Beyond the Resume: Insights from a Week of Interviewing

Picture yourself as a talent scout venturing into the competitive recruitment landscape in search of exceptional candidates. Over the years, I have embarked on countless efforts to discover great talent, working through piles of resumes and completing numerous interviews in pursuit of the one outstanding candidate who will significantly impact my team. With experience spanning multiple industries and continents, I have enjoyed participating in recruiting efforts and have collected valuable insights that have shaped my perspective on the hiring process.?

Over the past week, I've interviewed numerous candidates to join my company's account engagement team. Reviewing countless resumes and conducting multiple interviews sparked a series of thoughts and reflections on my experiences in recruiting talent. The process of evaluating various resumes and engaging in numerous interviews can be challenging yet often rewarding. In my career, I have had the opportunity to interview hundreds of candidates from multiple fields in many countries. I've come across candidates who could have invested more effort in making their resumes appealing or who failed to attend interviews without prior notice for multiple, often difficult-to-believe reasons. I've also met exceptionally well-prepared and engaging candidates I still remember many years later.

In this article, I share some of these experiences, including my insights and what has worked for me in recognizing top talent, identifying the candidates who can genuinely contribute to an organization's success, and the power of storytelling in the recruiting process.

Recognizing Exceptional Candidates

The search for exceptional talent requires recognizing key characteristics that set outstanding candidates apart from the rest, independent of their experiences and skills; this idea closely aligns with those that believe in "hiring for attitude and training for skill". Acknowledging that these characteristics are not exclusive to a select few but, instead, can be cultivated and honed by anyone underscores the importance of personal growth and continuous learning. By concentrating on a few human-centered attributes that impact the interviewing process, I emphasize the inherent potential within each candidate to develop and refine these qualities. I believe it is a choice to prepare well and 'ace the interview.'

The Importance of an Engaging Resume

I have read hundreds of resumes, and the first impression is everything. It is not only about jamming all your experience, skills, and interest into one page or using a format and a design that makes it look very 'pretty'. Our resume serves as the gateway to an interview and, ultimately, being considered a top candidate for the role we want. Still, candidates often do not demonstrate the necessary interest and care to put together an engaging, informative, and effective resume.?In the following table, I highlight a few best practices that, from my experience, create an engaging, effective, and memorable resume.?

The Power of Storytelling

Recruiters seek more than just a list of soft or hard skills and flashy experiences from candidates. When I interview a candidate, I want to understand how they work with others and how they learn and challenge themselves; I want to learn not only what they know or what they have done but how they did it and what it means to them. Be ready to share engaging and interesting examples of what you have done and how you did it to allow the interviewer to learn more about your personality, what drives you, and what you care about. You will have an opportunity to make a lasting impression.?

Asking unique questions can reveal unexpected insights about candidates. Some examples of memorable stories that candidates have shared with me are:

The Car Maintenance Story.?In Mexico, while recruiting a new group of technicians to maintain sophisticated manufacturing equipment, I asked candidates about their cars and any enhancements or extraordinary maintenance they had performed on them. Furthermore, I asked them if it would be OK to take me to their vehicles and to tell me more about how they bought the car, why they bought it, and how they maintained and, in many cases, enhanced them.I noticed a significant contrast between candidates who took pride in caring for their vehicles and those who did not. Candidates with engaging and creative stories about their cars had higher chances of being hired and, in the long run, did much better not only in the position they were hired for but in their progression at the company.

Stories born from Data. The ability to turn data into actionable insights is a highly valued skill, and those who can communicate their insights effectively are in high demand. When recruiting business analytics candidates, I asked them to share their most exciting stories about turning data into useful insights for the business. Responses included creative approaches to data analysis and innovative methods for data visualization. In fact, some of the best team members I have had the pleasure to work with were those who shared compelling stories about how they used data to drive results for the business.

The Challenge, Teamwork, and Learning Stories. When I interview high-quality candidates, I also like to learn more about them with questions related to significant challenges they have faced, teamwork experiences, and learning habits. With these questions, I often gain valuable insights into candidates' resilience, collaboration skills, and dedication to continuous learning. Candidates who have faced and were able to overcome significant challenges and who can effectively communicate how they worked with others to overcome them often make great hires. I won't share any specific examples of what some of the most memorable candidates I have interviewed decided to share with me, I consider their willingness to share a privilege but in every instance, I learned a lot about the person, and the conversations allowed me to understand better their character and potential fit. As of this writing, many if not all of these interviews led to a successful hire that is still building a long-term career.

Please Don't

This article will not be complete if I don't share what, in my experience have been 'interview killers'. Every recruiting process is different and every person conducting an interview has different values and expectations, but for me, these are the 3 top 'interview killers':

Please don't try to 'BS' the person interviewing you.?They are investing time and effort to learn more about you, and it is often very likely that they will be able to differentiate what is real from what is not; maybe not all of the time, but very likely just enough to know you are not being completely transparent.?

Please don't waste the interviewer's time?with long speeches about how great you are, why you think you are the person to fill the position or why you believe you have been mistreated or unjustly rated in your previous jobs. Focus on doing a great job sharing the impact of your accomplishments, how you made things happen, and sharing credit with those you worked with.

Please don't be a 'no show'.?And if you don't show up, please avoid sharing your reasons or excuses. If you are not interested in the job, don't apply, if it is not possible for you to join the interview at the scheduled day and time, let the interviewer know in advance. Everybody's time is valuable. Strive to create a great impression, even if you are not interested in the position.?