Hiring: From CV to Interview - Why do so many get it wrong?

Are we interviewing correctly?

Writing does not come easily to me. As such these posts tend to come in a seemingly random order as their writing is triggered by some event or post that compels me to write.

I came across a post today of a Developer hiring manager commenting that almost all the CVs that come across their desk make claims regarding of percentage improvements. They gave some examples:

• Increased process efficiency by X%

• Reduced bug count by X%

• Increased test coverage by X%

• Reduced response time by 35%

Now I work in the field of DevOps, so I see a slightly different set of claims:

• Decreased cloud cost by X%

• Reduced build time by X%

• Increased uptime by X%

So far, so normal. What caught me off guard was how the post continued with a lament that those CVs never contain any details as to how the applicant achieved those results.

This gave me two successive shocks

Don't they realize that that isn't enough space in a CV to explain things, and the explanation is for the interview?

After all part of the process of evaluating an applicant is determining the truth of the claims made in the CV, so discussing those specific accomplishments should always be a part of that process. Certainly that has always been my policy. But this lead me to start thinking about all the interviews I had been invited to over the past year.

In every single interview I have had over the past year, I initiated the discussion into the accomplishments listed on my CV. Not a single personal asked me to explain my claims.

The more I probed my memory the worse it got. In several interviews I had received compliments regarding my cost reductions, and/or staff retention, but had been cut off when I tried to talk about how I had achieved those things. The people interviewing me were so focused on their specific process that they essentially ignored the contents of my CV and my cover letter.

So why is this problem so widespread?

I honestly don't have the slightest idea. Out of all the management trends that I track, or read about, or complain about, this one had managed to entirely escape my notice. And when stepping back, not validating the achievements claimed in a CV is such odd behavior that I cannot explain why I failed to notice this trend.

Nevertheless it is clear that the practice of keeping to a strict interview process that excludes asking questions about the achievements claims in CVs is wrong. It denies the hiring team the proper opportunity to distinguish high performers from confident tricksters. One should always interrogate applicants about the achievements they claim.