Good candidates are not moving right now.
The market is unpredictable, nobody knows who is getting funded and who is not, and making the wrong move has consequences. Candidates don’t want to be the first one in and the first one out. They are doing that math every time. Series A, B, and even C companies are feeling it the hardest.
I call it the Great Hesitation. And the fun part is watching how many startups look at all of this and decide they have the leverage.
Nine Billion Bubbles
A founder called me wanting top tier talent. Guys who had not jumped around. Guys who could pitch clean and close deals. Strong track record, low movement, the whole wish list.
He was offering 70% of market comp.
I told him: in your world, you are the king of your bubble. The problem is there are nine billion bubbles around you.
He was completely unfazed by this. Genuinely believed that his vision and his technology were going to convince A players to take a $35,000 pay cut, walk away from proven equity at their current company, and absorb all the risk of a Series B in a market where nobody knows what is coming next.
I want a 20 carat diamond ring but I only want to pay $10 for it. And it cannot be a fake one. That was the actual plan.
What underpaying your sales team communicates, whether you intend it to or not, is that salespeople are an afterthought. The candidates you are trying to recruit can read that signal. The reps already on your team definitely can. And when less than 35% of your team is hitting their number, do not be surprised when they start taking my calls.
The leverage you think you have evaporates the moment a candidate realizes what your OTE actually looks like in practice.
It Is Not Only About Money. But It Is Also About Money
I am not saying you have to be the highest payer in the market to win. You do not. Good candidates will take slightly less for the right opportunity. I see it happen.
But there has to be something on the other side of that trade. A manager who actually has their back. A path to leadership that is not just a talking point in the interview. A team worth learning from. People will consider a step back in comp if they believe they are walking into something worth it. What they will not do is take a significant pay cut, give up proven equity, absorb career risk in an uncertain market, and get nothing but a pitch deck in return.
If culture and vision were a substitute for fair comp, these companies would be closing candidates. They are not. You asked someone to bet on you without giving them a reason to believe the bet made sense.
Hiring is an investment. Treat it like an expense and you will pay for it in turnover, in lost pipeline, in starting the same search over again six months later. That is a much more expensive problem than just paying someone what they are worth up front.
Why the Great Hesitation Makes Your Culture Page Useless
Every startup has a culture page. Five values, maybe six pillars, a mission statement, all of it beautifully written. And almost none of it means anything to the person sitting across from your hiring manager.
If you had to write it down, in my experience, it generally does not exist. Companies with a genuine culture do not need to explain it. Candidates feel it in how the interview goes.
Meanwhile candidates are not looking at the website. They are watching how your people show up in the actual interview. Whether your hiring manager is being straight about what the role looks like day to day. Whether anyone will say out loud why the last few people in that seat did not work out. Whether the company is honest about what it is going to take to succeed.
Being straight with someone about the hard stuff is more compelling than any mission statement. It is also the thing that actually gets a hesitant candidate to commit. A culture page does not do that.
You Are Rushing the One Part You Should Not Rush
A lot of interview processes look like this. The company asks questions for four rounds. The candidate barely gets a word in edgewise. An offer goes out. The candidate goes quiet or, worse, declines.
Everyone is confused. The candidate was not ready. You just did not give them time to get there.
Good candidates are almost always looking at a few things at the same time. If they finish your process still unsure who they are going to work for day to day, what the team is actually like, or whether the role is what they were told it was, you are going to get a slow answer or a no. They left with questions you did not give them time to ask, and they are not betting their career on a company that seemed too busy to let them get comfortable.
Slowing down is not a weakness. It is how you close people who actually want to be there.
The hesitation out there is not complicated. Candidates are watching how companies show up before they ever say yes. The comp, the honesty, the interview, all of it is being evaluated. The leverage these companies think they have is not leverage. It is just noise. And good candidates have heard enough of it.
About the Author:
Rich Rosen is a no-BS recruiter with decades of experience placing top-tier sales talent at high-growth companies. Known for his blunt honesty, sharp instincts, and relentless focus on results, Rich doesn’t sugarcoat the market and he doesn’t waste time with fluff. When he’s not helping companies avoid expensive hiring mistakes, he’s calling out lazy comp plans, broken interview processes, and the absurdity of “culture pages” that say nothing. If you want candidates who actually stick, sell, and scale, Rich is the guy you call.