"Technical Interviews"

I keep seeing the same pattern, week after week. Talented candidates making the same mistakes. Employers creating the same problems. Everyone frustrated. Nobody changing.

The candidates who succeed aren’t necessarily the most qualified. I’ve placed people with average CVs into excellent roles, and watched candidates with perfect credentials get passed over again and again. The difference isn’t talent. It’s awareness.

Awareness of how hiring actually works. Awareness of what interviewers are really asking when they ask those questions. Awareness of the politics, the biases, the unwritten rules that govern every hiring decision.

Most people operate on assumptions. They assume the best candidate gets hired. They assume experience trumps everything. They assume the process is logical. These assumptions cost them opportunities.

I’m not saying you should game the system or be inauthentic. I’m saying you should understand what you’re dealing with. Bring your genuine self, but bring awareness too.

So what does this mean for you? It means stop waiting for the process to be fair and start working with what is. It means preparing not just your answers but your mindset. It means treating every interaction as data, not just a pass/fail test.

The people who get ahead in their careers aren’t lucky. They’re not even always the most talented. They’re the ones who figured out how the game works and played accordingly. Not cynically. Not manipulatively. Just smartly.

You can do the same. It starts with dropping your assumptions and opening your eyes to what’s actually happening in every interview room, every hiring decision, every career move. The patterns are there. Once you see them, you can work with them.

That’s not gaming the system. That’s just being smart about your career.