3 Challenges to Creating a Hiring Culture (And How to Overcome Them)
In the race to secure top talent, many organizations focus on tools, technology, and processes—but often overlook the most critical factor: culture. A true hiring culture transforms recruitment from a transactional process into a strategic, organization-wide effort. It’s about aligning teams, engaging leadership, and embedding hiring excellence into the DNA of the business.
Yet, building this culture is no easy feat. Misalignment between recruiters and hiring managers, a lack of leadership involvement, and a general disconnect in how hiring is viewed can create roadblocks that slow progress and stunt potential.
At our recent SocialTalent Live event, we surveyed our audience of talent acquisition professionals on these key challenges and the findings were intriguing.
Let’s dig into it!
1. Is Hiring a Shared Responsibility at Your Organization?
The fact that 79% of organizations don’t view hiring as a fully shared responsibility is a striking reflection of a pervasive disconnect. Too often, the responsibility for finding and securing top talent is siloed within HR and talent acquisition teams, while hiring managers and leadership stand on the sidelines. This fragmented approach not only dilutes accountability but also undermines the collective potential of the organization. In reality, hiring is the gateway to a company’s future—its ability to innovate, grow, and remain competitive hinges on getting it right.
When hiring is seen as a shared responsibility, it transforms from a task into a strategy. Recruiters become advisors, hiring managers engage as active participants, and leadership takes ownership of the standards and culture that guide decisions. This alignment creates a ripple effect: better candidate experiences, stronger hires, and more cohesive teams.
The statistic should serve as a wake-up call to companies stuck in the status quo. As John Vlastelica, CEO of Recruiting Toolbox, said during the event:
“This culture of recruiting where everyone sees it as part of their responsibility is probably the most strategic thing I see between organizations in terms of who gets the best talent. If I were to prioritize what a TA leader should focus on in any economy, regardless of your ATS, your CRM, your sourcing tools, your interviewing tools – this to me has the biggest lift, the biggest ROI for organization.”
A hiring culture isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s a competitive necessity. It demands collaboration, shared accountability, and a shift in mindset at every level of the organization. Without this, organizations risk stagnation in a world where attracting and retaining great talent has never been more critical.
2. The Primary Barrier in Creating a Hiring Culture? Leadership
When it comes to building a hiring culture, leadership is an important linchpin—and its absence, according to our audience, is the single greatest barrier to progress. Without buy-in from the top, any effort to foster a culture where hiring is seen as a shared responsibility quickly stalls. Leaders set the tone. They model the behaviors that trickle down to hiring managers, recruiters, and the wider organization. If they view recruitment as merely a transactional function owned by HR, that attitude permeates. But the opposite is true also, as talent expert, Nick Mailey captured perfectly:
“Leaders can change the trajectory of a company. A business leader understands that the talent you bring in has a direct impact on the outcome and the growth of the company. And so your business leaders’ focus on excellence will elevate the prospects of your company and success.”
True leadership buy-in transforms hiring from a series of disconnected tasks into a strategic, organizational priority. But it takes courage—something both John Vlastelica and Expedia’s Danielle Monaghan emphasized in their discussion—because driving this kind of change means holding leaders accountable, shifting mindsets, and embedding hiring excellence into the company’s DNA. And yet, as many TA leaders know, it’s often easier said than done. Getting leadership to understand that hiring is not a favor to HR but critical to business success is no small feat. Without their commitment, a hiring culture remains a lofty aspiration. With it, the organization can unlock its most powerful competitive edge: great talent.
Missed SocialTalent Live? Watch a complete recording HERE
3. How Aligned are your Recruiters and Hiring Managers?
The disconnect between recruiters and hiring managers is one of the most overlooked yet pervasive challenges in hiring today. With only 12% of attendees reporting strong alignment, it’s clear this partnership is often fractured, misunderstood, or undervalued. Danielle Monaghan highlighted this gap during our SocialTalent Live event, explaining how leaders must first clarify “what good looks like” before expecting alignment: without a shared understanding of priorities, processes, and expectations, recruiters and hiring managers are left pulling in different directions.
This misalignment creates downstream problems—mismanaged candidate pipelines, slower time-to-hire, inconsistent quality of talent, and, ultimately, missed opportunities. As John Vlastelica emphasized, too often hiring managers see themselves as the “customers” of TA rather than active participants in hiring excellence. In this dynamic, recruiters can feel like order-takers rather than trusted advisors, unable to challenge or influence decisions.
“When I look across organizations and I see who is delivering the best candidate experience, who has the best conversion funnel metrics, who closes and wins the best talent. It’s usually companies or teams where you have really engaged hiring managers. They’re not doing it as a favor for TA. They’re not doing it because there’s some new policy. It’s because they’re in some kind of pain around hiring. And they realize the more engaged they are, the better talent they get.”
To close the gap, alignment must be intentional. It starts with clear communication, shared accountability, and a shift in mindset—both sides must view themselves as equal partners working toward the same goal: hiring the best talent. When recruiters and hiring managers align, the result is greater efficiency, stronger candidate experiences, and the ability to win top talent more consistently.
Conclusion
Creating a hiring culture isn’t about quick fixes or isolated efforts; it’s about changing how an organization fundamentally approaches talent. It requires leadership buy-in, true alignment between recruiters and hiring managers, and a shared understanding that hiring is everyone’s responsibility. Without these elements, companies risk missing out on the very thing that drives growth, innovation, and success: great people.
As our event underscored, building this culture takes courage, intentionality, and persistence. The rewards, however, are immense: a hiring process that delivers exceptional talent, a stronger organizational identity, and a team ready to tackle the future together. The question now is—how will you begin?