sad male office worker collapses on his arm in frustration

Executives: What Your Hiring Process Says about You When You’re Not in the Room

September 18, 2025 By Amy Volas

A few weeks ago, my friend Ed reached out to me. He was at his wit’s end.

For months, Ed had been undergoing a lengthy interview process at an exciting young startup. It was only when he realized that the founder was completely unserious about hiring him that he reached out to me. 

I’ve known Ed for several years (I placed him in his last role) so I know that he is a talented, hardworking, committed sales leader. He’s not naive; he’s smart, experienced, and he knows how to read people. He wondered how he could have misread the signals for so many months. 

Ed shared the process he went through with me.

It’s probably not the worst I’ve ever seen, but it’s up there:

  1. 30-minute interview with an internal recruiter
  2. 30-minute interview with the founder
  3. Two days onsite, including three meetings with the founder, as well as hourlong meetings with each of the five members of his leadership team
  4. Another hourlong interview with the founder
  5. Yet another hourlong interview with two members of the leadership team
  6. Another 30-minute interview with a different member of the leadership team
  7. He sent personalized follow-ups after each interview
  8. He created a 90-day plan of execution
  9. He presented the plan to the founder
  10. He created and shared an overview and analysis of the business
  11. He provided referrals
  12. He spent a full day at a tradeshow (unpaid) with the founder, engaging with prospects, and creating opportunities

If you’re looking to develop a 12-step plan for wasting a candidate’s time, you couldn’t do much better. Ed eventually reached the same conclusion.

He sent an email to the founder: “During each step, and in between meetings, I’ve done my best to communicate clearly, engage thoughtfully, and share my perspective to add value. That said, my read is that you’re not prioritizing this role right now.”

The founder responded: “I think you’re right, and we still have some things to work through.”

Did Ed have all the information he needed to bow out after Step 4? Most likely. And, three years ago in 2022, when senior and executive-level go-to-market talent was in high demand, I’m confident that he would have.

But the world has changed substantially since then. Experienced tech managers and executives have never encountered a tougher job market. As of late August, about 82,000 tech workers had been laid off in 2025, and job postings are down 36% from just a few years ago. That’s not to say people aren’t getting hired; they certainly are. But with talent supply outpacing demand, a chaotic economic environment, and the insecurity engendered by the current AI hype cycle, founders and executives are able to act this way without facing any consequences (yet). 

Meanwhile, Ed and successful professionals like him, are out of work and driven by financial insecurity to be far more accommodating than they would have been in the past. Or, frankly, then they should be now.

I assured Ed that the massive waste of time and energy he had undergone was a reflection of the founder, not him, and that he would have been miserable working for such a leader. I pointed out to him that all of the frustration he had felt in the hiring process would have carried over to his day-to-day work. 

This founder demonstrated several traits and behaviors that underscore his lack of leadership capabilities and current inability to run a successful business. Unfortunately, he’s not unique. As an executive recruiter, I have seen this dynamic many times. That’s not to say that he can’t learn, mature, and develop those skills — but that’s not where he is now. 

Here is what this CEO’s bad hiring process unintentionally revealed about himself:

1. He’s wasteful of company time and investor money

Obviously this company wasted the heck out of Ed’s time. But they also wasted their own time, which has both a monetary and an opportunity cost for the business. In the steps outlined above, we can see that the founder and members of his leadership team wasted days and days of their own time on a role that they were never serious about hiring.

What else could they have accomplished in this time? What else are they wasting time and money on?

No leadership team will ever achieve maximum efficiency, but this is a terrible waste of an early-stage company’s seed or series A funding. The board would not be pleased.

2. Low integrity, low respect in the hiring process

In my decades of experience, I have learned that integrity and respect aren’t really things you turn on and off. Either you have them, or you don’t. Executives don’t tend to treat only some of their employees with integrity, and respect that’s offered only as a matter of convenience isn’t really respect. Does anyone honestly believe that an executive who was so disrespectful of a candidate’s time would suddenly start treating him with respect on his start date? Give me a break.

3. Inefficient processes and lack of prioritization

Why was Ed required to meet with company leadership so many times? Why did those leaders agree to this? What else is the CEO having them waste their time on?

Look, it’s fine if now isn’t the right time to hire a sales leader — or any other position. So don’t spin your wheels on something that isn’t a priority. Every founder and executive at an early-stage company has an overwhelming laundry list of tasks to accomplish. Even at the best of times, it may just be barely manageable. There is no reason to add to the pain through an inability to prioritize. Hiring is an activity that every single SaaS company engages in, frequently. That means it needs a repeatable, efficient process in order to work well.

4. Unwillingness to have hard conversations and make decisions

This, to me, is the most damning thing the CEO accidentally revealed about himself. People can learn to be more efficient; they can be trained on prioritizing and hiring processes and managing a cash runway. But it’s very hard to convince a resistant person to have tough conversations, or an indecisive person to make a decision. This founder couldn’t even tell a candidate who he barely knows that now isn’t the right time. How will he be able to tell members of his leadership team when they’re falling short, or if he needs them to change their approach? 

Good CEOs spend most of their time having tough conversations and making decisions — that’s just the nature of the job. If a CEO can’t level with a candidate during the hiring process, that’s your sign that this person won’t level with you during key strategic moments for the company or your career. Think things like the company’s financial outlook, fundraising, pipeline, acquisitions, firing, raises, and promotions. These are all hard, complex topics that almost every founder and CEO will face. If they can’t address them head-on, with efficiency, integrity, and respect, I have questions about the company’s long-term outlook.

Don’t get me wrong: I don’t expect executives to be hiring experts. I’ve spent over a decade establishing and refining an effective recruiting and hiring process into Avenue Talent Partners’ Hiring OSTM. It provides a clear baseline, an expert-driven framework, and an actionable plan to eliminate guesswork and prevent wasted time and money. It’s great for business outcomes, and prevents CEOs from looking incompetent.

My recommendation: Take a look at The Hiring OSTM and see if you’re falling into any of the common traps. If you determine that your hiring process is fueled by guesswork and it’s time to improve, schedule a call to see how Avenue Talent Partners can help.