A hiring manager we work with recently asked us a question we’ve been hearing more often.
“Do you think they’re really interested?”
The candidate in the same search had a similar question.
“Are they serious about this role?”
Neither question is new. What’s changed is how often we’re hearing both.
This isn’t a new problem with a new cause. It’s an old problem the hiring process now has less room to solve.
As Rich Milliner recently observed, “There used to be more room for trust to grow.”
Today’s hiring process is optimized for speed. Faster sourcing. Faster interviews. Faster feedback. Faster decisions.
Speed matters. No one benefits from a hiring process that drags on for months. But when every step is designed to move faster or be more efficient, there’s less room for the conversations that build confidence between people making an important decision.
Trust has always grown through conversation. It’s built when hiring managers move beyond a resume and candidates have the opportunity to explain how they think, solve problems, and contribute to a team.
Those conversations are often the first thing compressed when hiring becomes a race against the clock.
Broader workplace uncertainty has only made that trust harder to establish. Layoffs, restructuring, rapid advances in AI, and changing expectations around compensation have made many professionals more cautious. Even people who haven’t experienced those changes directly carry those concerns into interviews.
Technology has changed how trust is established, too.
Employers increasingly rely on AI to screen resumes. Candidates increasingly use AI to write them. According to a recent Forbes analysis of Resume Genius research, 87% of organizations now use AI somewhere in the hiring process, while 82% of hiring managers say they’re concerned about candidates using AI during the job search.
The irony is hard to miss: both sides are embracing the same technology while becoming more skeptical of one another.
The tools have become remarkably effective at helping everyone move faster, but not necessarily understand each other better.
We’ve seen this play out firsthand. Two candidates can have equally polished resumes and similar experience. The difference comes during the interview. One candidate can confidently explain the numbers, decisions, and results behind the resume. The other struggles to move beyond what’s written.
The resume opened the door. The conversation earned the offer.
That’s why the answer isn’t to slow hiring down. It’s to be intentional about where speed helps and where human interaction matters.
Building trust isn’t a technology problem. It’s a discipline problem. It’s easier to automate another step than it is to protect the moments where people actually get to know each other.
That discipline shows up in small ways.
A hiring manager takes five extra minutes to explain why someone wasn’t selected. A recruiter confirms that a candidate is genuinely interested before scheduling another interview. A candidate hears from a real person instead of an automated status update. None of those steps adds much time, but each one builds confidence.
When both the hiring manager and the candidate are asking, “Are they really serious?” the issue usually isn’t either person. It’s whether the hiring process gave them enough reason to believe each other.
That’s what good recruiting protects. Not just speed. Not just efficiency. Trust.
At Milliner Talent Solutions, we’ve built our recruiting process around protecting those moments. We move with urgency, but we also make room for the conversations, verification, and follow-through that help employers hire with confidence and candidates make informed decisions. It’s one of the reasons our placements don’t just fill positions — they build lasting employment relationships.
Because the best hiring process isn’t simply the fastest one.
It’s the one both sides can trust.
