Rethinking the role

A recruiter tells you the team is "rethinking the role" halfway through a search, and it's easy to assume you did something wrong. When I've been on the hiring side, it was often a different question: could part of this job be done with AI instead?

Someone above the hiring manager asks it before signing off on the headcount. Nobody knows the answer yet, so the search pauses while people argue about it. The recruiter can't tell you that, because it sounds bad and nothing's decided. So you get "rethinking the role," and then silence.

The candidates I'd have moved forward in that spot treated the pause as the real interview. They asked the recruiter directly which part of the role was being rethought. Then they came back with a short note: here's the part I'd hand to AI, here's how I'd check its work, and here's the part I'd keep doing myself because it needs judgment.

That note answers what the people above the hiring manager are arguing about. It also shows you've already thought about the job the way they're thinking about it.

If you're in one of these pauses right now, don't just wait for an update. Ask which part is being rethought, and send your answer.