Why Are We Getting Applicants but Not the Right Supply Chain Leaders?

A critical role is open. Applications are coming in, your talent acquisition team is screening candidates, and the search is moving forward. But after reviewing the applicant pool, you still are not seeing enough of the people you would want to interview, much less hire.

For critical supply chain, transportation, and logistics leadership roles, this does not necessarily mean there is a shortage of qualified talent. Getting applicants is not the same as reaching the full talent market. Many proven leaders are successful where they are and may not be actively looking for a new opportunity.

GESG has focused exclusively on recruiting and executive search in Transportation, Logistics, and Supply Chain Management since 2001. Our search process is designed to reach beyond the active applicant pool and identify the top 5 to 10% of performers in the market.

That experience has shown us that when a company is getting applicants but not enough of the right candidates, it is useful to look at five areas: the role, the market, the opportunity, the signals, and the candidates.

 

The Role: Is the Profile Right for What the Business Needs Now?

A successful search starts with a clear understanding of what the organization needs the new leader to accomplish.

That sounds straightforward, but leadership roles evolve. The profile that worked for the last hire may not be the profile the business needs today. A growing organization may now need greater transformation experience. A company investing in technology may need a leader who can connect operations, systems, data, and people. A business facing margin pressure may place greater emphasis on network optimization, productivity, or cost management.

The practical details matter, too. Title, compensation, authority, location, reporting structure, and required experience all shape the available talent pool. A highly specific list of requirements can be helpful, but it can also exclude strong leaders whose experience is transferable to the challenge at hand.

The goal is not to make the requirements easier. It is to make them more precise.

GESG’s Quality of Hire process begins here. Before going into the market, we analyze the organization’s goals, needs, job specifications, compensation, culture, organizational strategy, and search criteria. This creates a clearer picture of what success should look like and helps focus the search on people with the right track record and trajectory.

 

The Market: Are You Reaching the People You Actually Want?

A healthy applicant flow is valuable. It shows that people are seeing the opportunity and responding to it. But for a critical leadership position, the applicant pool represents only one part of the potential market.

Many high-performing supply chain and logistics leaders are already employed. They may be running operations, improving networks, leading transformations, building teams, or delivering results for another organization. They are not necessarily searching job boards or submitting résumés.

That is why an executive search often needs to answer a different set of questions. Who has already accomplished what your organization needs to accomplish? Which leaders are performing at a high level inside competitors? Could the right person come from an adjacent sector? Is there someone with the right capabilities and trajectory who has not held the exact title before?

There is also an important group that will never appear in an applicant tracking system unless someone reaches out to them first: proven leaders who are not actively looking but may be open to the right opportunity.

GESG’s search process is built to reach that broader market. It includes researching a client’s competitors, contacting professionals within the niche, pursuing referrals, and identifying the top 5 to 10% of performers.

This complements, rather than replaces, a strong internal talent acquisition function. Our focus is adding specialized market reach when a role requires access to people who may not be accessible through traditional applicant channels.

 

The Opportunity: Would a Top Performer Leave a Good Job for This One?

Reaching a high-performing executive is only part of the challenge. The opportunity also has to give that person a meaningful reason to consider a move.

This is particularly important with passive candidates. A successful executive may not be comparing your role with several other openings. They may be comparing it with staying in a position where they already have credibility, relationships, compensation, and a record of success.

A job description can explain responsibilities and requirements. A compelling opportunity goes further by helping a candidate understand why the role is worth considering.

The strongest candidates are likely evaluating questions such as:

• What will I have the opportunity to build, fix, or transform?
• How much decision-making authority will I actually have?
• Does the CEO and leadership team support the mandate?
• What resources will I have to accomplish what I’m being hired to do?
• What is the trajectory of the business?
• How visible and influential is this role within the organization?
• What could succeeding here mean for the next stage of my career?

Together, those specific questions help answer the broader questions underlying every search: Why this company? Why this role? Why now?

This is also why recruiting passive talent requires more than identifying names. You need to understand what matters to the individual and communicate the opportunity in a way that makes a successful leader interested in learning more.

When that story is clear and credible, a person who was not looking for a new role yesterday may be willing to have a conversation today.

 

The Signals: What Is the Market Telling You?

A search does more than generate candidates. It generates information about how the market sees the opportunity.

For example, one candidate raising a concern about compensation may simply reflect that individual’s expectations. If several well-qualified candidates raise the same concern, however, that pattern is worth understanding.

The same is true for location, relocation, title, reporting structure, travel, scope, flexibility, or decision authority. Candidate questions and objections can provide useful feedback about how the opportunity compares with the market.

The interview process can generate signals, too. If strong candidates repeatedly lose interest at the same stage, it can be helpful to understand why. Perhaps the process is taking longer than expected. Perhaps different interviewers are describing the role differently. Or perhaps candidates are learning something later in the process that would be better addressed earlier.

None of these signals automatically means something is wrong with the role. They are simply information. Used well, that information can help the organization refine the search while it is underway.

Sometimes the answer is to expand the geography. Sometimes it is to revisit compensation, reconsider a requirement, clarify the mandate, or strengthen how the opportunity is communicated. The goal is to use market feedback to make a good search more effective.

 

The Candidates: Are You Seeing Proof of Performance or Good Presentation?

Once strong candidates are in the process, the focus shifts from finding talent to understanding it.

Executive candidates are often accomplished communicators. Their résumés can be impressive, and they know how to discuss their careers. The challenge is determining what sits behind the presentation.

What did the candidate personally own? What changed because of their leadership? What measurable results did they produce? What conditions were present when they produced those results? Can they explain how they achieved them? Most importantly, is there evidence that their experience translates to the environment and challenge they would be stepping into?

This is where deeper qualification becomes important.

At GESG, we also look for what we call the “rocks under the water.” These are factors that may not be immediately visible in a résumé or initial interview, such as cultural fit, the depth of a candidate’s accomplishments, strategic thinking, commitment, compensation alignment, counteroffer risk, team fit, change-management experience, cross-functional influence, analytical rigor, and soft skills.

The objective is not to look for reasons to eliminate a candidate. It is to develop a more complete picture of the person so both the client and candidate can make a well-informed decision.

GESG’s qualification process includes reviewing performance history, matching candidates to the search criteria, verifying commitment to a career move, clarifying compensation requirements, and identifying potential roadblocks before finalists are selected. Our process continues through interviews, the offer, resignation, counteroffer, transition, and post-placement follow-up.

That deeper understanding can be especially valuable in leadership hiring because a candidate’s ability to do the job is only part of the equation. The organization also needs confidence that the leader can succeed within its culture, team, strategy, and business environment.

 

More Applicants May Not Be the Answer

When a critical role stays open, increasing activity can feel like the logical next move. More job postings can produce more applicants, which creates more résumés to review and potentially more people to interview.

Sometimes that is exactly what the search needs. Other times, applicant volume is not the constraint.

If you are already getting candidates but not enough people you would seriously consider hiring, it may be more useful to ask where the gap is occurring. Is the profile aligned with what the business needs today? Are you reaching the full talent market? Is the opportunity compelling to someone who is already successful? What feedback are you hearing from the market? And are you seeing enough evidence to distinguish strong presentation from proven performance?

Those five questions can help turn a frustrating search into a more useful diagnosis.

 

A 60-Second Check on Your Search

If you are working through a critical supply chain, logistics, or transportation leadership search, GESG has created a simple 60-Second Executive Search Diagnostic based on these five areas.

Use it to take a quick look at the role, the market, the opportunity, the signals, and the candidates and identify where a closer look may be worthwhile.

Download: You’re Getting Applicants. Why Aren’t You Getting the Right Ones?

GESG has specialized in Transportation, Logistics, and Supply Chain Management recruiting and executive search since 2001. When a search requires broader market reach, deeper candidate qualification, or access to proven leaders who are not actively looking, we bring the specialized market knowledge and search capability to help our clients get it right.