The Trust Recession in Talent Acquisition: Why Professionals Are Tuning Out, and What Hiring Managers Need to Do About It

There’s a shift happening in the job market that we don’t talk about enough.  It’s not about salaries.  It’s not about hybrid vs. remote.  It’s not even about the shrinking talent pool.  It’s about trust.  And if you’re a hiring manager in business continuity, ITDR, crisis management, emergency management, cyber resilience, or third-party/supplier risk, this trust shift is quietly shaping your ability to hire, whether you realize it or not.

LinkedIn Has Become “Too Loud”, And Candidates Have Stopped Listening

Five years ago, LinkedIn was the best place to find resilience talent.  Today, many professionals tell me they’re exhausted by it.  They’re frustrated, overwhelmed, and increasingly skeptical that anyone reaching out is real or relevant.  Here’s what I hear every week from candidates, especially active job seekers:

• “My inbox is full of bot messages.”

• “Recruiters keep pitching me roles that have nothing to do with what I do.”

• “Half the outreach feels automated or misleading.”

• “It’s getting harder to tell who’s legitimate and who’s just spamming me.”

• “I’m tired… I’m ignoring everything.”

Some have even said, “I’m leaving LinkedIn entirely. I can’t do this anymore.”  This is happening right at the moment they are most visible, openly job seeking, posting vulnerably, and hoping for clarity.  Instead, they’re met with noise.

In a Misunderstood Profession, Noise Creates Chaos

Resilience, as a discipline, is beautifully complex.  But complexity is exactly what makes generic outreach so damaging.  To a hiring manager, “resilience” might mean:

• Governance

• BCM lifecycle

• IT disaster recovery

• Crisis communications

• Incident management

• Risk and controls

• Vendor/TPRM

• Tabletop design

• Program maturity
  

To internal HR, unless they’ve been trained in this space, it often sounds like a jumble of interchangeable terms.  To an external generalist recruiter, it’s even harder.  And to the candidate?  It’s exhausting.  They get messages that:

• Don’t reflect their skills

• Misunderstand the discipline

• Confuse crisis management with cybersecurity

• Treat BCM like operational risk

• Expect one person to cover five jobs
  

Over time, they stop responding.  Not because they don’t want a job, but because they no longer trust the messenger.

Internal HR: Overworked, Under-Resourced, and Doing Their Best

This part is important… Internal HR is not the problem.  They are stretched thin.  They are under immense pressure.  They are responsible for dozens of roles at once.  And they are following the system they’re required to follow:

1. Source on LinkedIn first

2. Screen candidates from the ATS

3. Only if unsuccessful, engage an outside recruiter

4. But only the enterprise-wide staffing vendor, not a specialist

By the time your resiliency role reaches the top of their priority list:

• Weeks may have passed

• The best candidates may have disengaged

• Many have begun ignoring LinkedIn outreach

• And some have simply left the platform

This isn’t HR’s fault; it’s structural.  They simply don’t have the bandwidth to master a deeply nuanced profession.

Hiring Managers: You’re Feeling the Impact, Even If You Can’t See It Yet

When candidates mistrust outreach, two things happen:

1. The people you want are not seeing your opportunity.  They’re ignoring messages, including legitimate ones from your own recruiting team.

2. Your internal recruiters are working harder, but getting fewer results.  They sent 50 messages.  Five get read.  Maybe one responds.

3. The hiring cycle stretches longer than it should.  Not because talent isn’t out there, but because talent isn’t engaging.

The Pendulum Is Starting to Swing Back Toward Specialist Recruiters

For months, I’ve noticed a shift.  Resilience professionals are quietly saying:

• “I want to work with a real person.”

• “I want someone who understands the difference between crisis management and ITDR.”

• “Please, connect me with a recruiter who knows this field.”

• “I avoid most LinkedIn messages, but I respond when the outreach is from someone who knows this profession.”

  
  

Candidates want:

• Human connection

• Industry knowledge

• Terminology fluency

• Trusted long-term relationships

• Someone who knows the hidden talent market

• A partner who advocates with nuance

This is pushing many hiring managers to ask the question…  “Are we nearing the point where specialist recruiters become essential again?”  My honest view?  Yes.  And faster than organizations realize.

The Human Element Is Missing, And It Matters More Than Ever

We’ve optimized, automated, and systematized talent acquisition so aggressively that candidates now report feeling:

• unseen

• unheard

• misunderstood

• mistrustful

• overwhelmed
  

When people feel like they’re talking to bots instead of humans, they disengage.  And that disengagement costs organizations weeks, sometimes months, of progress on critical roles.  Specialist recruiters bring back:

• trust

• clarity

• precision

• context

• translation

• relationship capital
  

We know who is actually on the market.  We know who is quietly open to conversations.  We know who has the maturity your program needs.  We know which résumés don’t tell the whole story.  We know who is burned out, overlooked, or ready for growth.  Most importantly…  We know how to reach them, because we’ve spent decades building trust.

Hiring Managers: What Should You Do Next?

Here are four ways to navigate the trust recession in the talent market:

1. Talk to your internal recruiting partners early and often.  Empower them with clarity.  Share:

• terminology

• non-negotiables

• preferred backgrounds

• governance expectations

• regulatory requirements

  
  

2. Ask if your enterprise vendor has a resilience specialist.  If they don’t, that’s a signal.

3. Request a specialist recruiter when the role is too nuanced.  Specialist support = reduced time-to-fill.  You can make a business case:

• Risk mitigation

• Program maturity requirements

• Business continuity regulatory expectations

  
  

4. Understand that candidates trust you more when the process is human.  If outreach feels personal and informed, the response rate skyrockets.

Final Thought: The Talent Is Out There, But They’re Listening Differently Now

The resilience profession isn’t shrinking.  The opportunities aren’t disappearing.  The talent hasn’t vanished.  But trust has.  And until we rebuild it with real conversations, real expertise, and real relationships, candidates will continue to tune out, even when the perfect opportunity is right in front of them.

At Resilience360 Advisory, we partner with organizations and professionals across the resilience ecosystem to deliver actionable data, insights, and talent solutions. Through customized benchmarking reports, complimentary industry-wide insights, and a trusted network of consulting and recruitment resources, we help programs define their roadmaps, secure resources, and find the right talent. Schedule a discovery call today at info@resilience360advisory.com.