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HR Insights
Melissa Hoegener
30 September 2025
Hiring managers today face a frustrating paradox: job postings attract hundreds of applicants, yet truly qualified candidates remain elusive.
One hiring manager summed it up perfectly: "We have a lot of promising candidates on paper, but when interviewed, they often clearly inflate their qualifications."
This is a massive waste of time, resources, and morale. In supply chain, procurement, and operations - where the right leader can mean millions saved in efficiency - companies can't afford to gamble on inflated resumes.
So what's the alternative? Fewer, better candidates. That's where focusing on passive candidates changes the game.
Relying on job postings means opening the floodgates to:
Volume without value: The average job posting now receives 250+ applications, but this quantity creates problems, not solutions. Most applicants meet only 50% of the requirements or less.
Qualification inflation: According to research from Gartner, nearly 90% of candidates said they have exited a hiring process due to mismatched expectations, often after discovering they weren't as qualified as they initially believed.
Time drain: Teams waste hours interviewing applicants who never should have advanced in the first place. Studies show hiring managers spend 60% of their time screening unqualified applicants instead of evaluating genuine matches.
According to Harvard Business Review research, more than 90% of employers now use automated systems for screening, but automation can't detect whether a candidate's claims match reality. Instead, it often screens out nuanced, high-performing talent while letting keyword-optimized resumes slide through.
We asked hiring leaders if job boards are delivering quality candidates — their answers reveal the real problem.
Job boards had their time in the sun, but sadly they need to be sent off to pasture. With the advent of one-click apply—I'm looking at you, Indeed and LinkedIn—people are spamming their generic resumes everywhere and hoping that something sticks. We cannot knock the candidates who are facing hundreds (if not thousands) of competitors and need to up their numbers game to get a shot at landing an interview. I have recommended using LinkedIn for networking, but many say they have tried and it has not resulted in anything meaningful. To correct the situation, the ATS needs to be rewired to accept synonyms rather than specific job skills, duties, and roles. In the meantime, candidates are stuck spending 20 minutes per resume trying to match the job ad, while recruiters are slammed with a never-ending pile of people who forget that they applied in the first place.
Jeremy Golan SHRM-CP, CPHR, Bachelor of Management, HR Manager, Virtual HR Hub
Job boards will continue to exist but are less effective today since they have too many unqualified or irrelevant applications. Most difficult is weeding out numbers in order to get to potential candidates who match the job and have real intent to apply. Job boards will need to get beyond keyword matching in order to become effective again and include AI-enabled candidate intent assessment, skill confirmation, and better context on experience rather than relying on resumes.
George Fironov, Co-Founder & CEO, Talmatic
ATS also allows us to automate many of our recruiting/pre-boarding functions such as scheduling interviews, email notifications, and conducting employment references. It is also extremely useful for applicant history and data reporting. Overall, many job seekers continue to use online job boards. The toughest part about attracting and hiring the right talent is about having an effective recruiting strategy. Things such as job title, verbiage in the job posting and/or salary transparency can all have major impact on finding and hiring the best candidates. When used optimally, job boards (either individually or through an ATS), can leverage their technological capabilities such as AI integration to screen candidates, mobile-friendly job applications and other automated/user friendly features to increase the candidate pool of qualified and skilled applicants.
Mayank Singh, Director of Human Resources, Coordinated Family Care
Passive candidates aren't blasting out dozens of applications. They're succeeding in their current roles, which is exactly why they're attractive to top employers.
By targeting passive talent, you get:
Fewer but stronger interviews: Every candidate is pre-qualified before they hit your inbox. Companies focusing on passive candidates typically see 60% fewer but significantly stronger interviews.
Better alignment with the role: Passive candidates have time to thoroughly evaluate opportunities, leading to more thoughtful decisions about organizational alignment and genuine interest in your specific opportunity.
Impact from day one: Proven leaders ready to step in and deliver results. Research shows 18-month retention rates exceed 90% for passive hires versus 70% for active candidates.
At SCOPE Recruiting, we've built our model around this approach. Because our recruiters are former supply chain professionals, we know how to separate inflated claims from real, measurable performance.
Firms that combine industry expertise with targeted recruiting consistently outperform those who rely on job boards alone.
When The Havok Journal reviewed the top supply chain recruiting firms for 2025, they emphasized that success comes from human-driven recruiting backed by smart technology - not AI filters or mass postings.
The data supports this approach. According to research from Zippia, 73% of potential candidates are passive job seekers who are currently employed and open to hearing about new opportunities but hesitant to actively apply. Additionally, 87% of these passive candidates are open to new job opportunities when approached through active recruitment. This selectivity means they evaluate opportunities more thoroughly, leading to better long-term matches and higher retention rates.
And we see it with our own clients every day:
If you're struggling with inflated resumes and endless applicant sorting, it's time to rethink your strategy. Here's where to start:
Stop chasing volume. Posting jobs everywhere only increases noise. The most successful supply chain hiring strategies focus on targeted outreach to specific talent pools rather than broad-based application collection.
Focus on discovery. Partner with recruiters who dig deep into your needs, not just job descriptions. Understanding the nuanced requirements of supply chain roles - from demand planning expertise to supplier relationship management - requires industry knowledge that generic recruiters lack.
Prioritize passive talent. High performers aren't applying - they're already working. They're focused on delivering results in their current roles, not browsing job boards every week.
Use technology as a tool, not the recruiter. Automation can streamline admin tasks and reduce bias, but human judgment makes the final call on cultural fit, leadership potential, and genuine expertise.
For more insights, check out our Procurement Pulse podcast where we share real-world lessons on recruiting strategy and supply chain leadership.
While competitors struggle with resume avalanches, companies that focus on quality over quantity gain significant advantages:
Speed to hire: Less time screening means faster identification of quality candidates and quicker hiring decisions.
Cost efficiency: Reduced screening time and higher success rates lower overall cost-per-hire despite potentially higher individual candidate investment.
Quality outcomes: Better-qualified hires drive measurable business improvements. One recent client hired a supply chain director through our passive approach who implemented $1.2M in cost savings within six months - results impossible to achieve with someone still learning the role.
Team satisfaction: Hiring managers and interview panels appreciate engaging with genuinely qualified candidates rather than screening masses of applications.
More resumes won't solve your hiring challenges. In fact, they often make them worse. What employers really need is better candidates, not more candidates.
By focusing on passive recruiting, hiring managers can cut through inflated qualifications, reduce wasted time, and finally connect with the talent that drives real business results. The best supply chain professionals aren't scrolling job boards - they're focused on delivering results in their current roles. But with the right approach and strategic outreach, they can become the game-changing hires that elevate your entire organization.
Ready to hire smarter, not harder? Contact our team to see how our passive recruiting strategy delivers the supply chain talent your business needs without the resume avalanche chaos.
Want to hire smarter and faster? Download our FREE Interview Guide & Candidate Scorecards. This resource helps hiring managers streamline interviews, ask the right questions, and evaluate candidates fairly and consistently. With practical templates and proven frameworks, you’ll make confident hiring decisions while saving time.
SCOPE Recruiting is a boutique supply chain recruiting firm founded by former ABB global category managers, Friddy and Melissa Hoegener. Unlike generalist staffing agencies, every recruiter at SCOPE has hands-on supply chain experience before moving into executive search. That insider perspective allows us to speak the language of procurement, logistics, planning, and operations and deliver smarter matches, stronger retention, and faster hiring results.
If you’re building or scaling a team and want to work with one of the best supply chain recruiters in the U.S., visit scoperecruiting.com
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