“We are surrounded by ever increasingly predictive technologies that present a frictionless, polished, smooth life. But people by nature are imperfect. So this technology ignores the most important part of socialisation – flexibility, which is how to deal with uncertainty.
We are in a rapidly changing world with more and more uncertainty. We have to deal with that uncertainty with experimentation, making decisions, making mistakes, negotiating, figuring things out.
Babies, Children, Teens are being steered away from friction… and this is the beginning of the change in our species.”
- Esther Perel, No Mercy/No Malice Podcast, Aug 25.
The problems that we as consumers face today are systemically different to what generations before have faced. Not easier, not harder; different.
Companies exist to solve problems, and we need a team to solve them together.
Though 74% of Companies (ManpowerGroup Talent Shortage Survey ‘25) are still desperately struggling to hire a team they need in 2025.
Why?
It’s not because of ‘talent scarcity, rising salaries, generational misunderstanding’ or other headlines we are constantly fed.
It’s because we need different types of people to solve new, novel problems in the most competitive business landscape we have ever faced.
Though the way we are still looking for, engaging with and assessing talent has not adapted.
No wonder these typical headlines are becoming more frequent:
- ‘Good Talent is scarce’ – it is, when we’re all looking at the same, small group of people.
- ‘Salaries are becoming ridiculous; – damn right, because this small group of people (supply) are in surging demand.
- And of course, ‘Ageism exists’ – yes it does, because employers still assume, based on proven or not yet existent experience, that this person is too old or too young to solve this problem.
So, how are the other 26% of companies doing it?
(Besides Zuck).
Answer = expanding their horizons.
My job as a recruiter is to assist employers in articulating what they need.
The first, most important question I ask any client during a job brief is “what problem will this hire solve?”
Some answer brilliantly, some don’t – though just by thinking about the ‘hire as a solution to a problem’ allows the employer to immediately expand the image of who that person may be. (Admit it, we all have an “image” of who we think we want to hire),
Then starts the journey of eroding the preconceived tick boxes the employer had, and focusing on articulating the problem that this person can solve.
Only now, I can ask the second, most important question.
“What traits, signals, skills or behaviours will this person need to solve this problem?”
Now we’re cookin’.
We have immediately stepped out of the spiraling cycle of preconceived ‘images of’ or ‘logos attached’ to the person we thought we had in mind.
It’s now more about the candidates life experiences, their philosophy, where they have struggled and failed, situations where they had to hustle, get scrappy, re-learn and think differently to solve problems.
These wonderful experiences are examples of friction (today’s subject, if you haven’t yet guessed it). And the companies avoiding surging salaries, who are building stronger products and who are hiring better people are obsessing over candidates with examples of it.
They are tapping into a bigger pool of more interesting, (dare I say more ‘valuable’) candidates with non-linear resumes which CV-reading-AI-tools are ruling out. (79% of all applications in the US are now screened by AI).
If a candidate completed their computer science degree with good grades, did a 4 month internship with PWC and is now looking for a $130k junior dev. position, and that’s kinda it – you’re not getting an interview.
If a candidate presents their story of how they started trading equity options whilst studying a Cheese Making degree, which led to them and their buddy to start importing Brie from New Zealand… I want to hear it!
‘Trading options whilst learning how to make Cheese’ isn’t a hobby, it is a signal. An insight into that candidate’s core motivations and capabilities which can be applied to myriad scenarios. (He got the job btw, he’s brilliant).
Take a note from my colleague, Eloisa Ramos (who I’ve heard from countless people over the years say is the best recruiter in Australia):
“My job is to spot the red flags in a clear resume and the green lights in a messy one – and engage to uncover the real story, the potential, the psychology of a candidate.”
- *note; engage. Means actually meeting and deeply assessing the reds and the greens. Not making decisions based on a resume or after a friendly ‘chat’.
A story isn’t a story without friction, and a CV is typically a frictionless narrative.
If candidates don’t have friction in their story, whether they’ve been in the same job at the same place for 9 years, or they’ve just finished Uni, Netflix isn’t going to pick you up.
Nor will the progressive companies who are building the most exceptional products with a new definition of exceptional people…
They’re not avoiding friction, they’re leaning into it.
