Sean Robinson

Reading every single comment and message has taught me something: interviews are making everyone miserable. Candidates, hiring managers, recruiters, the lot. And the data backs this up in a way that's honestly quite grim.

At the end of every interview, I ask the candidate if they'd like feedback on how it went. And then—here's the controversial bit—I actually give it to them. Not the sanitised HR-approved version three weeks later after they've already assumed the worst. Not the vague "we've decided to progress with other candidates" email that tells them precisely nothing. Honest interview feedback.  Right there in the room. I tell them what went well. I tell them what didn't. I'm authentic and transparent...

I see a lot of people laser-focused on the next step up. Head of to Director. Director to VP. Fair enough—ambition's important. But I reckon we've got the entire thing backwards. The best career move I ever made wasn't a promotion. It was a lateral move—a sideways shift that made absolutely no sense on paper. Less prestige, steeper learning curve, completely different domain. My mates thought I'd lost it. Turned out to be the thing that set everything else in motion. The Foundational Reality...