A very good TA convo #19 with Job Seekers (Elsa Tranquillo, Kata Nagy and Nikola Dimov)

Fixing a Broken System

Episode 19 features a special edition of the podcast with three job seekers: Elsa Tranquillo (a customer success professional), Kata Nagy (a TA professional with 10 years of experience), and Nikola Dimov (an HR and TA leader with 20 years of experience). Together, they share their candid experiences from the other side of the table, revealing what's wrong with current talent acquisition processes and offering actionable advice on how companies can fix them.

The broken recruitment system

The current job market is incredibly competitive, but the major pain point is the profound lack of respect and communication from employers. Candidates face disorganized processes, generic feedback, and staggering ghosting rates—with Kata estimating up to a 30% drop-off rate, where recruiters simply disappear. For experienced TA professionals like Kata and Nikola, finding themselves on the other side of the table has been an unexpectedly humbling and frustrating journey.

"The lack of any kind of communication or feedback is what kills you... When you apply and you think you're good for the job and there's like months of radio silence, and we're talking about very big reputable companies which reject you five months after you've applied for the role—this is very frustrating."

The mental toll of the search

A prolonged job search heavily impacts a candidate's self-perception, leading to self-doubt, feelings of failure, and a risk of social isolation. The continuous cycle of automated rejections and ghosting makes it difficult to maintain motivation and enthusiasm.

"People should also treat job searching as a 9-to-5 job. After that, you put it away... You don't look at LinkedIn, you don't look at emails and stuff like that, and that kind of helps you preserve a little bit of your mental health and self-respect."

Bringing the human back to TA

While AI and automation can streamline administrative tasks, they cannot replace the necessary human element of recruitment—like making the candidate comfortable and asking the right questions. Positive experiences stand out when recruiters treat candidates as humans rather than tasks on a checklist, providing structure, keeping them in the loop, and offering actionable, personalized feedback.

"I think we should put the human back into recruitment because it's getting more on the back burner."

Candidates are also customers

Companies often overlook how deeply a negative hiring process affects their consumer brand. When businesses fail to provide feedback after candidates spend hours applying and interviewing, they aren't just losing talent; they are actively alienating their own customers.

"When I have a bad candidate experience, I've actually blocked two companies now that I just don't buy their products because I had a horrible experience and I'm like, I just don't want to support you because you did not treat me the right way."

The takeaway

The message from Elsa, Kata, and Nikola to the TA industry is clear: prioritize basic communication and feedback. Candidates do not expect a flawless system, but they expect to be treated with dignity and respect. By writing transparent job descriptions that include salary ranges and remote work policies, giving constructive feedback after interviews, and remembering the human being on the other side of the screen, companies can repair a broken system and build lasting, positive relationships with talent.

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