Forwarding Resumes Isn’t Recruiting: Why Great Hiring Is Harder Than Most People Think
A resume is just the starting point. The best hires happen when you understand the company, the candidate, and everything in between.
This Happens a lot…
When we meet a prospective client for the first time, they almost always ask a question that surprises me:
“Do you actually screen candidates or do you just send resumes?”
To me, that seems like such a basic question.
But then I remember there are plenty of recruiters who do exactly that. They collect resumes, forward them to a hiring manager, and hope something sticks.
The other day, someone in my network saw that we were recruiting a VP of Product and immediately introduced me to who they described as “the best VP of Product ever.”
The problem?
They hadn’t read the job description.
The candidate may have been fantastic for a hardware company, but this role was for a legal AI company. Different industry. Different customers. Different challenges. Different experience.
A great candidate for one company can be completely wrong for another.
This Made Me Realize
Most people think recruiting is matching resumes to job descriptions.
That’s part of the job, but it’s only a small part.
Great recruiting requires understanding dozens of variables that don’t show up on a resume:
Industry experience
Technical skills vs. the job
Company stage
Leadership style
Team dynamics
Compensation expectations
Career motivations
Remote vs. office preferences
Growth trajectory
Communication style
Then the work really begins.
The candidate has to connect with the hiring manager.
The hiring manager has to connect with the candidate.
The interview team has to align.
The compensation has to work.
The timing has to work.
Any one of those things can break the deal.
I’ve also noticed that the best hiring managers approach interviews with curiosity. They want to understand a person’s story, what motivates them, the challenges they’ve overcome, and how they think.
The hiring managers who struggle often want to spend as little time as possible evaluating people while still expecting a great outcome.
Unfortunately, hiring doesn’t work that way.
This Means For You
Whether you’re hiring your first employee or building an executive team, remember this:
Hiring is a team sport.
Forwarding resumes isn’t recruiting.
Recruiting is understanding both sides of the equation.
You need to deeply understand the company, the role, and the hiring manager.
You also need to deeply understand the candidate, their motivations, strengths, concerns, and goals.
The magic happens when those two sides align.
The best hires rarely happen because someone had the perfect resume.
They happen because someone took the time to understand what success actually looks like and found the person who could deliver it.