January 29, 2026

Why You Shouldn’t Freeze While Hiring

The job market's cold. You don’t have to be.

Last week, while huddled in my home office alternating between furious typing and CPR on my frozen fingertips, I made a discovery that changed my winter game: the Dreo Solaris 718 space heater. Warmth, finally. But this cheap-and-cheerful heater got me thinking—we’re spending all this energy trying to keep talent warm in hiring pipelines, yet most companies treat candidates like afterthoughts in a snowstorm.

Let me explain.

Recruitment is a long game. Ghosting a great candidate? That’s the HR equivalent of leaving the window open in January after turning the heating up to full. Warmth matters. Consistency matters. And just like my Dreo, recruitment processes need to be:

• Small but mighty
• Targeted and efficient
• Plug-and-play reliable

Otherwise, you’ll get cold results—and nobody wants to wrap themselves in that.

Why your hiring process feels like mid-February

Let’s be real. Job seekers aren’t the only ones at risk of hypothermia right now. We’ve got hiring managers sitting on open roles for six months because:

• No one’s owning the candidate journey
• Interview processes feel like Wuthering Heights with less clarity
• The right candidates are approached...then left to freeze in silence

Warmth doesn’t mean hand-holding or sending them motivational playlists. It means treating every touchpoint like it matters—because it does. Candidates remember how you made them feel long after they’ve deleted their CV drafts.

A heater is only useful if it’s switched on

This is where the Dreo taught me a sharp little lesson. The machine is built to work. Just like a well-structured hiring engine. But it’s useless if it sits there unplugged, or switched off, or blasting heat in the wrong direction.

So what’s the hiring equivalent of leaving your heater off?

• Letting inbound applicants wallow in your ATS for weeks
• Dragging out decisions because "we're waiting on budget"
• Not giving feedback—even when candidates reach final stage
• Setting unrealistic criteria for your budget ("We want a Senior DevOps engineer... for £50k...")

If you want talent to stay warm to your brand, don’t leave them in the cold. That means timely comms, aligned expectations, and keeping your promises. Wild idea, I know.

Heat your pipeline, not just your toes

Let’s get practical. Here’s how you turn up the hiring heat without incinerating your team’s capacity or your candidates’ patience:

1. Build a warmth-first comms rhythm

Treat candidate communication like CRM. No one should go 5 days without hearing something—whether it’s “you’re progressing” or “we’re still aligning internally.” Silence = frostbite.

2. Use tech the smart way, not the lazy way

Your ATS isn’t a fridge. If your process lets great people go idle for too long, plug in better automations. Think reminder nudges, preferred-times scheduling tools, and action-based status changes.

3. Keep your process appropriately lean

You don’t need 6 interviews to hire a mid-level engineer. Seriously. Cut the bloated steps. Each redundant call is a gust of cold air in someone’s window of motivation.

4. Be transparent with expectations

If your heater needs 30 minutes to warm the room, you tell people. Same with offers: if your hiring cycle takes 3 weeks, say it. Candidates respect clarity. They detest ‘vibe-based timelines’.

This winter, build a hiring engine that gives off heat

Here’s the punchline: candidates can feel your agency, urgency and structure. Or your absence of it.

The good ones? They’ve got options—and they'll go where it feels warm. That doesn’t mean handing out chocolates and hoodies (although, go off if you must). It means:

• You’re clear, consistent, and capable
• They know what to expect next
• The experience doesn’t feel colder than a Camden flat in February

I bought a space heater to stop freezing. But what I realised is, some of your candidates are still shivering. Plug in your hiring muscle, switch it on, and aim the heat where it counts.

Or you can keep wondering why offers go cold and your top-of-funnel keeps ghosting. Up to you.

🔥 Action time:

• Open your ATS—who’s languishing too long?
• Audit your hiring timeline—where are the chilly delays?
• Update candidate comms templates—less “Dear Sir/Madam,” more warmth + clarity
• Choose one step to streamline this week

Because nothing kills momentum faster than a hiring freeze—literal or otherwise.

Stay warm, stay sharp, and if all else fails—get a Dreo.

— Gozie

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