I've Stopped Reading Resumes the Way I Used To

After 15 years of hiring in this industry, I've stopped reading resumes the way I used to. I'm not looking for the longest list of accolades. I'm looking for whether it's worth sitting down with you in person — because that conversation is where I actually figure out who I'm hiring.

The first thing I look for is basic competency, and after that, staying power. In this business people move around a lot, and some of that is normal — a year here, a year there, chasing the right fit. But once you're at a leadership level, tenure starts to matter more. When I see someone who's held their spots for a solid year or more, it tells me something: that they can settle in, learn a place, and actually contribute to it instead of just passing through.

What doesn't move me is the over-inflated resume. You know the kind — every line padded, every job written up like it won an award. I've found those hollow more often than not. I'm not impressed by a wall of accolades, because most of what's on there can be taught. I can teach a talented person how to cook, how to run a pass, how to lead a team. So the accolades aren't the point. The point is whether the resume earns a real conversation.

Because there's one thing a resume can't tell me, and it's the thing that matters most: culture fit. Whether someone is going to strengthen the team around them or drain it. Whether their values line up with where we're trying to go. That doesn't fit on a page. It comes out face to face — in how someone talks about their last team, how they take a hard question, whether the energy they bring is the kind you want in your building.

I've said it before and I'll keep saying it: culture fit matters as much as talent, and often more. I can develop skill. What I can't do is force someone to fit a culture they don't belong in. The most technically gifted hire in the room will still cost you more than they're worth if they're wrong for the team you're building.

So when your resume lands on my desk, understand what I'm actually doing with it. I'm not scoring your accomplishments. I'm deciding whether we should talk. Give me the honest version — what you've really done, where you've really been — and let the conversation do the rest. Because at the end of it, I'm not hiring a resume. I'm hiring a person.