If you’ve been reading our insights long enough, you know we don’t shy away from challenging common hiring myths.
We did it when we unpacked the false sense of alignment that hiring committees create, and again when we tackled the idea that slower hiring is safer hiring. And today is no exception, we’re going to pull apart yet another hiring myth that quietly erodes your company’s growth.
This one shows up in conversations that sound strategic, but quickly lead to stalled searches and stretched-out timelines.
Let’s bust another hiring myth today. Hiring should move your business forward. But too often, it stalls progress instead. It starts with a critical role, one that feels too important to get wrong. So the requirements start piling up: you need a candidate who is technical, but also strategic, you need a strong leader, but also a hands-on doer. Someone who’s available immediately, but willing to go through multiple interview rounds. Oh, and bonus points if they’ve scaled a company exactly like yours before.
Internally, it sounds like “We’re just holding out for the right person.” But in practice, you’re chasing a candidate who doesn’t exist.
- “We’re just holding out for the right person.”
- “We need someone really special for this one.”
- “It’s a unicorn role.”
It sounds reasonable, but behind the scenes, your team is chasing a candidate who doesn’t exist, because the role has become overloaded, misaligned, or impossible to fill.
How Critical Roles Turn into Search Sinkholes
When hiring leaders describe a role as needing “a unicorn,” what they often mean is that the stakes feel high and they’re right.
These are often critical hires: a Head of Sales, a Founding Engineer, a new Marketing leader. These roles come with visibility, pressure, and risk. Hiring the wrong person can have real consequences. So it makes sense to want to “get it right.” That desire often morphs into perfectionism, wrapped in the language of high standards. But the role then because nearly impossible to fill.
The longer that role stays open, the more it costs you. Not just in lost productivity, but in lost momentum. Your team feels the gap as projects stall, leaders stretch themselves thin trying to cover, and ironically, the longer the search drags on, the more likely you are to compromise on a candidate just to relieve the pressure.
But until that moment of urgency hits, the unicorn myth tends to linger. Why? Because it gives cover to deeper challenges that no one wants to name.
What Unicorn Hiring Myths Are Really Covering Up
When a team is chasing a “unicorn” candidate, it’s rarely about the candidate. It’s a signal that something upstream in the hiring process is broken or unclear. It’s often a smokescreen for misalignment, indecision, or unclear strategy.
Here’s what’s really going on below the surface:
1. The role is under-defined:
Instead of building the job around specific outcomes, the role is based on a wish list. What should be a focused search turns into an open-ended quest. If no one can clearly articulate what success looks like in the first 6 to 12 months, if the job blends three very different functions, you’re not hiring with clarity. You’re just moving the ambiguity downstream to the candidate.
2. The hiring team is avoiding a decision:
Misalignment on the scope, level, or priorities of the role is common but dangerous. One leader wants someone to own the strategy and another needs hands-on execution. One person wants a senior hire while another wants to save budget. Instead of confronting that disconnect, the hiring team keeps the search open hoping that the “right” person will magically satisfy everyone.
3. The expectations are disconnected from reality
This is where the unicorn hiring myth takes hold. You’re asking for someone with startup scrappiness and enterprise polish. A doer and a visionary. If someone exists with all those traits, they’re likely out of range either in terms of compensation or motivation. When expectations are unanchored from the market, disappointment is built in.
What to do instead: trade fantasy for focus
Let’s assume you’re here because the unicorn candidate hunt hasn’t worked. Not because you’re not trying, but because the role keeps slipping further out of reach. You’re not alone. And the good news is: there’s a better path forward.
It starts with redefining what success looks like not just in the hire, but in the hiring process itself.
Get laser-clear on outcomes
Before diving back into talent sourcing or rewriting that job posting for the fifth time, it’s important to pause. Ask: What will this person need to accomplish in their first 6–12 months to make this hire a win? That’s your anchor. Everything else including title, level, background, even compensation, should map back to those outcomes. Not org chart. Not investor expectations. Not the resume of the last “rockstar” you saw on LinkedIn.
Make strategic trade-offs early in the hiring process
Even top candidates don’t check every box and that’s not a problem. It’s a reality. Instead of hoping to find a one-in-a-million hybrid, choose your trade-offs upfront. Need someone strong in execution but light on strategy? Hire for today and plan for a coach or advisor. Need seniority but can’t afford the compensation? Consider a fractional hire.
What slows hiring isn’t high standards, it’s refusing to prioritize them.
Align before you advertise
This is one of the biggest challenges we see: if the role is still being debated internally, candidates will feel it. Mixed messages will show up in vague interviews, conflicting feedback, or stalled decisions and high-caliber candidates won’t wait around. Tighten your internal alignment first: Is the scope defined? Who makes the final call? Have we agreed on level, salary, and reporting? If not, the search isn’t ready to go live.
Shift from “perfect fit” to “best fit right now”
The right hire is rarely the mythical “perfect” one. It’s the candidate who solves your most pressing problems and grows with the role. Look for indicators of trajectory, not just static experience. Can they adapt? Do they learn fast? Are they motivated by the challenge in front of them? You can’t predict the future, but you can choose someone who’s ready to step in and create momentum.
The unicorn hiring myth isn’t just about unrealistic expectations. It’s about what companies do when they’re under pressure and unsure where to place the bet. They hedge. They delay. They wait for someone who seems “undeniable.”
But the most effective hiring isn’t about waiting, it’s about designing a role that a real, high-performing human can walk into and succeed.
So here’s the challenge:
Instead of asking “How do we find someone who does it all?”
Ask: “What matters most and how do we hire boldly against it?”
That’s not compromise. That’s strategy.
Ready to stop chasing unicorns and start making strategic hires? Let’s design a search strategy that actually delivers.
