Sat in on a job interview panel and it totally changed how I prep

I was helping cover for HR last month at our distribution center in Columbus and sat in on three interviews. The hiring manager spent maybe 90 seconds looking at resumes and 20 minutes on how the person handled a specific conflict with a coworker. Has anyone else noticed that stories about real situations matter way more than listing skills?

2 comments

2 Comments

jamesf417d ago

Yeah that tracks with what I've seen. Resumes can be full of fluff or straight up lies. Someone can list "great at conflict resolution" on paper but freeze up when you ask for a real example. Skills on a page don't show how you actually think on your feet. Story based questions tell you way more about a person's judgment. One thing though - 90 seconds on the resume is pretty normal for most hiring managers. That's not really something that needs fixing. They're usually just scanning for red flags or dealbreakers before they dig into the meat of the conversation. The real value is in those follow up questions that pull out how someone actually handles stuff.

lopez.quinn7d ago

@jamesf41 makes a solid point about that 90 second scan. That quick look is just the first gate. The real test is when you start asking those follow up questions about specific situations they've been in. Resumes can be polished up real nice but they don't tell you if someone panics under pressure or if they actually learned from a mistake. I've seen candidates with perfect looking resumes fall apart when you ask them to walk through a time they had to deal with an angry customer or a project that went sideways. Those story based questions cut through the fluff and show you what kind of judgment someone really has. It's the difference between knowing a skill and knowing how to use it when it counts.