Just got off a call with a VP of Operations who had been trying to fill the same systems engineer role for four months. Three offers made. Three declined.

The first thing he said was that the candidates were not strong enough. By the end of the call, we had both figured out that was not it.

Here is what actually happened.

The job description was written for the person who left. It listed every tool that person had used, every responsibility they had accumulated over six years, and a comp range built around what the company was already paying them internally. None of that reflects what is actually available in the market.

When we went through the role from scratch, three things became clear fast.

The must-haves were not the must-haves. Two of the technical requirements were things the team could train on. They were on the list because the last person knew them, not because the role required them. Cutting those two opened up a meaningfully larger candidate pool.

The comp was anchored to the wrong number. The range had been set based on what a tenured internal employee made, not what a lateral hire from the outside would expect. Every strong candidate who got to offer stage had a number in mind that was 12 to 18 percent higher. The company offered below market. The candidates walked.

The timeline killed the close. Four weeks from first interview to offer. In the current market, a systems engineer with real Lenel or Genetec experience has two or three conversations going at once. The company that moves in ten days gets the meeting. The company that moves in four weeks gets a “I went another direction” email.

None of this was the hiring manager’s fault. He had inherited a job description, a comp band, and a process. He had not had a reason to question any of it until three candidates in a row turned down the offer.

We rebuilt the description in about forty minutes. Tightened the requirements to what actually mattered. Got leadership to approve a comp adjustment. Compressed the interview process to two rounds with a decision point at the end of each.

He filled the role in six weeks.

If you have made multiple offers on the same role and they keep falling apart, the candidates are not the problem. The job description is.