The recruitment funnel has been running for the third month. The recruiter has reviewed more than three hundred profiles, conducted dozens of prescreenings, sent five detailed shortlists, but not a single candidate has actually started working. The classic reflexive reaction of a founder or hiring manager in such a situation sounds the same: “There are no good specialists on the market,” “Everyone wants too much money and knows nothing,” or “The agency is doing a poor job.”
However, in the vast majority of cases, the diagnosis “there are no people on the market” is wrong. If a vacancy remains open for months in a competitive global market, especially in high-risk niches such as FinTech, Web3, or Legal, this rarely indicates a physical shortage of talent. Most often, it is a mathematical and logical signal: you are trying to sell an illiquid product of your internal structure or looking for a mythical unicorn that does not exist in nature.
At this point, it is time to stop the process and stop burning the budget on endless sourcing. Let’s analyze in detail the three systemic reasons why a vacancy becomes “impossible to close” and the step-by-step algorithm for rebuilding it before starting a new search.
Contradictory expectations of the hiring manager: the “superhero search” syndrome
The most common trap when opening a position is creating a description based on the principle of “let’s hire a one-person orchestra.” Among founders, there is a widespread myth that the more diverse requirements you include in the job description, the stronger professional you will get on the team.
In practice, this leads to the formation of schizophrenic expectations. Let’s consider a classic market example: a company is looking for a Head of Growth for a crypto project. The list of requirements includes:
- Deep technical mindset and understanding of blockchain architecture, the ability to speak with developers in the language of smart contracts.
- Brilliant public speaking skills, charisma to win investors’ trust, and experience in event management (extrovert-friendly).
- 100% focus on operational media buying and daily hands-on management of advertising accounts (hands-on execution).
The problem is that a strong hands-on media buyer is usually an introvert fully immersed in numbers, unit economics, and conversion analytics. A strategic investor pitcher will not personally sit in advertising accounts. And a blockchain architect will not do cold outreach on LinkedIn.
When a hiring manager demands a combination of incompatible psychotypes and opposite skills in one person, they doom the process to failure. You are looking for a person who physically does not exist on the labor market.
Non-market compensation or asymmetry of inflated requirements
Recruiting is a pure market of capital and labor. If you are trying to attract a top-level specialist, for example, a former Chief Legal Officer of an international crypto exchange or a Senior architect of a fintech platform, with a budget set a year ago, the market will answer you with silence.
The asymmetry of expectations is most often hidden behind two illusions:
- The illusion of project uniqueness: “We have such a cool crypto startup with a freedom vibe that people should want to work here for the idea and a minimal salary because there will be options later.” In today’s reality, Senior+ specialists with experience in finance or compliance do not work for a “vibe.” They know the value of their expertise, understand the risks, and demand a market guarantee.
- A stale “budget window”: The budget was approved six months ago during the launch of the idea. Since then, inflation has increased, competitors have raised rates for key personnel due to new regulatory challenges, such as MiCA rules in the EU, and you continue to offer an amount that can no longer hire even a mid-level specialist.
If a strong specialist rejects your offer or does not reach the final stage, the problem is not their “mercantilism.” The problem is that your value for them, money plus prospects, does not cover their alternative cost of time and risks.
Attempting to combine several professions in one role
Another systemic cost-saving mistake is trying to fit the functionality of an entire department into one full-time position. Most often, this looks like a classic combo: “We need a lawyer who will simultaneously handle corporate law, manage accounting, communicate with banks on AML, and also set up marketing and write several articles for us.”
The company tries to save money on one salary, but instead receives the opposite effect — operational and management paralysis.
- First, no top specialist with deep expertise will agree to dilute their qualification with routine tasks from another field.
- Second, even if you find a universal specialist, they will perform all these tasks at a mediocre level. In high-risk niches such as FinTech and Web3, amateurism in legal or financial matters costs the company much more than the salary of a narrow specialist.
How to rebuild the vacancy before starting a new search
If you are tired of fruitless searches, do not blame the market. Take a pause and complete four steps of deep position reengineering.
1. Funnel audit and “noise filtering”
Analyze all rejections at the entry stage. At what stage do candidates drop out? If they leave at the start after the salary is announced, the problem is non-market compensation. If they refuse after the test task, it is either too large or too small. If managers reject everyone in a row, you do not have a unified understanding of the profile.
2. Decomposition of the role into two separate positions
If the job description looks like a Swiss army knife, break it down. Identify the main business goal of the vacancy, for example “obtaining a CASP license.” Everything else — accounting routine, marketing, or technical support — should be outsourced, assigned to contractors, or distributed among current teams. For the focus task, look for a profile specialist.
3. Market benchmarking and budget adjustment
Conduct a closed market survey through partners or an engaged agency: how much does a specialist of this level actually earn given the current realities? If the market price is higher than your limit, you have two options: increase the budget or lower the requirements to the candidate’s level, for example by hiring a promising Middle+ specialist and mentoring them.
4. Approval of a strict scorecard instead of a vague resume
Create a single expected result map (Scorecard) signed by all decision-makers. Clearly define in it:
- What should this person accomplish in the first 90 days?
- Which three skills are critical, and which can be completely ignored?
- What minimum and maximum budget range is allocated for this position?
Conclusion
A vacancy that cannot be closed for months is not a recruiter’s failure. It is a direct diagnosis of internal inefficiency in the company’s business processes. As long as you are trying to close an unbalanced, underfunded, or bizarrely combined role, the best candidates will avoid you. Rebuild the vacancy according to the rules of the real market — and quality candidates will appear in your funnel within the first weeks.
Contact information
Leave a request, and we will assemble not just candidates, but a team that will work toward a common goal.
If you want to become our client or partner, write to us at support@manimama.eu.
Or use our Telegram @ManimamaBot and we will respond to your request.
Join our Telegram to receive news in a convenient way: Manimama Legal Channel.
