I have been interviewing some folks recently and I see a common pattern:
- many candidates list things on their resume that they don’t really understand
I usually start with something like:
“You mentioned you’re experienced with X — architecture, technology, leadership, AI… right?”
The answer is almost always: “Yeah, sure.”
then I ask a simple, fundamental question about that X:
eg: what is high quailty software to you? how you ensure that quality?
or what leader is a good leader? why people should follow you?
or what architecture you use more often? why?
or how you solve this very common problem with this technology? …
That’s when things start to go south….
They either can’t think and come up with a good answer or just start to throw around a lot of buzzwords without going deep (even when I ask to go deep)
Their voice drops. Thier confidence fades.
Because it’s hard to admit you don’t know something — especially if you just claimed you did.
Here’s the truth:
If you don’t know something, it’s OK to say: • “I’m not sure.” • “I need a moment to think about that.” • “Maybe I shouldn’t have put that on my resume.”
Honesty earns far more respect than pretense. Also If you put it on your resume, be ready to talk about it.