You Don't Have a Talent Problem. You Have a Timing Problem.

This isn’t a talent shortage—it’s a hiring timing and process problem.

You can't afford to hire until you're desperate. Can't afford not to hire once you're desperate. So you wait. And wait. Until one Tuesday you realize you're six weeks behind, missed a deadline, and your best client is getting twitchy.

Now you're hiring from crisis mode. Which means you're hiring badly.

Everyone talks about the "widening skills gap." How industries are evolving. How education can't keep up. How automation is changing everything.

All true. None of it is your actual problem.

Your problem is simpler: You're hiring for a fantasy role while offering real-world chaos.

That job posting asking for "5+ years experience, expert-level skills, startup energy, corporate polish, mind-reading abilities"? You're not describing a qualified candidate. You're describing a unicorn. And you're offering unicorns Shetland pony wages.

The qualified people exist. They're just not applying to your posting. Because your posting signals exactly what you are: desperate, disorganized, and about to be a nightmare to work for.

You're screening for credentials. Degrees. Years of experience. Specific software skills. The perfect resume.

Meanwhile, the person who could actually solve your problems is getting filtered out because they learned on the job instead of in a classroom. Or switched careers. Or took an unconventional path.

You're not looking for qualified. You're looking for identical. Someone who's already done this exact job at a company exactly like yours.

That's not hiring. That's cloning. And it doesn't work.

The person you need can think, adapt, and learn. They can spot a problem and fix it without needing their hand held. They can work in ambiguity because, newsflash, your small business is ambiguous.

But you'll never find them if you're using a rigid checklist written by someone (you) who was too fried to think clearly.

Let's be honest about what you actually need:

Someone who can figure shit out. Someone who doesn't need perfect conditions to do good work. Someone who can build the plane while flying it.

But your job description doesn't say that. It says "dynamic team environment" (translation: chaos), "wear many hats" (translation: no clear role), "fast-paced" (translation: we have no processes).

Qualified candidates read that and run. They've seen this movie. They know how it ends.

You're attracting people who don't know better. Then you're surprised when they can't handle it.

You hired someone. Now they need training. But you don't have time to train them. You barely have time to breathe.

So you throw them in the deep end. Sink or swim. And when they start thrashing, you think: "Not qualified."

But here's the thing: No one is qualified for chaos. Competent people need context, clarity, and structure. Without it, they fail. Then you blame them for the failure you engineered.

This isn't a talent shortage. This is you expecting someone to succeed in conditions where you're barely surviving.

You waited too long to hire. You hired in crisis mode. You had unrealistic expectations. You had no onboarding plan. You had no time to manage them. No systems for them to follow. No clear success metrics.

Then you acted surprised when it didn't work.

The talent is out there. Plenty of it. Smart, capable, adaptable people who could help you scale. But they need something from you first:

A hiring process that isn't chaos. A role that's actually buildable. Realistic expectations. And at least a fighting chance to succeed.