Notes on what's broken in hiring, and what evidence-based interviewing could fix.
7.1 million openings, a 3.3% hires rate, 1.9 million people waiting six months. Hiring's slowest queue is the first round.
Candidates use AI to mass-apply. Employers use AI to filter. Applications per job rose 111% while recruiter headcount fell 56%, and the first round broke under both.
America counts 7.3 million job openings and 7.0 million unemployed people. One opening per seeker should clear in weeks. It does not. Something between the two numbers is broken.
A rejected candidate has counsel now, and counsel wants the basis for the decision. Most hiring teams have no file. The law is starting to assume they do.
Most job applications in 2026 do not end with a rejection. They end with nothing. The silence feels like disrespect. It is actually arithmetic. This is what the first round looks like from the other side of the table.
Hiring's first round should produce evidence, not opinions. And you shouldn't pay for it until you hire the right person. Here is what we are building, and why.