{"id":5960,"date":"2026-10-04T07:38:50","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T07:38:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=5960"},"modified":"2026-10-04T07:38:50","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T07:38:50","slug":"i-place-the-worlds-top-software-engineers-and-interviewed-over-10000-job-seekers-the-difference-on-paper-and-in-person-is-wider-than-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=5960","title":{"rendered":"I place the world’s top software engineers and interviewed over 10,000 job seekers. The difference on paper and in person is wider than ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Go to LinkedIn on any given day and you can read horror stories of hiring managers receiving thousands of AI-generated CVs, or applicants applying unsuccessfully for thousands of roles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

But while hiring is an undoubtedly dysfunctional process (one we are trying to fix, by the way) the main reasons that people don\u2019t get hired existed long before AI.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before I built an AI recruitment startup for software engineers, I worked in\u00a0actual<\/em>\u00a0recruitment, finding the best tech talent for companies like Microsoft, Accenture, Deloitte.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve interviewed thousands of applicants, and it is fair to say I\u2019ve seen a few interview train-wrecks. But my main takeaway is that the reasons people don\u2019t get hired are relatively simple \u2013 and avoidable \u2013 and that, as an applicant, you really have to do very little to stand out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The CV is not dead<\/h2>\n

You can\u2019t win on the strength of your CV, but you can lose.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you send out a document that looks terrible, is full of spelling mistakes or doesn\u2019t make sense, then you are sending a pretty negative signal of what you think good work looks like.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The main reason CVs fail is because they talk guff: \u201cI conceptualised the Q3 planning process\u201d or some such nonsense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You need to be concrete: \u2018I helped build X. I helped the company sell more Y\u2019 or \u2018This is what I did, and this is how it happened.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Follow the instructions on the job application to the letter<\/h2>\n

You would not believe how many people fail at this point.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve put out job specs for entry level roles and \u2013 at the bottom \u2013 given my email and asked candidates to reach out and tell me why they want the job. 90% of people don\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I remember putting out an advert for a very junior role with a box that said: \u2018Tell me why you\u2019d be great fit for this job\u2019 and most people didn\u2019t fill it in. It is baffling.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I always respond to people who write something interesting in that box. You need to act like you really want the job.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And if you are asked to do an exercise as part of the application process, then do it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve heard people say that they won\u2019t work for free or are worried that the company will not hire them and steal their work, but honestly, it is a delusion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If the company is interviewing people, then they really want to hire someone and they\u2019re trying to work out if you could be that person.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you really think you can produce better work in a couple of hours than the team working on it full time, then you\u2019re either the best in the world or they are rubbish, in either case you probably shouldn\u2019t be interviewing there.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t spray and pray\u00a0<\/h2>\n

You often see people claiming that they have applied for 1,000 jobs and got no responses: Well, nobody is qualified for 1,000 jobs. You are wasting your time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Take that time and spend it researching\u00a0five<\/em>\u00a0jobs and really putting the effort in.<\/p>\n

I get that people are playing the volume game but most jobs that people are applying for they are either not qualified for \u2013 or aren\u2019t right for them. But if they\u2019d actually gone through the job spec, they\u2019d realise that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Put yourself in the hiring manager\u2019s shoes\u00a0<\/h2>\n

Hiring is a high-stakes game: 50% of new highs fail or quit in 18 months and only one in five new hires is considered a success after 12 months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Consider the impact that has on a business: not only all the work \u2013 and cost \u2013 involved with finding the right candidate and hiring them, but the impact that an unsuccessful hire has on the rest of the team. This is all the more acute in startups, which tend to have very small teams.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, when you walk into that job interview feeling nervous, remember that the person interviewing you may be just as nervous. They may have been through this a few dozen times already. They may have one or two bad hires behind them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And remember it is a two-way street. The interviewer wants to get to know you, but you need to get a handle on this company too. Do you want to spend 80% of your waking hours here?\u00a0<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re asked about your biggest mistake, have an answer.\u00a0<\/h2>\n

Honestly, one of the main reasons people fail an interview is because they are unable to answer this question.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I get that they are worried it will make them look bad, but it will make you look much worse if you can\u2019t answer it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is inconceivable that your interviewer would never have made a mistake, so be honest, open up, and don\u2019t turn this into an opportunity to blow your own trumpet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And finally, personal recommendations are everything<\/h2>\n

There is nothing more valuable in hiring than a personal recommendation or a referral.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It should be a reminder that growing and maintaining your professional network is a key part of your career. You need to be a person others would vouch for.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And people don\u2019t vouch for people just because they like them, they vouch for people who do a good job. They want to know that when they say: \u2018You should hire this person\u2019 and they do, you turn out really well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of <\/em>Fortune.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

#place #worlds #top #software #engineers #interviewed #job #seekers #difference #paper #person #wider<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Go to LinkedIn on any given da… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6465,2368,1259,9043,544,141,5058,2695,9044,861,187,4343,2044],"class_list":["post-5960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","tag-difference","tag-engineers","tag-hiring","tag-interviewed","tag-job","tag-paper","tag-person","tag-place","tag-seekers","tag-software","tag-top","tag-wider","tag-worlds"],"yoast_head":"\nI place the world's top software engineers and interviewed over 10,000 job seekers. 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