Chasing the HR unicorn? Why it’s slowing your HR recruitment, and how to fix it in 2027

It’s understandable that you want to hire the perfect HR professional, someone who can handle employee relations, run your HR systems, advise on reward and lead change, all from day one. In practice, this ‘unicorn’ usually takes shape when a job description is written as a wish list rather than a brief, gradually picking up requirements for deep HRIS expertise, reward experience and a CIPD Level 7 qualification until the advert describes three jobs while offering a salary that reflects one. In this blog, we look at why the hunt for this candidate slows HR recruitment down and share practical ways to build a hiring strategy that works in 2027.

Why the unicorn search slows down HR recruitment

As most HR professionals already know, every week a role stays open, it has a cost. The work doesn’t disappear, so it falls to an already stretched HR team or to managers who don’t have the time or expertise to cover it, which in turn increases the risk of burnout and mistakes. Meanwhile, capable candidates who meet most of your criteria are being interviewed and hired by businesses that are prepared to be more flexible, and when the role is eventually re-advertised with the same requirements, the cycle simply starts again.

The pressure on HR teams is also growing. With Employment Rights Act reforms continuing to phase in through 2026 and 2027, and with AI changing how much of HR’s administrative work gets done, many businesses need capable HR support more urgently than ever, which makes a drawn-out search even harder to justify.

The current market adds to the risk. As Brandon Robinson, Business Manager at Portfolio HR & Reward explains, “It’s an exciting time. The market is super busy, with diverse opportunities across all the pillars of HR.” When good candidates have that many options, a role that holds out for the perfect match is likely to lose them to a business that moves faster.

Separate what you need from what you want in your job description

Asked for the one piece of advice they would give a hiring manager about to start recruiting, Brandon is clear: “Understand what you need versus what you want. We would all like to have a unicorn, but we need to understand the specific needs of the team and the business, and make sure this aligns with the market.”

In practice, that means revisiting the job description and asking which skills this person genuinely needs to do the job well in their first six months, and which would simply be nice to have. Advanced requirements such as in-depth experience of a specific software platform are often listed as essential when they could be learned on the job, and every unnecessary must-have disqualifies people who could do the role well. The same applies to qualifications: a CIPD qualification is something every HR professional should work towards, but as Brandon points out, while it is definitely advantageous, it isn’t essential for every position.

More broadly, it helps to weigh skills and experience ahead of academic credentials. HR changes constantly, so what someone learned on a course years ago may matter less than whether recent employers trained them on modern systems or their professional memberships have kept them up to date with current policy. Candidates with beginner-to-mid-level skills in some areas can be excellent hires if they show the potential to grow, so consider building your screening around finding people who are trainable rather than people who are already the finished article.

Prioritise the HR soft skills you can’t easily teach

When a job description is built around technical requirements, it is easy to overlook the qualities that decide whether someone will actually succeed in an HR role. Knowledge of a particular HRIS or a specific area of policy can be developed within months, but the ability to handle a sensitive grievance with empathy and discretion, to challenge a senior leader constructively, or to keep a team steady through a restructure is far harder to train and far more valuable once you have it.

The soft skills that tend to make the biggest difference in HR include:

• Judgement and discretion: handling confidential matters and sensitive cases with care
• Emotional intelligence: navigating difficult conversations with empathy and composure
• Influence: having the confidence to advise and, where necessary, push back on senior stakeholders
• Adaptability: keeping people and processes steady during periods of change
• Commercial awareness: connecting people decisions to business outcomes.

A candidate who is strong in these areas but less experienced on your chosen platform is often a better long-term hire than one who ticks every technical box but struggles to build trust with the people around them.

These skills are becoming more important rather than less. As AI and automation take on more of the administrative side of HR, the work that remains is increasingly about people, whether that means coaching managers, resolving conflict or helping a business adapt to new ways of working. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 reflects this, placing resilience, flexibility and agility, and leadership and social influence alongside analytical thinking among the core skills employers value most.

To assess these qualities properly, move beyond CV screening and use competency-based questions that ask candidates to describe how they have handled real situations, such as delivering difficult news or managing confidential information. Scenario-based tasks can show how someone thinks under pressure, and references that focus on how a candidate works with others, rather than simply confirming dates of employment, will tell you far more about whether they will thrive in your team.

Speed up your HR hiring process

Even with a realistic job description, a slow process can cost you the right person. Strong HR candidates are often considering more than one opportunity, and every extra interview stage or delayed decision gives a competitor the chance to make an offer first. Agreeing the interview stages, decision-makers and timeline before the role goes live, and keeping candidates informed throughout, will help more good candidates make it to offer stage.

Make your employer brand stand out to HR candidates

Experienced HR professionals know better than most what good and bad employers look like, so general statements about a great culture are unlikely to persuade them. Including a salary range in your advert, setting out your approach to flexible working and explaining whether HR has a voice at leadership level will give candidates far more reason to apply, particularly in Ireland and the wider EU, where the EU Pay Transparency Directive is raising expectations around salary information.

Build rather than buy: develop your HR talent

Sometimes the perfect candidate isn’t out there, but you can develop them. Upskilling someone in your existing team gives you a person who already understands your business, and backfilling their role with a less experienced hire you can train is often quicker and more cost-effective than holding out for a fully formed senior candidate.

Onboarding is a big part of this. Gallup research found that only 12% of employees strongly agree their organisation does a great job of onboarding new employees, and a poor start makes it far more likely that a new hire will leave. Pairing new starters with an experienced buddy, asking managers to coach against the standards the business expects and supporting professional development through CIPD qualifications will all help turn a promising hire into the HR professional you were looking for.

Find the right HR professional, not the perfect one

The search for an HR unicorn often leaves businesses with an empty seat, an overstretched team and an recruitment process that takes far longer than it should. By separating needs from wants, giving soft skills the weight they deserve, moving decisively and investing in the people you hire, you can build an HR team that is ready for 2027 and beyond.

If you’d like support with your next HR recruitment process, Portfolio HR & Reward can help at every stage, from refining your job description and benchmarking salaries to pre-qualifying candidates against the skills that matter most. Register your vacancy today to get started.