The great recruitment reset. Part 2
The great recruitment reset. Part 2
Oleksii Povoliashko
VP, Global Talent Acquisition
Jul 14, 2025
•
5 minutes to read
The great recruitment reset. Part 2
The great recruitment reset. Part 2
If I had to sum up how the hiring market has changed—it used to be about finding someone, now it’s about finding someone very specific. The ideal candidate. With a list of highly specific skills. Willing to move to a new company. And preferably for half the budget.
We used to spend our time digging through tons of “dead” profiles—people who weren’t on the market and were perfectly fine where they were. We’d craft attractive offers, throw in some perks, hold long negotiation loops—all just to watch the candidate leave two months later for a company they were already talking to in stealth mode. That doesn’t work anymore.
After the COVID lockdowns, thousands of people started retraining for IT. Bootcamps, Udemy, you name it. And after the mass layoffs of recent years, the market is flooded with folks who can ship features, fix bugs, or even spin up a quick MVP. So today, if a client needs just “a regular IT person who can get the job done,” they can post the job online and get hundreds of applications within an hour.
There are plenty of candidates, but the market is no longer “open”—it’s fragmented and picky. The client expectations have only gotten more complex. Almost every position now calls for “a generalist with added niche expertise,” and we still have to convince them to leave a stable gig for something new and vaguely defined. That’s a whole new level of hustle. We’re no longer just “opening LinkedIn”—we’re going full-on OSINT mode, scraping GitHub, dev forums, and even Discord threads to find the one.
Where even recently interviews were done in one quick step, now candidates go through a full-blown quest: several rounds, take-home assignments, live coding, budget approvals, async feedback loops. And even after all that, there’s still a chance they won’t pass the probation period. Back to square one.
That’s why the hiring workflow has to be smart and strategic. It starts internally—by checking who’s available on the bench, then scanning the active candidate pool, and reaching out to former colleagues from Brightgrove.
After that, we ask around internally and tap into personal networks. Only then, if no match is found, we go external—starting with LinkedIn and expanding to every possible corner of the internet. Sounds like a lot of steps to make. In reality all these actions are done in a matter of hours.
Once a candidate is found, the focus shifts to alignment. We make sure they are genuinely interested in the project, compensation, and benefits. It’s important they clearly understand the structure and stages of the interview process and are prepared to follow it through. To achieve that, we stay transparent—explaining how the process works, why it’s set up that way, and what is expected.
After hiring approval is secured, we confirm the candidate is ready to accept the offer and is comfortable with the proposed terms and start date. If anything needs to be adjusted—compensation, conditions, or timing—we renegotiate accordingly. All of this—in the context of short-term projects, tight budgets, and sky-high expectations.
We’re not just finding people. We’re guiding them—from the first ping to signed offer pre-boarding procedures. We’re coaching clients too—helping keep expectations grounded and budgets realistic.
This shift has changed the hiring process itself. What we used to do as recruiters was solid —but it just doesn’t scale the same way anymore. Now we have to rethink our stack, level up our sourcing and negotiation game, and stay adaptive. And we’re upskilling our teams to do the same. Yes, it’s hard. Yes, it burns a lot of energy. But there’s no way back.
It’s no longer about “hiring fast.” It’s about hiring smart and hitting the target. We’re already in a new reality: demanding job specs, unstable budgets, and the need to think two sprints ahead. And it looks like we’re only at the beginning of this shift. So in the third part, we’ll talk about what’s next—how the market will continue to transform and what to expect in the coming years. Will AI replace people? Are we going to achieve AGI? And what does this all mean for someone who chose recruiting as a serious profession for life. Stay tuned.
If I had to sum up how the hiring market has changed—it used to be about finding someone, now it’s about finding someone very specific. The ideal candidate. With a list of highly specific skills. Willing to move to a new company. And preferably for half the budget.
We used to spend our time digging through tons of “dead” profiles—people who weren’t on the market and were perfectly fine where they were. We’d craft attractive offers, throw in some perks, hold long negotiation loops—all just to watch the candidate leave two months later for a company they were already talking to in stealth mode. That doesn’t work anymore.
After the COVID lockdowns, thousands of people started retraining for IT. Bootcamps, Udemy, you name it. And after the mass layoffs of recent years, the market is flooded with folks who can ship features, fix bugs, or even spin up a quick MVP. So today, if a client needs just “a regular IT person who can get the job done,” they can post the job online and get hundreds of applications within an hour.
There are plenty of candidates, but the market is no longer “open”—it’s fragmented and picky. The client expectations have only gotten more complex. Almost every position now calls for “a generalist with added niche expertise,” and we still have to convince them to leave a stable gig for something new and vaguely defined. That’s a whole new level of hustle. We’re no longer just “opening LinkedIn”—we’re going full-on OSINT mode, scraping GitHub, dev forums, and even Discord threads to find the one.
Where even recently interviews were done in one quick step, now candidates go through a full-blown quest: several rounds, take-home assignments, live coding, budget approvals, async feedback loops. And even after all that, there’s still a chance they won’t pass the probation period. Back to square one.
That’s why the hiring workflow has to be smart and strategic. It starts internally—by checking who’s available on the bench, then scanning the active candidate pool, and reaching out to former colleagues from Brightgrove.
After that, we ask around internally and tap into personal networks. Only then, if no match is found, we go external—starting with LinkedIn and expanding to every possible corner of the internet. Sounds like a lot of steps to make. In reality all these actions are done in a matter of hours.
Once a candidate is found, the focus shifts to alignment. We make sure they are genuinely interested in the project, compensation, and benefits. It’s important they clearly understand the structure and stages of the interview process and are prepared to follow it through. To achieve that, we stay transparent—explaining how the process works, why it’s set up that way, and what is expected.
After hiring approval is secured, we confirm the candidate is ready to accept the offer and is comfortable with the proposed terms and start date. If anything needs to be adjusted—compensation, conditions, or timing—we renegotiate accordingly. All of this—in the context of short-term projects, tight budgets, and sky-high expectations.
We’re not just finding people. We’re guiding them—from the first ping to signed offer pre-boarding procedures. We’re coaching clients too—helping keep expectations grounded and budgets realistic.
This shift has changed the hiring process itself. What we used to do as recruiters was solid —but it just doesn’t scale the same way anymore. Now we have to rethink our stack, level up our sourcing and negotiation game, and stay adaptive. And we’re upskilling our teams to do the same. Yes, it’s hard. Yes, it burns a lot of energy. But there’s no way back.
It’s no longer about “hiring fast.” It’s about hiring smart and hitting the target. We’re already in a new reality: demanding job specs, unstable budgets, and the need to think two sprints ahead. And it looks like we’re only at the beginning of this shift. So in the third part, we’ll talk about what’s next—how the market will continue to transform and what to expect in the coming years. Will AI replace people? Are we going to achieve AGI? And what does this all mean for someone who chose recruiting as a serious profession for life. Stay tuned.
If I had to sum up how the hiring market has changed—it used to be about finding someone, now it’s about finding someone very specific. The ideal candidate. With a list of highly specific skills. Willing to move to a new company. And preferably for half the budget.
We used to spend our time digging through tons of “dead” profiles—people who weren’t on the market and were perfectly fine where they were. We’d craft attractive offers, throw in some perks, hold long negotiation loops—all just to watch the candidate leave two months later for a company they were already talking to in stealth mode. That doesn’t work anymore.
After the COVID lockdowns, thousands of people started retraining for IT. Bootcamps, Udemy, you name it. And after the mass layoffs of recent years, the market is flooded with folks who can ship features, fix bugs, or even spin up a quick MVP. So today, if a client needs just “a regular IT person who can get the job done,” they can post the job online and get hundreds of applications within an hour.
There are plenty of candidates, but the market is no longer “open”—it’s fragmented and picky. The client expectations have only gotten more complex. Almost every position now calls for “a generalist with added niche expertise,” and we still have to convince them to leave a stable gig for something new and vaguely defined. That’s a whole new level of hustle. We’re no longer just “opening LinkedIn”—we’re going full-on OSINT mode, scraping GitHub, dev forums, and even Discord threads to find the one.
Where even recently interviews were done in one quick step, now candidates go through a full-blown quest: several rounds, take-home assignments, live coding, budget approvals, async feedback loops. And even after all that, there’s still a chance they won’t pass the probation period. Back to square one.
That’s why the hiring workflow has to be smart and strategic. It starts internally—by checking who’s available on the bench, then scanning the active candidate pool, and reaching out to former colleagues from Brightgrove.
After that, we ask around internally and tap into personal networks. Only then, if no match is found, we go external—starting with LinkedIn and expanding to every possible corner of the internet. Sounds like a lot of steps to make. In reality all these actions are done in a matter of hours.
Once a candidate is found, the focus shifts to alignment. We make sure they are genuinely interested in the project, compensation, and benefits. It’s important they clearly understand the structure and stages of the interview process and are prepared to follow it through. To achieve that, we stay transparent—explaining how the process works, why it’s set up that way, and what is expected.
After hiring approval is secured, we confirm the candidate is ready to accept the offer and is comfortable with the proposed terms and start date. If anything needs to be adjusted—compensation, conditions, or timing—we renegotiate accordingly. All of this—in the context of short-term projects, tight budgets, and sky-high expectations.
We’re not just finding people. We’re guiding them—from the first ping to signed offer pre-boarding procedures. We’re coaching clients too—helping keep expectations grounded and budgets realistic.
This shift has changed the hiring process itself. What we used to do as recruiters was solid —but it just doesn’t scale the same way anymore. Now we have to rethink our stack, level up our sourcing and negotiation game, and stay adaptive. And we’re upskilling our teams to do the same. Yes, it’s hard. Yes, it burns a lot of energy. But there’s no way back.
It’s no longer about “hiring fast.” It’s about hiring smart and hitting the target. We’re already in a new reality: demanding job specs, unstable budgets, and the need to think two sprints ahead. And it looks like we’re only at the beginning of this shift. So in the third part, we’ll talk about what’s next—how the market will continue to transform and what to expect in the coming years. Will AI replace people? Are we going to achieve AGI? And what does this all mean for someone who chose recruiting as a serious profession for life. Stay tuned.
If I had to sum up how the hiring market has changed—it used to be about finding someone, now it’s about finding someone very specific. The ideal candidate. With a list of highly specific skills. Willing to move to a new company. And preferably for half the budget.
We used to spend our time digging through tons of “dead” profiles—people who weren’t on the market and were perfectly fine where they were. We’d craft attractive offers, throw in some perks, hold long negotiation loops—all just to watch the candidate leave two months later for a company they were already talking to in stealth mode. That doesn’t work anymore.
After the COVID lockdowns, thousands of people started retraining for IT. Bootcamps, Udemy, you name it. And after the mass layoffs of recent years, the market is flooded with folks who can ship features, fix bugs, or even spin up a quick MVP. So today, if a client needs just “a regular IT person who can get the job done,” they can post the job online and get hundreds of applications within an hour.
There are plenty of candidates, but the market is no longer “open”—it’s fragmented and picky. The client expectations have only gotten more complex. Almost every position now calls for “a generalist with added niche expertise,” and we still have to convince them to leave a stable gig for something new and vaguely defined. That’s a whole new level of hustle. We’re no longer just “opening LinkedIn”—we’re going full-on OSINT mode, scraping GitHub, dev forums, and even Discord threads to find the one.
Where even recently interviews were done in one quick step, now candidates go through a full-blown quest: several rounds, take-home assignments, live coding, budget approvals, async feedback loops. And even after all that, there’s still a chance they won’t pass the probation period. Back to square one.
That’s why the hiring workflow has to be smart and strategic. It starts internally—by checking who’s available on the bench, then scanning the active candidate pool, and reaching out to former colleagues from Brightgrove.
After that, we ask around internally and tap into personal networks. Only then, if no match is found, we go external—starting with LinkedIn and expanding to every possible corner of the internet. Sounds like a lot of steps to make. In reality all these actions are done in a matter of hours.
Once a candidate is found, the focus shifts to alignment. We make sure they are genuinely interested in the project, compensation, and benefits. It’s important they clearly understand the structure and stages of the interview process and are prepared to follow it through. To achieve that, we stay transparent—explaining how the process works, why it’s set up that way, and what is expected.
After hiring approval is secured, we confirm the candidate is ready to accept the offer and is comfortable with the proposed terms and start date. If anything needs to be adjusted—compensation, conditions, or timing—we renegotiate accordingly. All of this—in the context of short-term projects, tight budgets, and sky-high expectations.
We’re not just finding people. We’re guiding them—from the first ping to signed offer pre-boarding procedures. We’re coaching clients too—helping keep expectations grounded and budgets realistic.
This shift has changed the hiring process itself. What we used to do as recruiters was solid —but it just doesn’t scale the same way anymore. Now we have to rethink our stack, level up our sourcing and negotiation game, and stay adaptive. And we’re upskilling our teams to do the same. Yes, it’s hard. Yes, it burns a lot of energy. But there’s no way back.
It’s no longer about “hiring fast.” It’s about hiring smart and hitting the target. We’re already in a new reality: demanding job specs, unstable budgets, and the need to think two sprints ahead. And it looks like we’re only at the beginning of this shift. So in the third part, we’ll talk about what’s next—how the market will continue to transform and what to expect in the coming years. Will AI replace people? Are we going to achieve AGI? And what does this all mean for someone who chose recruiting as a serious profession for life. Stay tuned.
Oleksii Povoliashko
VP, Global Talent Acquisition