Where the Real Breaks Occur
The job description as the first obstacle
Many job adverts are written under time pressure. An old template, a few updated requirements, a list of desired qualifications that grows with each revision. The result is postings that are simultaneously too specific and too vague: too specific in what they demand on paper, too vague about what the work actually involves day to day.
People who would be well suited often don't apply, because nothing in the advert speaks to them, or because the requirements seem too distant from their own experience. People who match the formal criteria but not the actual role apply anyway.
The ATS problem: when the filter becomes a sieve
Applicant tracking systems are tools. Like any tool, they are only as good as the people who configure them. In practice, filters are built from the keywords in the job advert, which is itself an imprecise document.The result: strong candidates are filtered out because their CV doesn't use exactly the right terms. Weaker ones pass through because they know the vocabulary. The filter does its job. It just isn't doing the right job.
The gap between HR, the hiring manager, and the team
Even when an application gets through, the next difficulty begins. HR, the hiring manager, and the existing team are often looking for different people. HR thinks in qualification profiles. The manager thinks in outcomes. The team thinks in collaboration and culture fit. All three perspectives are legitimate. They are rarely brought together before the process begins.
The person hired meets the formal criteria but doesn't quite fit the team, the manager, or the actual work. The process starts again.
Onboarding as a downstream problem
The recruitment process doesn't end when the contract is signed. It ends when someone has genuinely settled in: into the work, the informal structures, the culture of the organisation. In practice, onboarding tends to start too late, runs too loosely, and focuses too heavily on the technical. IT access, an office tour, a handful of documents. What's missing is guidance into the actual work and the unwritten ways things get done.
People who go through structured onboarding are measurably more likely to still be there a year later, and more productive when they are. Poor onboarding quietly undoes the entire investment that preceded it.