Reader, The generic "apply and pray" approach doesn't do anything. It sends you straight to the bottom of a pile that a recruiter may never actually touch. As someone who works in technical recruiting, I want to pull back the curtain a bit. Because the people who actually hear back are playing the game smarter. And it all starts with who to contact. Step 1: Find the Right Recruiter What you want is a recruiter who is actively working in your space, ideally the one listed directly on the job...
5 days ago • 3 min read
Reader, Part 2: Decide Fast, Apply Smart. So you've read the posting.You've done your self-assessment. Now comes the part that most people get wrong: They either spend three hours crafting the perfect application for a role they were never going to get without trying other channels, or they do nothing at all because it feels overwhelming and just submit the sample resume “as-is”. Here's the rule I give every candidate I work with: If you're going to apply, don't spend more than 10 to 15...
8 days ago • 2 min read
Reader, Part 1: Read the Role Let me tell you about a candidate I worked with recently. Smart.Motivated.Applying to everything she felt qualified for. And completely confused about why she wasn't hearing back. When I looked at what she was sending her resume to, it was obvious. Not because she wasn't qualified, she was talented. But she was applying to roles that were never going to call her back, and she didn't know why. She couldn't see it. That's the real problem. Before we even get to...
12 days ago • 1 min read
Reader, My calendar was full every week. I was scoring interviews through networking but after about 50 conversations, I was exhausted. I realized I was taking the long way around and it was time to get strategic. Here’s what I changed immediately: 1. Hone Your Role Focus I realized my dream was a project solutions role, selling into new territory. But my background didn’t stack up against the senior sales SMEs already in that lane. Instead, I shifted to: Account management roles with...
16 days ago • 1 min read
Reader, When I left my last job in March ‘25, I was burned out. 70+ hour weeks.Undercompensated.And nothing lined up. I hadn’t really looked for a job in a decade. The last time I truly looked for a role, I was 22. The market was different.The competition was heavier.And even with 10 years in recruiting, I wasn’t immune to the chaos. I knew I wanted sales: either staffing expansion or B2B tech sales. But beyond that? I had no sourcing strategy. No geographic focus.No clarity on remote vs...
19 days ago • 1 min read
Reader, In Part 1, you saw how a bleeding-edge tech assessment for a QA Engineer looks in 2026. Now you're going to learn why this is something you can expect to see more of. "The share of new code relying on AI rose from 5% in 2022 to 29% in early 2025" —Complexity Science Hub (Jan 2026) And the trend is expected to continue growing. Sure, there's skepticism about how much AI can speed up high-quality code generation, but AI's ability to do so has only increased. I'm not a believer that...
23 days ago • 4 min read
Reader, I've saved the best for last, truly. This one was a software testing services firm. For the last several emails I've written about interviews from my job hunt, I provided the req. Well, this place didn't have reqs. You didn't find them -- they found you. It's a cool story, but it makes it harder to write about the interview process objectively. Subjectively? It was awesome. This firm wanted to hire Quality Engineers who are mature enough to make solid judgment calls about testing and...
26 days ago • 3 min read
Reader, In Part 1, you saw how a facilities management SaaS had to take a leap of faith because they didn't assess the technical ability of their candidates. Quick recap on the technical skills the req asked for: fwiw, not all of this seemed necessary from the conversations I had These were the skills the role actually required based on the conversations with the hiring team: Maestro or Appium (mobile app test automation scripting & debugging) Mobile testing TypeScript CI/CD for running tests...
29 days ago • 4 min read
Reader, Wow, are we halfway through February already? That was fast. Hope you had a great V Day over the weekend 🫶 Let's talk about another interview I had back in December.This was with a facilities management SaaS company for an SDET role. A friend from a past job referred me, so I thought it would be a walk in the park.(This is a terrible posture to take when getting referred, by the way. Great recruiters often speak with referrals so make sure you educate your candidate on mindset before...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read