How to score an interview. Or, power and persuasion in hiring.

I wrote this YEARS ago. LoL. I'm usually early. We are on an automation and scale bender and the hangover when we eventually come to is going to be SOMETHING.

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I am a recruiter who does recruiting for other people - it is how I pay my mortgage and the exorbitant vet bills my brood of creatures seem to accrue.

I also train other recruiters to be better because I care about the industry and what we do in and to the general employment ecosystem. I operate from an ethics of care in general and apply that to my business. "Leave it better than you found it" is in my blood and while "better for who?" is a logical rejoinder to that statement I believe the resounding answer is "better for everyone, now and in the future."

We are having a moment in hiring and there is a lot of crap out there - abundant bad information, lots of AI, too many marketing systems where you can send a thousand messages /applications with the click of your keyboard.

One thing I've noticed is many candidates do not know how to target their resume to best match a job description. Or they don't see the value in the effort. Recruiters get a lot of deserved criticism for a "spray and pray" approach but candidates need to learn the same lessons. Candidates and recruiters both often fall victim to the same lack of targeting and precision.

In this hell moment where far too many are staggeringly drunk on automation and besotted with volume, the way through is precision and targeted messaging.

Also and this really matters: You simply cannot have a generic resume and target your cover letter. This approach is a huge mistake because too many recruiters make it a point to not read cover letters. If you have a resume and cover letter both should reflect the role to which you are applying. This effort should not take hours - the process is not that difficult if you have a master resume you tailor or tweak to match the roles for which you are applying.

Making the very human very individual pair of eyeballs reading your resume feel they must have a conversation with you is the result you want and eliciting the desire to schedule next steps comes from making a persuasive case.

You can't automate and scale desire. Folks don't interview in aggregate they interview the singular. They talk to and hire you. But you have to earn their attention to shoot your shot and that process starts with how you present yourself.

Some things I believe:

If you cannot clearly state why you are an excellent candidate for a role you desire you are probably not an excellent candidate.

You must build a case for consideration. If your case is not persuasive, it will not gain traction.

Write about your accomplishments in granular detail talking about what you did, how with what you did it, who you did it with and what it meant to business or people. This is a big part of your case.

If you can't make a case go to the next job that is a better fit.

A maybe is a no in 2026.

I think many candidates would cut down on the hundreds of applications they send if they tasked themselves with making a case. I spoke with a candidate who had applied to 300 jobs in one day and was upset he had heard nothing. When I probed he had applied with the touch of a button. Don't do this. Put in a bit more work.

Is this approach a magic bullet? Absolutely not. But it will help. Build a case. Use the words in the description. Persuade the reader to invite you to the party. Focus on precision more than automation and targeting more than scale. Move the needle from maybe to yes.

Does it stink that individuals bear the brunt of the pain from the systems we've built? Yes.

But that is nothing new, right?

We all gotta keep swimming.

Good luck out there.