Always Getting Hired

Michael had been looking for a job forever. Well, it felt like forever: ten months of applications and occasional interviews. Meanwhile, his friend received an offer three days after quitting an executive role. Michael had seen this movie before. Among peers with the same skill sets, a few managed to get hired over and over again, while the rest looked on.

The job market continues to be brutal, particularly for many seasoned white-collar applicants and new graduates. Yet experts say that the same few candidates seem to get hired again and again—a tiny group that radiates assuredness in a moment of unpredictability, experts say. “Volatility and uncertainty are unprecedented right now,” says Maneesh Dube, senior client partner in the Executive Search practice at Korn Ferry. “Topic expertise and experiences are not sufficient anymore.”

This is bad news for the many candidates with topic expertise and relevant experience. Indeed, experts say that for the majority of those in the applicant pool, one particular trait is disqualifying: a recent job demonstrating success at tasks nearly, but not precisely, identical to those of the new job. “Today, the only sure-thing hire is someone who has already done exactly what you need done,” says David Vied, global sector leader for medical devices and diagnostics at Korn Ferry. 

Two other traits are also highly sought-after. “There's a lot more emphasis on entrepreneurialism and the ability to adapt and pivot,” says Moses Zonana, senior client partner in the Technology practice at Korn Ferry. Less popular: linear career arcs, or someone who stayed at the same firm for fifteen years. This year, firms are seeking candidates who’ve had exposure to many different environments, which allows them to quickly pivot and connect dots, says Zonana. These criteria disqualify the many candidates who rose up the ranks at one firm, or who have overtly entrepreneurial résumés. Job seekers like Michael can easily find themselves frustrated on the sidelines.

Experts say firms sticking to this strategy risk losing out on some innovative talent. But this so-called “sure-thing” hiring strategy is very familiar to sports fans. Front offices commonly buy players whose statistics match the team’s needs. The upside is obvious: Someone who has done the exact same job elsewhere can hit the ground running. Yet pro teams share the same problem of prizing a select few players, while hundreds of others look on. In the corporate world, a sharply limited hiring pool causes headaches. Add in noncompetes and availability, and hiring delays ensue—at a time when hiring times are on the rise. Sixty percent of firms saw hiring times increase in 2024, up from 44% in 2023, according to a report by AI firm GoodTime, with just 6% seeing decreases in 2024.

Experts say that the tiny-hiring-pool phenomenon is common across industries, though sought-after characteristics can vary. For example, in tech, the ability to learn and adapt quickly is prioritized. “With the speed of tech development, it’s the only way to do it,” says Zonana. Meanwhile, the energy industry was long known for its incestuous in-sector hiring. That has shifted in the last five years, as hiring managers realize that similar experience trumps sector specificity. For example, a company seeking transformation might find a candidate who has already led a successful transformation in a sister industry, says Lucy Bosworth, senior client partner at Korn Ferry: “There’s more of a sense of the need to have real domain expertise, versus just being in the sector.”

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