Hiring Practices Concepts

Most executives think a strong resume is about clearly listing experience. It isn’t. Every executive I work with has impressive titles, long tenure, and a career full of responsibility. On paper, the experience is there. If experience alone were the deciding factor, far fewer senior leaders would struggle to gain traction in this market. But resumes aren’t evaluated the same way internal performance is. Hiring decision makers are rarely asking, “Has this person done the job before?”. They’re really trying to understand, “Can this person solve our problem, in this moment?” That distinction matters more than most people realize. Here’s what I see consistently separating executive resumes that move forward from those that stall. First, relevance matters the most. Boards and executive teams are not looking for a full career archive. They want to see alignment. Every line should help answer why you make sense for this mandate, right now. When a resume tries to cover everything, it often ends up saying very little. Strong resumes make hard choices. They are edited aggressively and committed to one clear story. Second, decision-level thinking needs to show up on the page. At the executive level, execution is assumed. What hiring teams want is evidence of thinking and judgment. They are looking for how you thought through complexity, what you prioritized when resources were constrained, and where you chose to apply focus. They also want to understand what you stopped doing in order to protect what mattered most. Third, ownership needs to be unmistakable. Language like “supported,” “partnered,” or “collaborated” has its place, but it often blurs accountability. Executives are hired to own outcomes. A strong resume makes it clear what moved because you were there, how your performance changed, and why your leadership mattered to the result. Finally, the strongest resumes are future-facing. Most resumes do a good job of explaining where someone has been. The best ones quietly point to where the executive fits next. They frame experience around scale, complexity, and readiness for what’s ahead, rather than walking the reader through a chronological work history. When all of that comes together, the test becomes surprisingly simple: can your resume clearly show what you were hired to do, what changed under your leadership, and why that experience is directly relevant to the role you’re pursuing now? When it can, you are no longer being assessed as just a capable executive. You’re being considered as the right one.

8 Red Flags To Watch For In Your Next Interview (Avoid Companies That Do These): 1. Disorganized / Rushed Scheduling Great companies have a clearly defined and documented process around scheduling, communicating, and moving candidates through the process. If the company is: Rushing you to book something Spotty with scheduling Rescheduling multiple times That’s a sign of larger issues. 2. Vague On The Role & It’s Responsibilities Great companies have a clear plan for every new hire that they make. If the job description for the role is vague, and the interviewer: Can’t provide more clarity Can’t speak to clear, tangible goals Can’t clearly define who would be a good fit It means whoever is hired is going to be set up to fail. 3. There’s A Lack Of Mutual Respect Great interviewers understand the interview is a two-way street. They show each candidate a level of mutual respect in their demeanor, questions, etc. If your interviewer is lacking in those areas, especially respect, that’s a big red flag. Ex: One of our clients last year was interviewed by someone who was in the middle of biking to get lunch. 4. Too Much Emphasis On “Fit” Over Skills Cultural fit is a critical part of making a great hire. But if an interviewer is focusing the majority of the conversation on how you’d fit the culture and there’s a lack of focus on your actual skills? That’s a company that’s more prone to: - Bias - Valuing personality over performance - A lack of diversity around ideas, solutions, etc. 5. Overselling The Company & Role Every role should have a vision for how it’s going to drive success for the company, team, and individual. But be wary if the interviewer is focusing 100% of their energy on talking about how amazing the company is with no mention of challenges, weaknesses, or struggles. If you find yourself in this position, asking questions like: “What’s the biggest challenge your team is facing right now?” “You mentioned [Initiative], what’s the largest hurdle the team will have to overcome to make that a success?” 6. Vague Answers To Your Questions Great companies should be able to provide clear answers around: - Goals - Challenges - Responsibilities - Vision - Etc. If your interviewer is providing vague answers or seems unwilling to provide that information? That’s a big red flag. 7. Trick Questions Or “Brain Teasers” “How many ping pong balls fit on an 747 airplane?” “How many gas stations are in Manhattan?” These types of brain teaser questions are often used by companies that are completely out of touch. They’ve been proven to have no impact on capability and top companies have moved away from them. Be wary of companies that put stock in questions like this.

Q. What question can I ask a candidate to see if they have integrity? A. We need to evolve past the idea that there are questions that will tell us whether people possess certain traits. We should know better! We all grew up on this planet. Integrity, like almost every other human characteristic is nuanced, subjective and highly situational. Every one of us has lacked integrity in some instance or other. Every one of us has demonstrated integrity in a different situation. Integrity - like maturity, professionalism, creativity, business acumen, fortitude, reliability and intelligence - is not something you acquire once and then never lack again. We need to rise out of black-and-white thinking about interviewing, and leading people in general. We need to stop saying foolish things like “I want to hire someone motivated.” Everybody starts a new job motivated. Their motivation quickly flags if the environment is hostile to collaboration, innovation and new ideas or if they are mistreated or disrespected - as unfortunately, many people are at work. If we want to talk about integrity, the first thing to do is make sure we are operating with integrity ourselves. We can start by being honest about the fact that the recruiting process is full of ethical lapses and abusive practices. Here are five examples: 1) Posting a job ad without salary information is unethical. There is a budgeted salary range, so why don’t we share it? It’s because we would prefer that candidates tell us what they would like to be paid, in case it is under our budgeted range. We also don’t want people currently in the job to know that we are willing to pay a new hire more than they are being paid. 2) It is unethical to interview external candidates just to fill a quota when we have already identified the internal candidate who will get the job. 3) It is unethical to allow, much less compel, candidates to perform work for free during the hiring process – work that we have no hesitation in using to benefit the company without any compensation or acknowledgment of the candidate’s effort. 4) It is unethical to ghost candidates after interviews, leading them to conclude on their own that they did not get the job. 5) It is unethical to make hiring decisions even partly on the basis of non-work-related criteria like the answer to the question, what’s your greatest weakness? or, if you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be? When we participate in and administer these practices, do we hold ourselves accountable for lacking integrity? Your job is not to plumb of the depths of a candidate’s soul or psyche. Your job is to get their brain and your brain working and see whether they can do the job you need to have done. You are not their therapist, spiritual guide or life coach. You are a manager who needs help. Be humble.

I’ve spent 2 decades hiring employees and I still don’t hire based on resumes. Over the years, I learnt that a resume rarely tells the full story. Yes, skills and experience matter but what truly stands out is discipline, drive, alignment with our values, and the hunger to grow. At Filter Concept, some of our best team members didn’t tick every box on paper. Some lacked the technical qualifications for the roles they applied for. What they did show was: → The willingness to learn → The courage to take ownership → The mindset to solve problems, not just follow instructions That’s who we bet on and time after time, those bets have paid off. The goal of hiring is to find people who align deeply with your mission and are ready to build something meaningful with you, individuals who bring attitude, ownership, and a hunger to grow. While Ivy League degrees and certifications can be impressive and valuable, they are only part of the picture and should not be the only determinant in any hiring process. If you’re reading this wondering if you’re “qualified enough,” Remember this: your attitude, work ethic, and alignment with purpose will take you farther than any certificate ever will

They asked you to do what as part of the games interview process? We ran a poll to see how common exploitative interview asks are in games. Out of ~1,000 respondents: 30% said yes for them, across multiple instances 23% said yes one time 47% said no More than half of games candidates, in our community sample, were asked to complete work or projects in interviews that felt inappropriate or exploitative. In addition to the examples people shared in the poll comments, here is a selection from the more than 40 additional situations people shared with me over just a week, often with evidence: • Being given a five-day take-home assignment before even a screening call. • Asked to build a small web application over a week, with frontend, backend, testing, etc., usually unpaid, used to evaluate technical skills. • Designers being asked to produce large sets of deliverables (illustrations, packaging designs, flags, merchandise mockups) over 3-4 days for companies they liked, then hearing nothing back. • Tasks that mirror actual product work (for example, making artwork or content that ends up being used in the product or marketing) without pay, without offer. (People suspect their work got re-used.) • Assignments where the candidate is asked to plan a full marketing campaign or a multi-step strategy including research, copy, visuals, all on their own time, many hours, but only “as an example.” Sometimes the company likes pieces of it and uses them anyway. • Asked to submit “complete mechanics” or large system code (inventory, UI, interactions) that would take several days, for no compensation. • Being told the test is maybe a few hours, but once you start, you realize it’s more like 10-15+ hours between researching, preparing, polishing. • Being asked to do work “live” as though you are already on the team: designing parts of pipelines, creating assets, laying out final deliverables, etc. We need to be aware of this issue. Candidates deserve fair and respectful processes, not unpaid labor disguised as tests, especially at a time when many are vulnerable and desperate after going unpaid for over a year. Based on the considerable evidence and screenshots shared with me, I am convinced that some games hiring teams are exploiting candidate vulnerability and desperation in ways that are inappropriate. If someone makes such an ask of you, my recommendation is not to comply and instead report it to our community. Reach out to me directly! We already track these practices, will be monitoring them even more closely going forward, and will do our part to enforce accountability.

Red flags in job interviews are easy to miss when you're desperate for an offer. But ignoring them can cost you months (or years) of misery. Here's how to spot toxic workplaces before you accept the offer: 🚩 Red Flag 1: They can't explain why the role is open. If they say: "We're just expanding the team" (vague) "The last person moved on" (without details) Ask: "How long was the previous person in this role?" "What did success look like for them?" If they dodge or seem uncomfortable, something's off. 🚩 Red Flag 2: High turnover on the team. If multiple people have left recently, ask why. Pay attention to how they answer: → Do they blame the employees? → Do they acknowledge the problem and explain what's changing? High turnover = systemic issues. 🚩 Red Flag 3: The interviewer speaks negatively about current employees. If they say: "Our last hire just didn't work out" "The team needs someone who can actually deliver" This tells you: → They don't value their people → You'll be talked about the same way when you leave 🚩 Red Flag 4: Vague answers about growth opportunities or work-life balance. When you ask: "What does career growth look like here?" "How does the team handle work-life balance?" And they respond with: "We wear a lot of hats here" (code for: you'll be overworked) "We work hard, play hard" (code for: no boundaries) That's a red flag. 🚩 Red Flag 5: They pressure you to decide quickly. If they say: "We need an answer by tomorrow" "We have other candidates ready to accept" This is a manipulation tactic. Good companies give you time to think. Desperate companies rush you. A job offer isn't a lifeline. It's a two-way decision. You're evaluating them just as much as they're evaluating you. Don't ignore red flags just because you need a job. The right company will: → Communicate clearly → Respect your time → Answer your questions honestly → Give you space to decide Anything less than that isn't worth your time. Follow me so you don’t miss these tips that can transform your career.

WORD OF WARNING JOB SEEKERS! A dear friend of mine was recently contacted by someone presenting as a recruiter about a role with a well-known software company. He provided very specific details — the role, company, salary, and benefits. He even boasted that the candidates he puts forward “always get interviews” because he prescreens their references and submits both the resume and the references to the client. Trusting the process, she provided several references. Soon after, all of those contacts received calls — not about her candidacy, but with sales pitches for the recruiter’s services. Here’s what she uncovered: there was no job. When she called the company directly, they confirmed they weren’t hiring for that role and had never heard of his recruiting firm. She documented everything with screenshots and reported him to LinkedIn. Red flags to watch for: • Requests for multiple references before you’ve had any interview or confirmation of candidacy. • A recruiter who emphasizes “prescreening” or “special access” to gain your trust. The job market is challenging enough without tactics like this. Sharing this as a reminder to all candidates: protect your network, and trust your instincts.

I almost tossed the resume. It said "overqualified." Too much experience for the job. I was hiring for a mid-level role. The candidate had decades more experience than I thought we needed. My first thought was simple: they’ll get bored, leave, or want too much control. That’s what most hiring managers think. But I remembered a post by Roberta Storey (I'm not affiliated, just a fan) about ego in hiring. It made me pause. Sometimes we get so focused on protecting our process, we forget to see the person behind the paper. So I called the candidate in. They joined the team. They didn’t just do the job, they changed the team. They mentored younger staff. They brought calm when things got tough. They gave us credibility with clients we never had before. The impact was real. And this isn’t rare. I read about an 87-year-old who still works full-time after being rejected hundreds of times for being "overqualified." That’s decades of wisdom, grit, and perspective that companies walked away from. We talk about talent shortages. We talk about retention. We talk about toxic workplaces. But how much of this do we create ourselves by tossing out people who could make us better? Here’s what I learned: - "Overqualified” often means "overlooked asset" - Experience brings stability, mentorship, and trust - Senior hires can raise the bar for everyone - Age and experience are not risks, they’re resources If you want a stronger team, stop filtering out people who have done more than you asked for. Sit with them. Align on what they want. See if they can help you grow. The best hire I ever made was the one I almost missed. Don’t make the same mistake.

Interviews are not just about impressing the employer. They’re also your chance to evaluate the company. Let’s break down the subtle signs that could indicate trouble ahead. - "We're Like a Family": Sounds comforting, but it could mean blurred boundaries and a lack of professionalism. - Rushed Interview: If they don’t take time to understand you, how well can they understand what you need? - Endless Tests: Unless it’s a specialized role, this often shows disorganization, not diligence. - Vague Job Description: If they can’t clearly define the role, you might be stepping into chaos. - Ambiguous Salary: Unclear pay ranges usually mean they’re not transparent or fair about compensation. - Future Promises: If perks or raises are “in the future,” get it in writing or assume it’s not happening. - Immediate Start Required: A sign they’re in panic mode—not the support you need for success. - Basic Benefits as 'Perks': If they tout standard benefits as special, it’s a red flag for low employee value. Trust your instincts. A job that feels wrong in the interview won’t get better with time. Know someone navigating the job market? If you found this post helpful, repost it with your network. Follow Imran Syed for more content like this. #leadership #employees #companyculture #people