Managing talent acquisition internally works well for many companies. Not every open position requires assistance from an outside recruitment agency.  

But often, there comes a point when an open role is no longer simply an HR issue. It grows into a larger business issue. And it’s times like these when a talent recruiter is needed to help companies find top talent or adjust a recruitment strategy for key roles.  

Here are common examples of when hiring companies need a recruitment specialist… 

• A position has been open too long.  

• The right candidates are not applying.  

• The company is entering a new market.  

• A merger, acquisition, or restructuring has created new or unexpected hiring needs.  

• The internal recruiting team cannot fill vacant and critical roles at the speed the business now requires.  

All of these circumstances present the moment to expand your talent pipelines with top candidates and accelerate your recruitment process. This is when it’s time to bring in a talent recruiting partner. 

If you’re struggling to fill talent gaps, you’re not alone 

• Among U.S. small businesses actively hiring in September 2026, 87% reported receiving few or no qualified applicants. — National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) 
• Among U.S. companies of all sizes, 69% of employers are struggling to find the skilled talent they need. — 2026 U.S. Talent Shortage, ManpowerGroup Work Intelligence Lab 

A closer look at why key roles stay open too long 

Hiring managers often face challenges like these: 

• The search has stalled.  

• The job has been posted. Then reposted.  

• You may receive plenty of applications, but few (or no) candidates are a match for what you need.  

At some point, continuing the same search strategy is unlikely to produce a different result. It helps to identify the reasons behind a drawn-out hiring process and take action to recalibrate the search. 

A talent recruiting partner can help you determine whether the challenge is sourcing, compensation, the candidate profile, geography, the job description, or simply a lack of access to the right talent.  

Why you get a lot of candidate applications – but not the right skills and experience  

Receiving more applications does not necessarily point to a better search strategy. As a Recruiting Partner with Goodwin Recruiting, I often hear this from company hiring managers: “We receive hundreds of resumes, but we still cannot find the right person.”  

One of the biggest reasons this happens is because the strongest candidates may not be applying at all. This is where a recruiting partner with a nationwide network of accomplished, pre-screened job candidates becomes a game-changer. Building strong connections with top-tier talent is what we do. 

Goodwin Recruiting works with both active and passive candidates and uses multiple sourcing methods, rather than relying solely on job postings. And for specialized, management, and leadership roles, our connections and direct outreach completely transform the candidate pool for our clients’ open roles.  

When your company is growing faster than your team can hire for open jobs 

Growth creates opportunities. It also creates hiring pressure. A company may be opening multiple locations, launching a new division, adding sales territories, building a management team, or significantly increasing headcount.  

Your internal talent acquisition team is likely excellent at what they do. They may be recruiting for many positions while human resource teams manage onboarding, retention, employee relations, and everything else required to support a growing organization.  

But sometimes, the question is not whether your internal team can recruit talent for a position. Rather, it is whether they can recruit every critical position at the speed the business now requires.  

An external recruiting partner adds the capacity you need when you need it most.  

What if your company is entering a new state, region, or market?  

Expansion creates another opportunity – and hiring challenge: You know your business and industry extremely well, but what about the specific market and workforce where you’re setting down new roots? Consider these questions: 

• Where do the strongest candidates work in that new market? 

• What compensation and benefits will attract them? 

• Which companies employ people with the experience you need? 

• Will qualified job candidates relocate to your new location? 

• Does the job title you use in California mean the same thing to job candidates in Texas, Florida, or New York?  

Building that job market intelligence and candidate network takes time that a hiring company often doesn’t have. A recruiting partner with national reach and local market expertise accelerates the process, connecting employers with candidates they may not be able to reach, attract, and persuade on their own.  

What about staffing needs for mergers & acquisitions or restructuring? 

Mergers, acquisitions, and restructuring can also create fast hiring needs – and challenges. Leadership responsibilities change. Teams are consolidated. Critical employees may leave. New functions, locations, or business units may suddenly need specialized leadership.  

At the same time, HR and internal talent acquisition teams may be focused on integration, retention, organizational design, and supporting existing employees through change.  

Recruiting cannot simply stop. Assistance from an external recruiting partner extends an internal team’s capacity and keeps business-critical searches moving.  

The cost of getting it wrong is growing higher  

The more important the position, the more important it becomes to get the search and hiring decision right. SHRM’s 2025 benchmarking research reported an average cost-per-hire of $5,475 for non-executive positions and $35,879 for executive-level roles.  

And that’s just the hiring investment itself. A new hire who doesn’t work out means restarting the search, repeating onboarding and training, redistributing work, losing productivity, and operating without the right person in place for an even longer period of time.  

Speed matters for a business-critical position. But the right hire matters more.  

The right talent recruiting partner makes a difference 

An external recruiting partner should do more than send resumes to you. A lot more. It’s never about more applicants, but rather the right people, at the right time, for where the business is going next.  

When I begin a search for a client, I want to understand more than the job description. Why is the position open? What does this person need to accomplish in the first six to 12 months? What kind of leader finds success in this organization? What candidate traits are a good fit for the company culture?  

And most important: Why should a strong candidate leave a good job to join this company?  

Those answers shape the search.  

At Goodwin Recruiting, we work across industries and partner with companies in filling professional, management, leadership, specialized, and hard-to-fill roles. Sometimes that means solving one difficult search challenge. More often, it means bringing recruiting assistance and top talent to a client when they need it most. 

Simplify your search with help from a talent acquisition specialist 

My name is Elena Sabry and I am a Recruiting Partner with Goodwin Recruiting. If a critical position is taking longer than expected to fill, or if your organization is growing and needs broader reach into the talent market, reach out to me for access to ideally qualified candidates. 

Connect with me today and let’s start a conversation about your important hiring needs.