a marketing campaign
Build the candidate pipeline with precision
Filter the noise
And protect your time by only showing you the best
If no one owns that?
You’ll keep getting half-fit candidates, missed offers, and wasted cycles.
Ready to Fix It?
Kelso Advisory Group builds strategic hiring systems for executive and specialist roles.
We work with teams who don’t want resumes — they want results.
