There was a candidate whose name I learned without ever meeting him. He applied to every role my agency posted for the better part of a season. Warehouse supervisor, marketing assistant, payroll clerk, sales trainee. Same document every time, same generic opening line, and after a while I could recognize the file before I opened […]
The resume that landed on my desk one Tuesday morning ran to five pages. The candidate was genuinely impressive, and somewhere around page three sat the achievement that should have opened the whole document, a supply contract renegotiation that saved his employer a fortune. I only found it because his referee mentioned it on the […]
The strongest candidate on my shortlist that week froze on the easiest question. Tell me about yourself. She had the experience, she had the qualifications, she had glowing references. She simply had no idea where to start, so she started everywhere. Her degree choice, a job she took to pay the rent, a career change […]
Picture me on a Tuesday afternoon, working through a page of LinkedIn search results for a finance hire. Each result gave me a name, a photo, a location, and one line of text. That one line decided everything, click or scroll. “Senior Financial Analyst | FP&A and Commercial Finance | Retail and E-commerce” got the […]
I once read a summary out loud to the recruiter at the next desk, because I could not quite believe it. “Dynamic, results-driven professional with a proven track record of success in fast-paced environments.” Forty words, and at the end of them I knew nothing. Job, industry, level, strengths, all still a mystery. The frustrating […]
The resume that changed my morning was nothing special to look at. Clean type, plenty of white space, three jobs listed. I had a stack of applications to get through before lunch and a hiring manager chasing me for a shortlist by five. Halfway down the first page, one line stopped me. The candidate had […]
I was screening for a finance manager role when I hit an eighteen-month gap right in the middle of an otherwise spotless resume or CV. I remember my exact thought, and I suspect it will comfort you. My thought was “hm, I wonder what that was.” That was the whole reaction. Curiosity. I made a […]
The application was for a digital marketing director role, and the first page was genuinely strong. Then I turned to page two and met a full, six-bullet entry for a job the candidate had left in 2003, describing software that has been obsolete for over a decade. I can tell you precisely what happened in […]
Two applications landed on my desk one Tuesday morning, both chasing the same senior operations role. Similar industries, similar career lengths, similar qualifications. One took me four minutes to decode, and in a screening week four minutes is a luxury nobody gets. The other told me within seven seconds why its owner belonged on my […]
A recruiter explains how LinkedIn searches really work and how to make your profile surface in the results.
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