Lynda Spiegel's
Wall Street Journal article,
"6 Ways to Fix the Job-Application Nightmare", got my attention. Her critiques are insightful and valid; I want to push further because fixing the hiring process isn't just about convenience.
It's about trust. It's about equity It's about how we treat people in moments that shape their future.
The Problem: Transactional Hiring Undermines Relationships
Too many employers have adopted a volume-over-quality mindset, relying on job boards, keyword-stuffed descriptions, and rigid Applicant Tracking Systems. These tools may boost application numbers, but they bury real human connections.
Candidates feel like they're shouting into the void. They're ghosted after interviews. They spend hours navigating application systems, asking them to retype the resume they just uploaded.
Letting software drive the entire experience makes it hard to see candidates as people. Reducing them to checkboxes means not noticing their transferable skills or potential. This frustrates applicants and pushes away the quality talent companies claim to want.
Additionally, the harm isn't distributed evenly. Transactional hiring disproportionately disadvantages first-generation students, candidates from underrepresented backgrounds, and young adults inexperienced with the "hidden rules" of the job search.
Automating empathy out of the process reinforces exclusion and risks mismatched or bad hires.
The Solution: Relationship-Driven Hiring
If we want to fix this, we need more than better tech—we need a better minds t. Hiring is a relationship, not a transaction; career services can help employers remember that.
University career centers are trust builders, along with job posters. Professionals work closely with students to understand their goals, career potential, and growth. So, they're uniquely positioned to help employers design more human, effective recruiting practices.
Instead of defaulting to volume, career services can help employers:
- Curate meaningful student-employer interactions
→ Host targeted recruiting, alum panels, and events to prioritize conversation over pitch decks.
- Facilitate mentorship and guidance
→ Pair students with professionals who remember what it's like to be unsure and who want to help build candidates' confidence.
- Provide deeper insight into the candidate's potential.
→ Personally share the context behind a student's use that an algorithm or chatbot will never understand.
- Encourage transparency and communication
→ Lead employers move away from vague job descriptions and ghosting toward real dialogue to build trust.
This isn't just about career preparation. It's a reputation-building exercise for students and employers.
A Better Way Forward
The future of hiring isisn'tbout getting more people into your pipeline--and especially not automatical y. It's about ensuring the people in your pipeline feel seen, respected, and informed—whether or not they get an immediate offer.
Imagine a hiring process where, instead of feeling disillusioned, candidates waited in the pipeline
✅ With clarity
✅ Feeling valued
✅ Knowing what comes next
That kind of experience pays off—for everyone. It builds loyalty, boosts brand trust, and attracts candidates who aren't just applying for a job but choosing a workplace they believe in.
Career Services already understands this. They're leading a movement to make hiring more relational, equitable, and effective.
But they can't do it alone.
So here's the question for all of us—career leaders, employers, recruiters:
🟢 What's one thing you can do this year to make your hiring process feel more human?
Let's rebuild the early talent network application and hiring process together—one relationship at a time.