The HIRE by Nicole
“We have built an industry worth billions of dollars around a process that, by almost every measurable standard, doesn’t work well for anyone involved.”
The HIRE: Leadership, Hiring and the Evolving Nature of Work explores how humans have created opportunity, selected leaders and found work across centuries—and what that history reveals about the modern hiring process.
Written by Nicole Barbano for those who hire and those hoping to be hired.
From the guilds of the Middle Ages and the Church’s role in connecting people with work to Leonardo da Vinci’s résumé and the extraordinary recruiting demands of the Manhattan Project, the way humans hire has always reflected power, culture, technology and trust.
Today, applicant tracking systems, keywords, artificial intelligence and familiar corporate clichés have made the process more efficient—but not necessarily more human.
The HIRE examines how we arrived here and what needs to change.
Hiring did not begin with résumés, recruiters or job boards.
5 million people start a new job every month in America. Most of them never got there by clicking “Apply” on a job board.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 5.2 million hires and 7.6 million job openings in May 2026, yet the public story of hiring is dominated by three platforms: LinkedIn, Indeed, and ZipRecruiter.
In The HIRE, Nicole Barbano calls them “LIZ”—the triumvirate that spends billions telling you this is where hiring happens.
The truth is very different. Roughly 80% of those monthly hires never came through a traditional job board.
They were made through personal networks, referrals, recruiters, direct applications to company career pages, and confidential searches. The jobs exist. The hiring happens. Most job seekers are just not where the hiring is happening.
Meanwhile, the online ecosystem looks enormous. LinkedIn alone draws hundreds of millions of visits a month. Add in the rest of LIZ, more than 400 niche job boards, and an estimated 25,000 job boards in the United States that scrape and recycle postings, and you get a digital hall of mirrors—an endless echo of the same jobs, designed to monetize attention and hope more than actual hiring.
Only a small fraction of the 5.2 million people who start new jobs each month got there by doing what the job boards tell them to do. The HIRE is about understanding where the real hiring happens now—and how to get yourself to that side of the table.
Where hiring actually happens. The HIRE tells the unknown story.
5 million people start a new job every month in America. Most of them never got there by clicking “Apply” on a job board.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 5.2 million hires and 7.6 million job openings in May 2026, yet the public story of hiring is dominated by three platforms: LinkedIn, Indeed, and ZipRecruiter.
In The HIRE, Nicole Barbano calls them “LIZ”—the triumvirate that spends billions telling you this is where hiring happens.
The truth is very different. Roughly 80% of those monthly hires never came through a traditional job board.
They were made through personal networks, referrals, recruiters, direct applications to company career pages, and confidential searches. The jobs exist. The hiring happens. Most job seekers are just not where the hiring is happening.
Meanwhile, the online ecosystem looks enormous. LinkedIn alone draws hundreds of millions of visits a month. Add in the rest of LIZ, more than 400 niche job boards, and an estimated 25,000 job boards in the United States that scrape and recycle postings, and you get a digital hall of mirrors—an endless echo of the same jobs, designed to monetize attention and hope more than actual hiring.
Only a small fraction of the 5.2 million people who start new jobs each month got there by doing what the job boards tell them to do. The HIRE is about understanding where the real hiring happens now—and how to get yourself to that side of the table.
Where hiring actually happens. The HIRE tells the unknown story.
“Understanding the other side isn’t optional anymore. You can’t hire well without understanding what job seekers are experiencing. You can’t get hired without understanding what employers need.”
“The Manhattan Project didn’t just build a weapon; it built a workforce. In total secrecy, the U.S. recruited and moved more than half a million people into roles so specialized that most of them didn’t even know what they were building—only that their skills, judgment, and trustworthiness had been handpicked for a mission that would change history.”
“We have built an industry worth billions of dollars around a process that, by almost every measurable standard, doesn’t work well for anyone involved.”
“The system was never a meritocracy, and it was never designed to be one. Its primary function has always been to fill seats.”
“From guild halls to job boards, every era has invented a new way to match people with work. What has never changed is the one thing hiring still depends on: human judgment, exercised under pressure.”
About the author
Nicole Barbano founded Hunter Ambrose in 2006 in San Diego, California, building what she deliberately called a “lifestyle firm” so she could prioritize raising her three young children solo while doing work that mattered.
Motherhood was her motivator to leave a six-figure job at one of the largest firms in the United States with $12,000 in retainers and start her own firm in 2006.
Two decades later, Hunter Ambrose celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2026, with more than 1,000 executive and specialized placements across healthcare, legal, corporate, and leadership roles.
She grew Hunter Ambrose into the 21st-largest healthcare firm in 2022 (Modern Healthcare).
And after seeing up close how often smart people and good organizations were failed by a broken hiring system, she wrote The HIRE to put that playbook in the hands of the people who need it most.
Today, Nicole works independently as a solopreneur, focusing on consulting, fractional leadership and executive coaching. Hunter Ambrose International serves as the umbrella company for her advisory work, publications and related business interests.
Nicole is the Mother of three adult children, is married to Justin Wade Sipe, and they reside in Kansas City, Missouri.
Media and Interview
Nicole Barbano is available for interviews, editorial commentary, speaking engagements, and conversations about hiring, leadership, career strategy, and the evolving nature of work.
Drawing on twenty years in executive recruitment and more than 1,000 placements, Nicole connects the history of hiring—from medieval guilds and Leonardo da Vinci’s résumé to the Manhattan Project, job boards, and artificial intelligence—with the decisions employers and candidates face today.
Potential conversation angles
How hiring evolved from community reputation to algorithms
Why millions apply online without receiving a response
What the Manhattan Project teaches us about identifying talent
Where hiring actually happens outside traditional job boards
What employers and candidates misunderstand about one another
Whether AI is improving hiring—or amplifying its existing problems