The Great Pause, Trust, and Why Candidates Are Thinking Twice

When we introduced the concept of the "Great Pause" in this year’s Job Seeker Nation Report, the obvious takeaway was that fewer people were looking for jobs. In plain terms, the Great Pause describes job seekers stepping back from active job hunting altogether; not because they’re satisfied, but because the search itself no longer feels worth the effort. But during our recent webinar, Talent Truths: Why Trust is a Competitive Advantage, panelist Joey Price pushed the conversation a step further with one simple question:

“If people aren’t going for jobs, then where are they going?”

And it’s a fair one.

Because while active job seeking dropped from 42% to 35%, that doesn’t necessarily mean people are happy where they are. But it does hint that they’re becoming less convinced that the traditional job search is worth the effort.

As Steph Manzelli put it, the job search is becoming "more challenging and less rewarding."

And when the juice isn’t worth the squeeze, at some point people stop asking, "What should my next job be?" and simply take a step back altogether.

But importantly, that doesn’t mean they’ve stopped thinking about what’s next. In fact, Joey pointed to the continued rise in entrepreneurship as one sign that many workers are still looking for opportunities—they’re just becoming more intentional about how they pursue them. For employers, that’s worth sitting with: the size of your applicant pool says less than it used to about how many strong candidates are actually out there.

That idea shaped a lot of the conversation that followed. If candidates are becoming more cautious about where they invest their time and energy, then employers have to answer a much bigger question: What makes an opportunity feel worth pursuing in the first place?

For Steph Manzelli (Employ Chief People Officer), Joey Price (Jumpstart HR President and CEO), Ritu Mohanka (VONQ CEO), and Amber Parker (Mitek Director of Global Talent Acquisition), the answer kept coming back to trust. This article brings together the biggest themes from the discussion, with links to deeper resources on topics like AI in hiring, candidate fraud, and candidate trust throughout. Let’s dive in.

Why Does Hiring Have a Trust Problem on Both Sides?

One of the biggest findings from the 2026 Job Seeker Nation Report was how hard of a hit trust has taken in today’s hiring landscape.

AI is making everyone skeptical. Recruiters are ghosting applicants. And candidates are running into scam job posts.

Amber put it simply:

“The trust breakdown is real, but it’s prevalent on both sides of the hiring journey.”

And that’s a reality many hiring teams are facing today.

Here’s what that looks like from each side of the interview table:

(We go deeper on spotting and screening AI-powered candidate fraud here.)

Despite experiencing the hiring process from very different perspectives, both sides are ultimately looking for the same thing: reassurance that the process is working as intended.

And that’s why Joey’s simple advice landed struck such a chord:

“If you do nothing else but just not ghost candidates, you are improving your hiring process straight away.”

It’s a deceivingly simple concept that gets at something much bigger.

In a hiring market where everyone is feeling cautious, every interaction matters. A quick update. A rejection email. A note letting someone know where they stand. None of those things are particularly complicated, but they remind candidates that there are real people behind the process. These small touches are what candidate experience really comes down to, often more than the offer itself.

Why Transparency Matters More Than the AI Itself

If trust is the issue, then AI is where that issue often becomes most visible.

Because as much as the new(ish) technology has become engrained in the hiring landscape—for both recruiters and candidates—it remains a lightning rod for debate.

And yet, as the panel pointed out, candidates don’t seem nearly as concerned about AI as many employers assume they are.

What they do care about, however? Understanding how it’s being used.

As Ritu Mohanka explained:

“The way out of that isn’t less process. It’s genuinely about more transparency.”

The takeaway? Candidates aren’t necessarily asking employers to stop using AI. They’re asking for a little more visibility into how it’s being used and what role it plays in the decisions being made about them.

Ritu shared that one of the most common reactions she hears from candidates has very little to do with the technology itself.

And that’s really the heart of it.

Candidates want to know whether a person is going to see their application. They want to understand how they’re being evaluated and whether they have a fair shot at moving forward. Most importantly, they want transparency into what happens after they click submit:

• Who’s involved in reviewing their application
• How decisions are actually made
• Where human judgment comes into play
• Why the process isn’t just a black box

As Amber put it: “If you are using AI in any capacity as a recruiting team, you must have a disclaimer about it. That’s the bare minimum that we would owe to candidates, letting them know how we’re using it.”

When candidates understand how a process works, they’re much more likely to trust it—even if the outcome isn’t the one they were hoping for.

And that’s why transparency matters so much.

Not because candidates expect employers to reveal every detail of their hiring process, but because a little clarity goes a long way. The more employers can explain how AI is being used—and where humans remain part of the process—the easier it becomes to build (back) trust in the outcome. That volume crunch is often exactly why teams lean on AI in the first place, which is precisely where disclosure matters most.

But as Joey was quick to point out, trust goes well beyond AI and needs to be thought of at a more holistic level:

What Is Skills-Based Hiring, and Why Isn’t It the Same as Keyword Matching?

But the challenge isn’t just helping candidates trust the hiring process. It’s helping them trust that they’re being evaluated on the right things.

And that’s a challenge more organizations are trying to solve through skills-based hiring.

For years, hiring has relied heavily on resumes, job titles, credentials, and keyword searches. But as candidates become better at optimizing applications—and as AI makes that process even easier—those signals become less useful on their own.

What employers increasingly want to know is whether someone can actually do the job.

• Can they solve problems?
• Can they think through real-world scenarios?
• Can they demonstrate the skills required to succeed?

But as Ritu pointed out, there’s still a lot of confusion around what skills-based hiring actually means:

“Skills-based hiring and keyword matching are not the same thing.”

The approach shifts the conversation away from credentials and toward capability, giving candidates an opportunity to demonstrate what they can actually do rather than simply claim it on paper. It also gives candidates a clearer understanding of what they’re being evaluated on, while giving recruiters additional context beyond what’s written on a resume.

Here’s that contrast in one view:

Amber shared how her team is making that adjustment:

As Ritu noted, one of the biggest advancements in modern skills-based hiring isn’t just better assessment—it’s explainability. The ability to understand why someone advanced and why someone didn’t.

“One of the reasons skills-based hiring struggled to scale was that you couldn’t always articulate why one candidate was ranked above another. And if you can’t explain it, you can’t defend it and you can’t improve it... The combination of better assessment design, AI that can actually process at scale, and explainability that gives you the audit trail—that’s what makes this a reality, rather than just the theory of skills-based hiring that everyone used to talk about.”

One Piece of Advice Every Hiring Team Should Take

The hiring process is under construction—that much isn’t up for debate.

Between the ongoing (and rapid) advancement of AI. The resurgence of skills-based hiring. The breakdown in trust from all sides.

Taken together, they’re some of the clearest talent acquisition trends shaping hiring in 2026.

And with so much change, it can be easy to become quickly overwhelmed. But as Joey pointed out. The best place to start is right on your careers page:

“Go apply for your own jobs.”

1. Start with the job posting.
2. Submit the application.
3. Wait for the emails.
4. Move through the process exactly as a candidate would.

Because while your recruiters know why each step exists. They understand what’s happening behind the scenes. They know why delays happen and where bottlenecks occur.

Candidates don’t have any of that context. They only experience what shows up in front of them. And the only way to understand where friction exists is to experience it yourself.

Rebuilding Trust in a Paused Market

So, the question of the (webinar) hour:

“If people aren’t going for jobs, then where are they going?”

The truth is a little complicated.

But regardless of where people are going next, the reason they’re approaching the job search differently feels increasingly clear: they’re becoming more selective about where they invest their time, energy, and trust.

And it all comes back to trust.

Trust can no longer be treated like a soft metric—if it ever could be.

TL;DR: When candidates trust the process, they’re more likely to engage with it. When recruiters create clarity around what’s happening and why, they’re more likely to earn that trust.

And in a hiring market where many people are choosing to pause, wait, or simply be more selective, that trust may be one of the few things that gets someone to take the next step.

Frequently Asked Questions

This webinar covered several interconnected topics at a high level. If you'd like to explore any of them in more depth, we've linked to additional resources throughout this recap.

What is the "Great Pause" in hiring?

The Great Pause is the trend — first identified in Lever’s 2026 Job Seeker Nation Report — of job seekers stepping back from actively searching for a new job, even without a clear next step in mind. It’s driven less by satisfaction and more by candidates deciding the traditional job search isn’t worth the effort right now.

Why don’t candidates trust the hiring process right now?

Trust is breaking down on both sides. Candidates are dealing with scam job postings, fake recruiters, and uncertainty over whether a human ever reviews their application. Recruiters, meanwhile, are dealing with AI-generated resumes, interview-coaching tools, and a rising volume of fraudulent applicants. Both sides are ultimately looking for the same reassurance: that the process is working as intended.

What’s the difference between skills-based hiring and keyword matching?

Keyword matching screens resumes for specific terms and credentials. Skills-based hiring evaluates whether a candidate can actually do the job — through problem-solving, real-world scenarios, or demonstrated skills — and can explain why one candidate ranked above another. The two are often confused, but they solve different problems.

How can hiring teams rebuild candidate trust when using AI?

Through transparency, not necessarily less AI. Candidates aren’t asking employers to stop using AI in recruiting — they want visibility into how it’s being used and where a human is still involved in the decision. At minimum, that means disclosing when and how AI is part of the evaluation process.

Looking for more insights and intel?

Watch the on-demand webinar here.

And download your copy of the 2026 Job Seeker Nation.