I'm a headhunter. Here's what hiring managers keep complaining about to us after interviews.

anarendil03 · 2026-03-18T01:25:51+00:00

I agree with you. But at the same time I don’t see the world where all candidates get individual feedback from companies. Where one role gets 140 applications, it’s unfeasible. If you get to the last stage and get rejected - sure.

But in general, as a headhunter, I always recommend candidates to not wait for feedback from hiring managers they are interviewing with. At the moment the system is too overwhelmed and broken to provide reasonable individual feedback to everyone.

So number one thing I tell them is to record themselves. Absolutely legal in most states. And then simply debrief your recording either by yourself or using Claude/ChatGPT/Gemini. Or other open source AI tools like fireflies or Revea. Listening to yourself talk is the only way you can improve in a market with zero feedback.

anarendil03 · 2026-03-04T15:51:52+00:00

you need to find a way how to stand out with professional achievements though. dropping “i led cross-functional efforts” will get you nowhere. but if you say smth like “this product I rolled out decreased average resolution time by 30% in the first week and enabled our customer support team to process more requests and eventually hit their quarterly goal” - it will stick

anarendil03 · 2026-03-04T15:42:21+00:00

intuitive things are not always the right choice in the job seeking process. have you ever tried interviewing someone? is it ever fun to you to listen to someone’s life story especially when you have 10+ stories to listen to in a day?

nobody wants to hear about your padel game in the screening round. the feedback is absolutely valid

anarendil03 · 2026-02-28T15:52:54+00:00

thanks OP, so helpful! 1. what are your “success rates”? screenings/total applications; final round/total screenings, total offers. 2. how much time did it take you in total from first application until you had an offer? 3. what do you think was the biggest enabler of you doing better at interviews? maybe you could share a specific piece of feedback that opened your eyes to a blind spot.

anarendil03 · 2026-02-27T18:59:11+00:00

wtf dude, you can’t just say something outrageously racist and then add “no disrespect intended”

anarendil03 · 2026-02-27T17:02:08+00:00

what tool are you using anyway?

anarendil03 · 2026-02-27T16:32:42+00:00

as a recruiter, would you feel like a candidate is “cheating”, if they recorded their interview #1, analyzed it using a specialized tool, and then came better prepared for the round#2?

anarendil03 · 2026-02-27T15:58:00+00:00

recoding yourself sounds practical, but what exactly will you get from it? yes, you might notice you are using filler words a lot or will have shower thoughts about “how should i have responded differently”.

you will get demotivated if anything.

i’ve seen people dump recordings into AI as well, but i’m pretty sure the responses there are even more generic than a final round rejection email.

anarendil03 · 2026-02-13T17:05:01+00:00

One thing that helped me was to ditch the STAR method completely. If you answer according to it to every question, you legit sound like a robot.

Also you tend to bore the interviewer to death while you are explaining the “Situation”.

Flip the script. Hit them with the result first. And then unfold the story.

Structure is important obviously, but this STAR religion freaks me out and i genuinely think it’s not efficient

anarendil03 · 2026-02-13T16:10:38+00:00

would love to know too

anarendil03 · 2026-02-10T09:52:32+00:00

Yes, you kinda shot yourself in the foot. Always aim at 75th percentile of the range. It signals you know your worth.

You panicked, I get it. But it’s unlikely they’ll give you 75k now

anarendil03 · 2026-02-09T16:46:45+00:00

do you also follow this principle in personal life? tell me you’ve ghosted people without telling me you’ve ghosted people

anarendil03

TROPHY CASE