How to Filter for True Talent Fast
Most interview processes are considered broken. The process does what it does. You get what you ask for. Multi-round loops are slow, expensive, and worst of all, easy to game. Candidates rehearse their way through competency questions. CVs get dressed up with borrowed achievements. The system in how it presents itself is a genuine disservice to candidates who invest their time and hope into a process that often tells them nothing real about whether they'll actually thrive in the role.
When someone makes it to an interview with me, it's because I want to consider them as a teammate, not just a skill set. I'm deciding whether I want to sit next to this person when things get hard. That requires a different kind of conversation, one that strips away rehearsed answers and forces genuine thinking to the surface. I want to see drive, opinion, clarity, grit, and hunger. Someone who's still accelerating, not someone coasting on a burst of energy they spent five years ago. Here's the framework I use to find those people, fast.
Don't read a resume. Audit it. Your only job in this phase is to identify the candidate's top three achievements. Not responsibilities. Not team wins. Actual things they shipped, built, or changed in a way that wouldn't have happened without them. If you can't find three, the conversation probably shouldn't happen.
For the next questions, skip the generic technical trivia. Skip the "tell me about a time you showed leadership" prompts. Instead, design one tightly tailored case study and anchor the entire conversation around it. The most effective case studies sit at the intersection of three things: the candidate's stated career goals, their actual past experience, and the specific demands of the job you're hiring for. You want them engaged and thinking, not performing. Treat the case study as a dialogue, not an exam. Push back on their assumptions. Offer new information mid-conversation and watch how they adjust. Take meticulous notes, not just on what they say, but on how they think when they receive feedback, when they're wrong, and when the ground shifts under them.
When someone makes it to an interview with me, it's because I want to consider them as a teammate, not just a skill set. I'm deciding whether I want to sit next to this person when things get hard. That requires a different kind of conversation, one that strips away rehearsed answers and forces genuine thinking to the surface. I want to see drive, opinion, clarity, grit, and hunger. Someone who's still accelerating, not someone coasting on a burst of energy they spent five years ago. Here's the framework I use to find those people, fast.
Don't read a resume. Audit it. Your only job in this phase is to identify the candidate's top three achievements. Not responsibilities. Not team wins. Actual things they shipped, built, or changed in a way that wouldn't have happened without them. If you can't find three, the conversation probably shouldn't happen.
Once you have those three, flip the script on how you ask about them. Don't ask how they did it. Ask why. The "how" is rehearsed. The "why" is real. Why did they choose that approach? Why did that problem matter to them? Why did they persist when it got hard? The reasoning behind an achievement tells you far more about someone's judgment and character than a polished walkthrough of their process. Look for honesty and the drive to power through self-doubt. If a candidate can't genuinely justify the core reasoning behind three out of three of their stated achievements, cut the interview short. This isn't harsh. It's honest. A resume full of claims that can't withstand basic scrutiny is not a foundation you can build on.
For the next questions, skip the generic technical trivia. Skip the "tell me about a time you showed leadership" prompts. Instead, design one tightly tailored case study and anchor the entire conversation around it. The most effective case studies sit at the intersection of three things: the candidate's stated career goals, their actual past experience, and the specific demands of the job you're hiring for. You want them engaged and thinking, not performing. Treat the case study as a dialogue, not an exam. Push back on their assumptions. Offer new information mid-conversation and watch how they adjust. Take meticulous notes, not just on what they say, but on how they think when they receive feedback, when they're wrong, and when the ground shifts under them.
If you're impressed, extend an offer right away. This process is designed to set an incredibly high bar in your mind, focusing more on your standards than on the rigid process or the candidate themselves.
Identify three achievements the candidate independently shipped or changed. If three don't exist, do not proceed. Use AI.
Stage 1.1: Interview - Achievement Challenge
For each achievement, ask why, not how. If they cannot justify the reasoning behind all three, end the interview
Interview Policy
Stage 0: CV AuditIdentify three achievements the candidate independently shipped or changed. If three don't exist, do not proceed. Use AI.
Stage 1.1: Interview - Achievement Challenge
For each achievement, ask why, not how. If they cannot justify the reasoning behind all three, end the interview
Stage 1.2: Case Study
Design one case study around their goals, their experience, and the role. Use AI. Treat it as a conversation, not an exam. Note how they think, take feedback, and adapt
Design one case study around their goals, their experience, and the role. Use AI. Treat it as a conversation, not an exam. Note how they think, take feedback, and adapt
Decision
Cut anyone who cannot demonstrate independent thinking, clear communication, and the ability to push through ambiguity without hand-holding. Hire.
Cut anyone who cannot demonstrate independent thinking, clear communication, and the ability to push through ambiguity without hand-holding. Hire.