I’ve been hiring people for many years yet I still found this newsletter excerpt from Anand Sanwal at CBInsights to be helpful. With the market so tight, we sometimes reach and choose to overlook these fundamental signals in favor of just getting help.
In addition to his tips below, I want to emphasize that when hiring financial staff, always background check their criminal, credit and driving past and if it’s not clean, take a pass on them.
Here is an excerpt from his newsletter:
Today, I wanted to talk about signals (the good ones and red flags) when screening resumes. Good signals are those that make you want to fast track someone. The red flags being the ones that tell you to pass. Here are a few of the red flags I’ve observed (in no particular order). Of course, there are exceptions to these, but when reviewing hundreds or thousands of resumes, you need to rely on some heuristics that make reviewing simpler.
No upward career progression at a single firm
Too many lateral moves across companies (relates to bullet 1)
Job-hopping
Multiple concurrent roles (1 main job and lots of side hustles)
Lists Microsoft Office Suite as a skill
Crappy formatting
Spelling mistakes
Inflated claims of accomplishment not commensurate with role/title/team size
Lots of discussion of mentoring startups
Solo consulting company dressed up as something bigger
Use of phrases/terms such as “visionary,” “keynote speaker,” or “thought leader”
TBH, job-hopping is probably my clearest red flag based on the data we have at CBI.
I know folks believe this is a sign of the times or that people’s careers now progress in dog years or whatever, but as far as I can tell, that is all nonsense. Mastery of a craft takes time, and having lots of 1-year or 18-month gigs doesn’t suggest mastery or the ability to stick with challenges long enough to see them through.
Good resume signals
There are, of course, some positive signals that suggest someone should be fast-tracked. A lot of them are naturally the opposite of the above red flags.
Clear progression (promotions) and bigger responsibilities within a single org
Credible and impressive achievements (quantified is great for certain roles) commensurate with role, title, etc.
High achievement across multiple functions ("decathlete")
Clarity of layout & concise
Here is Anand’s full newsletter: