Tampa Bay Has Plenty of Applicants. So Why Is Hiring Still So Hard?

I forgive anyone for wanting to pull their hair out trying to make sense of the employment market, both nationally and here in Tampa Bay. The only thing consistent is the inconsistency.

Friday’s national jobs report is the latest example. The economy added 162,000 jobs in August, while July’s initial loss of 23,000 jobs was revised to a gain of 21,000. Meanwhile Tampa Bay’s unemployment rate has risen to 4.8%.

And the national jobs report is not the only part of this market that is difficult to understand.

• Application volume is up 6% year-over-year, but hiring remains flat. (ICIMS)
• 7.3 million open jobs, but only 5.1 million hires in July. (JOLTS)
• Application volume jumped 111% between 2022 and 2025, with 65% of candidates now using AI at some point in their application process. (Inc.)

If you don’t view these numbers in a business context, you may say “so what?” If open positions cannot be filled, that work doesn’t go away. Instead, businesses put more pressure on their current employees to do more with less, while potentially missing growth opportunities because they aren’t adding the volume of people they need to support that growth.

And there is a serious price tag attached to that pressure they are placing on their current employees:

A study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine estimated that employee burnout costs businesses $3,999 per hourly worker, $4,257 per salaried employee, and $10,824 per manager every year through lost productivity, absenteeism, and healthcare costs. (CUNY)

That’s why today’s hiring challenge isn’t about finding more applicants—we have those. The real challenge is finding applicants who have the experience and skills needed to help a business grow, before they burn out their current employees.

Why Aren’t More Applications Leading to More Hires?

Ultimately, this is the question we need to answer. If applications are so high, why is hiring still such a challenge? From my experience, it comes down to a combination of issues:

1. The Rise of AI

This is a major reason, especially this year. Employers are dealing with a surge of resumes that look great on paper but require far more scrutiny to determine whether the real experience and skills are actually there. And it is likely only going to get worse. There are websites now that can use AI to tailor resumes to job postings and submit applications in volume. As a matter of fact, just this week we were doing a pre-screen with a candidate whose resume said they had worked at Coca-Cola. When we asked about it, the candidate responded, “What? I’ve never worked at Coca-Cola.” They had turned their resume over to AI to make it look good without checking the accuracy. Luckily, we caught it early and did not waste more time interviewing someone who did not have the required experience.

2. One Click Applications

The second issue is simpler: it has never been easier to apply for a job. All of these “Easy Apply” options make it simple for candidates to apply for a role, but it also drastically dilutes candidate intent. It is amazing to me how often we ask candidates where else they are applying and hear, “I really don’t know. I have submitted so many applications that I can’t remember.” I understand why someone may do that, but the result is that the best candidates can get buried under an avalanche of applications. HR teams are no longer looking through a talent pool—they are looking for needles in a haystack.

3. The Search for “Perfection”

A common conversation we have with clients is one where we continuously hear, “I want walk-on talent.” And honestly, I understand why. Many of our Tampa Bay clients have been running lean for the past year, and they do not have the staff or the time to train a new person. They need that new employee to carry their share of the load today to keep up with productivity or output requirements.

Waiting for walk-on talent creates its own hidden productivity bleed across your current staff. When a candidate possesses most of the essential core skills and drive to be successful, onboarding that final 20% isn’t settling – it’s protection for your business. You get someone in the role who can perform the work, end your productivity loss, and eliminate the additional burden on your existing staff.

I can’t even begin to tell you how many recent interviews have begun with: “They keep adding to my workload, but they aren’t increasing my compensation.” Even your best employees have a breaking point. While most understand the need to step up temporarily, sustained workplace pace, pressure, and workload will eventually drive them to burn out.

What I’m Telling Clients Today

Business leaders have to decide which pain point they would rather manage. They can continue to slow-hire and ask their current team to absorb more work, while accepting the risk of burnout and turnover. Or they can strategically hire in the areas where they have run lean the longest and invest in bringing the right person up to speed.

There is no universal answer, but waiting is not neutral. Business leaders should compare the cost and risk of training a strong candidate who meets the critical requirements with the cost and risk of leaving the position open.

The Real Minimum Wage

My final recommendation is probably the hardest one for businesses today: take a serious look at your wages.

Florida’s minimum wage moves to $15 an hour at the end of September. But from what we are seeing in the Tampa Bay market, the legal minimum is not relevant. For blue-collar candidates, the effective floor is closer to $18+ an hour. For office-based candidates, it is often $20+ an hour. Why? Because nearly 3 out of 4 Floridians surveyed by UNF in July identified an affordability issue – such as inflation, housing, property taxes, insurance, or wages – as their most urgent concern. (UNF)

When we talk about burnout, applications, and AI, it all comes down to this: every employee is doing their own kitchen table math at home. When their paycheck stops covering their overhead, and their stress at work continues growing, eventually they break and start looking. When that happens, the cost shows up in turnover, lost productivity, and lost revenue for the business.

There is no perfect answer in this market. The right decision will depend on the business and the circumstances. If you are working through one of these situations, I am always willing to have a conversation and talk through what you are seeing. No sales pitch attached.