Why assumptions quietly sabotage recruitment searches

As a recruiter, I can’t help overhearing hiring conversations in the wild.

Over lunch today, I caught the start of a recruitment discussion, role scope, budget, timelines, and then the line that stuck:

“We’ll just get someone from Sussex. They won’t mind commuting.”

And that’s where searches quietly go off course.

Not dramatically.
Just enough to make them slower and harder than they need to be.

Because underneath that sentence sat an assumption:

That employers know what candidates will and won’t accept.

They don’t.

The myth of predictable candidates

At the start of a search, companies often picture their future hire before speaking to the market. They assume:

• Where people will travel from
• How flexible they’ll be
• What salary will motivate them
• What trade-offs they’ll accept
  

But hiring isn’t logical… it’s personal.

Two people in the same town can have completely different commute tolerances. No two are the same.

Someone might travel 90 minutes for a step up.
Another won’t travel 30 for a lateral move.

So the real question isn’t:

Will someone commute?

It’s:

Is this opportunity strong enough to justify it?

When assumptions drive the search

Confident guessing quietly shapes outcomes:

1. The brief narrows
Written for a hypothetical person, not the real market.

2. Early feedback gets dismissed
When candidates repeatedly ask about flexibility or salary, that’s not resistance, it’s data.

3. The search feels slow
It’s not a talent shortage. It’s misalignment.

From the outside: “The market’s tough.”
From the inside: The positioning is off.

A better approach

The strongest hiring processes treat the early stage as research.

Instead of:
Can we find someone who fits this?

Ask:
What is the market telling us?

• Treat early conversations as intelligence
• Test flexibility before locking it in
• Ask why someone would move
• Adjust quickly
  

Recruitment isn’t prediction. It’s calibration.

So next time you think,
“We’ll just get someone who…”

Pause.

That’s often where the timeline quietly doubles.

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