Mirleen's Insights
An eight-part series for hiring managers about candidates and how to navigate and maximise the collective interview journey. Written by someone who has spent many years on both sides of the process and has a few things to share.
Because recruitment is not a one-way street. It never was.
This one is for you. You know who you are. You are the hiring manager who responded to my candidate submission within the hour and had an interview booked before the afternoon was out. Not because you were under pressure, not because someone was chasing you, but because you understood that a good candidate is…
You found your person. Do not lose them before they start. For many hiring managers, an accepted offer is where the mental file closes. The hard work is done, attention shifts back to everything else, and what follows gets treated as administration – contracts, system access, a diary note for induction. But this window…
It turns out ghosting is not just a dating problem. There is a moment in recruitment that does not get talked about enough. A candidate has been briefed. They have said yes to being put forward. They have tidied up their LinkedIn profile, maybe told their partner something might be in the works, and…
When was the last time you changed your interview format? Most hiring managers have a style they default to same questions, same structure, same flow, interview after interview, year after year. I understand why. It feels fair. It feels safe. It is what they know. But here is what I have noticed after many…
I can spot an AI-written resume in about thirty seconds. Most recruiters can too. The language is immaculate. Every sentence lands cleanly. The summary is polished to the point of being completely generic. There is not a gap unexplained, an awkward phrase, or a single trace of personality anywhere on the page. That is…
They had every qualification on the list. Everyone. The resume was immaculate. The experience aligned perfectly. The hiring manager was excited before the interview had even started. Six months later, that person was gone. I have watched the opposite happen too. A candidate who ticked perhaps sixty percent of the technical requirements walk into…
A CV is a summary. Somewhere along the way, it became the verdict. I have lost count of the number of times a candidate has been screened out on paper, only to walk into a room and completely change the impression within minutes. The career story on the page and the person telling it…
A few weeks ago, I sat in on an interview. Three C-suite executives and one candidate – an impressive panel. The candidate was already employed, well paid, and had been headhunted. He did not need to be there. He came out of curiosity. For forty minutes, the panel interviewed him thoroughly. Probing questions, real…