There’s a very convenient story floating around right now.
“No one’s applying.”
“The market is dead.”
“Good people just aren’t out there anymore.”
And look - hiring is harder right now. That part is true.
But also?
We’re seeing businesses with the same roles, in the same industries, in the same locations getting completely different results.
Some are struggling to get a single decent applicant.
Others are filling roles with aligned, capable people.
So no, it’s not just the market.
And if we’re being honest, blaming the market is usually the easier option.
Because it means you don’t have to look at what you’re actually putting out there.
Your job ad isn’t the problem - it’s what it’s missing
Most job ads aren’t bad.
They’re just incomplete.
They cover the role, the responsibilities, the experience required.
But they completely skip over the part that actually makes someone choose your business over another.
Why would someone leave their current job to come and work for you?
And if your answer to that is:
“We’re a great team”
“We’re supportive”
“We’re like a family”
Cool.
So is everyone else.
That’s the problem.
You’re not competing on the role - you’re competing on the experience
Candidates aren’t just comparing roles.
They’re comparing how the business operates.
How decisions are made.
What expectations actually look like day to day.
Whether things feel clear or chaotic.
If your job ad doesn’t give them insight into that, they’ll either assume it’s the same as everywhere else or assume the worst.
Neither helps you.
Because now you’re either attracting people who just need a job, or no one at all.
Culture isn’t a vibe - it’s how your business actually runs
This is where most hiring conversations go sideways.
Culture gets treated like perks, team lunches, or good vibes.
That’s not what candidates are looking for.
They want to understand what it’s actually like to work with you.
That comes down to things like:
- How communication works
- How feedback is handled
- What’s expected without being chased
- What happens when something goes wrong
That’s culture.
And if you haven’t defined that clearly, you can’t communicate it.
Which means your job ad ends up sounding like everyone else.
If it’s not clear to you, it’s not clear to them
If your hiring feels messy, inconsistent, or frustrating, there’s a very good chance your internal clarity isn’t where it needs to be yet.
Your hiring process is a reflection of how your business operates.
If expectations aren’t clearly defined, decisions are made on the fly, and everyone does things slightly differently, that shows up immediately in hiring.
Even if you don’t realise it.
Candidates can feel that.
They might not be able to explain it perfectly, but they’ll pick up on lack of structure, lack of clarity, and lack of confidence.
And they’ll opt out.
You don’t need more applicants - you need better alignment
More applicants won’t fix this.
You don’t need more resumes or more interviews.
You need people who actually align with how your business operates.
People who understand what’s expected and want that environment.
That starts with what you’re communicating.
What you should be doing instead
Before you rewrite your job ad again, stop and look at this properly.
Ask yourself:
- How does our business actually operate day to day?
- What do we expect from someone beyond just doing the job?
- What behaviours actually matter here?
- What would make someone stay once they join us?
If you can’t answer those clearly, that’s your starting point.
Not another ad.
Because this doesn’t stop at hiring
This isn’t just about getting better applicants.
It’s about hiring people who actually fit, reducing turnover, and creating consistency in how work gets done.
If you hire without clarity, you don’t avoid the problem.
You just move it further down the track.
Into performance issues, frustration, and constantly questioning why things aren’t being done properly.
If hiring feels hard right now - start here
Not with another ad.
Not with lowering your standards.
Start with how clear you are on how your business runs, what you actually expect, and what someone is stepping into.
Because once that’s clear, everything else gets easier.
Including hiring.
Your next step
If you’re reading this and thinking you don’t actually know how to define or communicate this properly, that’s your starting point.
Not another job ad.
Not tweaking wording.
Not hoping the right person just appears.
Start with clarity.
Clarity on how your business actually operates.
Clarity on what you expect from someone beyond just doing the job.
Clarity on the behaviours that matter, not just the outcomes.
Because once that’s clear, hiring stops feeling like guesswork.
And instead becomes a process of filtering for alignment, not scrambling for options.
If your hiring feels harder than it should right now, there’s usually something underneath it that hasn’t been defined yet.
That’s the work.
- Ash & Emerald HQ 💎
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