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Post the job again.
Boost it.
Rewrite the description.
Spend more to “get more eyes.”

That assumes hiring is a marketing problem.

In the trades, it usually isn’t.

Hiring breaks down not because people didn’t see the job, but because the process around hiring doesn’t fit how the work actually gets done.

Why Hiring Gets Treated Like Marketing

Marketing problems are familiar. You solve them with reach, volume, and visibility.

So when hiring feels stuck, the instinct is to:

• Get more applicants

• Increase exposure

• Cast a wider net

On paper, that makes sense. But in practice, it just pushes more people into a system that’s already inefficient.

More applicants don’t fix broken workflows. They stress them.

Where Hiring Actually Breaks Down

In most trades businesses, hiring lives on the margins.

It happens between job sites, after hours, or whenever someone can spare a few minutes. There’s rarely a clean handoff or a defined process. One person posts the job. Another follows up. Interviews happen when schedules allow.

The problem isn’t effort.
It’s that hiring isn’t treated like an operational workflow.

Without clear steps, hiring becomes reactive. Decisions get rushed. Follow-ups slip. And good candidates fall through the cracks.

What a Broken Hiring Workflow Looks Like

When hiring isn’t treated like ops, the same issues show up again and again.

Roles stay open longer than expected.
Applicants ghost or no-show.
Crews feel the pressure of being short-handed.
Hiring takes time away from running the business.

At that point, adding more applicants just adds more work. The underlying problem stays the same.

Hiring Works Better When It’s Treated Like Operations

Operational problems get solved with clarity, not volume.

When hiring is treated like a workflow, employers focus on:

• Clear expectations upfront

• Simple, repeatable steps

• Visibility into who they’re talking to

• Fewer handoffs and less guesswork

That’s when hiring starts to move faster—not because there are more applicants, but because the process itself works.

Why Marketing Can’t Fix an Ops Problem

Marketing can get attention.
It can’t create alignment.

If applicants don’t understand pay, schedule, or job expectations upfront, no amount of promotion will fix that. If employers can’t quickly tell who’s a fit, more volume just slows decisions down.

This is why so many trades employers say hiring feels harder than it should. They’re trying to solve an operations issue with marketing tactics.

The Takeaway for Employers

Hiring isn’t just about getting seen.

It’s about having a process that fits how your business runs.

When hiring is treated like a workflow—clear steps, clear expectations, and real visibility—it becomes easier to manage and easier to repeat.

If hiring feels chaotic or time-consuming, the problem may not be reach.
It may be the system itself.

If you’re looking for a better way to hire tradespeople, download the Collars app and use a hiring process built to work like operations—not marketing.

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