The Position Has Been Open for 90 Days. Is the Candidate Really the Problem?

The Position Has Been Open for 90 Days. Is the Candidate Really the Problem?

There's a point in the hiring process when an open position stops being just an HR concern and starts affecting the people responsible for keeping aircraft operations moving.

The maintenance supervisor is adjusting schedules. Experienced technicians are picking up additional work. Leadership wants an update.

And the same position is still posted.

The explanation often sounds familiar: “We're just not finding the right people.”

But after 90 days, there's another question worth asking.

Is the problem really the candidate pool, or is something happening between the job posting and the job offer?

The perfect candidate may not exist at your asking price

Consider an employer searching for an experienced A&P technician.

The position requires an FAA Airframe and Powerplant certificate, experience with a particular aircraft platform, flexibility for weekend shifts, and several years of hands-on maintenance experience.

None of those expectations is necessarily unreasonable.

But when every preference becomes a nonnegotiable requirement, the search becomes narrower.

Now add compensation that may not be competitive for the experience requested.

The company isn't necessarily facing a shortage of aviation professionals. It may be facing a mismatch between its expectations and what it's offering.

That distinction matters.

Three interviews later, the candidate has moved on

Imagine a qualified candidate applies on Monday.

The recruiter makes contact on Thursday. The first interview happens the following week. The hiring manager isn't available for another conversation until the week after.

By the time the team is ready to discuss an offer, the candidate has accepted another position.

The employer may never know that the candidate was genuinely interested.

The process simply took too long.

Aviation employers shouldn't sacrifice proper screening, credential verification, or safety requirements to move faster.

But they can examine how much time is spent waiting between decisions.

Your current employees are part of the equation

An unfilled position doesn't mean the work disappears.

In some operations, it means additional overtime, adjusted assignments, postponed projects, or heavier workloads for the employees already there.

Not every vacancy produces the same consequences. But when the workload remains steady and staffing capacity decreases, somebody usually has to absorb the difference.

That makes prolonged vacancies an operational conversation, not just a recruiting conversation.

Before you repost that position, ask four questions

Which qualifications are essential for safety and job performance, and which are preferences?

Does the compensation reflect the experience and schedule we're requesting?

How many days pass between initial candidate contact, interviews, and a hiring decision?

Have we asked qualified candidates who declined or withdrew what influenced their decision?

The answers may reveal something another round of advertising won't.

The conversation DrangKro wants to have

At DrangKro Aerospace, we believe employers deserve more than a stack of resumes.

Before discussing candidates, it's worth understanding the position, the operational environment, and what has made the search difficult.

Sometimes the solution is reaching a different pool of talent. Other times, it's examining the requirements or identifying where the process is slowing down.

An open position tells you someone is needed. A 90-day vacancy may tell you something about how you're hiring.

If your aviation or aerospace team has a position that continues to go unfilled, we'd welcome a conversation about what you're experiencing.