Recruiting Is Built on Trust. Right Now, It’s Failing.

Recently, we had a candidate tell us they had their green card during our initial screening call. We submitted them to our client. Our client spent weeks evaluating. Everyone invested time, energy, and attention.

And then, when it came time for the offer, suddenly they couldn’t be a W-2 employee. Because in reality, they didn’t have their green card after all. And here’s the tough part: we did everything technically & legally right. We asked the right questions. But in a market where candidates feel immense pressure, sometimes the truth doesn’t surface until the very end.

Now, the client is back at square one. The candidate didn’t get the job. Weeks of everyone’s effort went to waste.

And here’s the hardest part: Right before the final interview, we asked them directly: “Do you have any hesitations? Is there anything that would prevent you from accepting an offer if one is given?” Their answer: “No.”

So where do we go from here?

It would be easy to write this off as one isolated incident. But it’s not.

We see versions of this all the time.

A candidate tells us they’re a full-stack engineer. Their resume highlights React, TypeScript, and all the frontend frameworks. But when we dig in, 95% of their actual work has been backend. Or someone says they’ve led teams. But when you peel back the layers, “led” meant mentoring a couple of interns one summer. These aren’t necessarily malicious misrepresentations, just the way candidates try to keep doors open in a hyper-competitive market.

And the truth is: none of this is unusual. The market is brutal. Candidates feel pressure to position themselves as versatile, senior, and indispensable. And sometimes that pressure crosses the line into overselling, stretching, or even crossing into misrepresention.

But here’s the problem: every time that happens, the company, the recruiter, and the candidate all waste time on a process that never should have gone that far.

So where does that leave us?

If a candidate tells me something as black-and-white as “Yes, I’m authorized to work in the U.S. now and in the future without sponsorship,” and it’s not true, there is no magic interview technique that will catch that. We can’t control if someone tells us the truth and that verification doesn’t happen until the I-9.

And I know some people will jump in here and say: “Well, you just need to interview better. Ask deeper questions.”

Trust me, I know how to interview. I know how to probe for real project experience. I know how to ask for examples that separate buzzwords from actual expertise. Before we go off the rails, I’m not leading the conversation into that territory.

What I am talking about is that no matter how strong your interview process is, there’s no way to fully prevent a candidate from giving a confident yes/no answer that doesn’t reflect reality. That’s the limitation we all live with.

So what do you do? Treat every candidate with suspicion? Run every call like a cross-examination?

This is where the tension comes in.

I’ve always believed in being incredibly respectful of candidates’ time. From day one, that’s how I’ve run my business.

Industry “best practice” says to withhold the company name for as long as possible. The reasoning: if the candidate knows, they might go direct. Or other recruiters might poach.

But I’ve never played that game. I tell candidates the company name up front. Sometimes even before we hop on a call. Because I’d rather they self-select out if it’s not a fit. Why waste their time or mine? It’s a way to be respectful.

But lately? Candidates are going around me more than they ever have. I can explicitly state, “Please don’t reach out to this company directly.” And they do it anyway.

So what happens? I try to treat people like adults, with transparency and respect. But sometimes that openness backfires, and it makes me question whether the system punishes recruiters who try to do the right thing.

At some point, I have to ask: does trying to do the right thing actually make me naive? Do I go back to the so-called “best practices” I don’t believe in, just to protect myself and my clients?

This is the bigger problem.

Recruiting is a human industry. At its best, it’s built on trust, transparency, and mutual respect.

But right now, the market actively encourages dishonesty. Candidates feel like they need to inflate their skills just to get noticed. Recruiters advocate for their candidates and relay experience over. Hiring managers assume the recruiter is overselling.

Everyone is on edge. Trust is thinner than it should be, and that hurts all sides: candidates, recruiters, and hiring managers alike.

And that cycle feeds itself. The more recruiters get burned, the less transparent they become. The less transparent they become, the more candidates feel like they have to game the system. The more candidates game the system, the less hiring managers trust either side.

Nobody wins in that cycle.

Here’s what I know.

Recruiters can’t fix this alone. Candidates can’t fix it alone. Companies can’t fix it alone. But all three groups can take ownership of their piece.

For candidates:
You don’t need to be perfect. You don’t need to have every skill on a job description. But you do need to be honest. Overselling might get you past the first phone call, but it will always catch up with you. And when it does, it doesn’t just cost you one role. It hurts your reputation long-term.

For recruiters:
We have to keep leading with respect, even when it’s hard. Yes, that means some of us will get burned. But the alternative, treating every candidate like a liar-in-waiting, is worse. The job is to evaluate, not assume the worst.

For companies:
Take ownership of what you control, and do it in partnership with your recruiters. When something breaks, recruiters and hiring managers should do a quick retro: What signal was missed? What needs to change in the script, JD, or stage timing?

I don’t have a neat solution to this. I wish I did. I’m clearly writing this post frustrated…and exhausted.

Because here’s the tension: if recruiters stop trusting, stop sharing, and stop being transparent, candidates will complain that the industry is broken. If candidates keep stretching the truth, recruiters will stop giving the benefit of the doubt.

And round and round it goes.

So here’s the question I’m sitting with:

How do we keep leading with trust in a market that punishes it?

Because if we don’t figure that out, the whole system gets worse for everyone.

👉 That’s my take. I’d love to hear yours. How do you balance transparency, respect, and self-protection in hiring?

Reply to this email and tell me what you think.

See you next Monday,
Robin

#gorogue