Welcome to The Hero 🗞️. This is approximately a 2.5-minute read.
🔍 Why job boards create noise, not hires.
📩 Where the best candidates actually come from in 2026.
💡 How outbound sourcing beats posting and praying.
TL;DR
Job boards flood you with applicants, not candidates.
Most top talent never applies - they're already employed.
Paying more for sponsored posts doesn’t guarantee quality.
When Applications Become Noise
You post a job.
Get 450 applications.
Sounds great - until you realize 95% are unqualified, spam, or both.
Just last week we saw an engineering role get 400+ applications in 12 hours..
Identical phrasing across resumes.
Some literally said "ChatGPT says..." in their answers 😨
The company pulled the listing after one day.
High volume, low quality.
That's the new reality of job boards.
Recruiters spend 20+ hours per hire sifting through applications.
The full breakdown is just below—don’t miss it! 😉
Links of the Day:
🔗 Best Links
Here are some of the best links I’ve found since last time I emailed you:
👩💼 Employer Branding
Unlocking the Secrets from the Best Employer Brands (link)
The 4 P’s of Employer Branding: A Guide to Attract Top Talent (link)
📈 Passive Candidate Engagement
How to Target Passive Job Seekers (link)
Top Strategies for Attracting Passive Candidates in a Competitive Market (link)
📊 Recruiting Strategies & Hiring Trends
Top 11 Hiring Trends Shaping Recruitment in 2025 (link)
7 Step Recruitment Process to Hiring Top Talent (link)
🤖 AI & Automation in Hiring
Best AI Talent Sourcing Tools for Recruitment in 2026 (link)
Best AI Recruiting Tools for 2026: Complete Guide (link)
🎣 Fishing in the Wrong Pool
The candidates you want aren't applying.
70% of the workforce is passive - employed, not looking, and definitely not on Indeed.
And sponsored posts turn into bidding wars.
Employers report $5–6 per click, with some burning $200 - $500 a day - for applicants who don't even qualify.
More money for worse candidates.
Meanwhile, the people who'd actually crush the role?
They never saw your post.
💔 Break Up With Your Job Board
1. Shift budget to sourcing tools.
Kill the $2K–5K/month Indeed sponsorships.
That’s allows you to target exactly who you’re looking for (instead of sifting through a bunch of BS resumes).
2. Stop chasing volume.
350 applications isn't a win…
It's a screening nightmare.
Measure quality, not inbox size.
3. Use job posts for brand only.
Keep listings on your careers page and make sure your Company LinkedIn Page is up to date.
Just don't expect those posts to deliver constant real hires.
4. Make outbound your main channel.
Day one of a new opening:
Source 150–200 passive candidates.
Use semi-personalized outreach at scale.
Outbound delivers 5-10x better quality than inbound.
Outbound is King 👑
5. Job boards still work for junior roles.
Entry-level, hourly, internships - fine.
But make sure to require some kind of written response (to prove they're human).
To Sum It Up…
Job boards deliver volume.
Not quality.
In 2026, volume is a liability.
And To Wrap It Up…
The best candidates aren't applying.
They're waiting for you to find them.
Stop posting. Start sourcing.
HOW WE CAN HELP?
There are a few ways:
Or you can just reply to this email.
I reply to absolutely everyone who writes me back 🙂
