What you describe is one of the many reasons why I take people as they are. I take applicants as they are, try to find out about them as much as possible, about their character. We almost don't have any requirements, but they have to have the right attitude and values, so they can integrate in the team and learn the skills that they're lacking.
When I started, I looked for candidates who already knew, who had skills, but realized very quickly that being able to make tables with Excel is not building a whole page to calculate several different values that are important to business. Being able to speak English does not mean they're capable enough to sell the bread, that they can learn and more than anything apply the right words at the right time. A lot of that comes down to attitude. Some comes down to the right type of intelligence. There's a place for every kind of intelligence, and there's work for everyone - I see it as my job as owner to place them right. To get the right people into the right position so they can excel and based on that be happy.
A lot of small businesses here aren't advertising positions openly because the volume of application is far too high to sort through. The problem with the AI support is that people can apply to much more with less effort, and they are.
But as you say, it is about the right person for the role, and that requires meeting the people and getting a feel for them. The challenge is (for many positions) is that they are not meeting the right people for the role, they are getting the best applications.
Absolutely. We didn't post anything on Facebook, just hung a few flyers at strategic places that are frequented by our target-workers, and asked some people to let us know if someone was looking. It's basically the same as marketing - you don't want a lot of requests without intent to buy, but get to the right people.