Scroll LinkedIn on any given day and you will find no shortage of horror stories: hiring managers receiving thousands of AI-generated CVs, or applicants applying unsuccessfully for thousands of roles.

But while hiring is an undoubtedly dysfunctional process—one that the founder of an AI recruitment startup for software engineers says they are trying to fix—the main reasons people don't get hired existed long before AI.

Before building the startup, the author worked in traditional recruitment, finding the best tech talent for companies including Microsoft, Accenture and Deloitte. They say they have interviewed more than 10,000 job seekers over the course of their career, and have witnessed more than a few interview train-wrecks. But their main takeaway is that the reasons people don't get hired are relatively simple—and avoidable. As an applicant, you really have to do very little to stand out.

The CV is not dead

You can't win a job on the strength of your CV, but you can certainly lose one. A document that looks terrible, is full of spelling mistakes or doesn't make sense sends a negative signal about what you consider good work to look like.

The main reason CVs fail, the recruiter argues, is that they "talk guff"—phrases such as "I conceptualised the Q3 planning process" and similar nonsense. Candidates need to be concrete instead: "I helped build X. I helped the company sell more Y," or "This is what I did, and this is how it happened."

Follow the instructions on the job application to the letter

"You would not believe how many people fail at this point," the recruiter writes.

For entry-level roles, they have posted job specs with an email address at the bottom, asking candidates to reach out and explain why they want the job. Ninety percent of people don't.

On one occasion, an advert for a very junior role included a box that said: "Tell me why you'd be great fit for this job"—and most people didn't fill it in. "It is baffling," the recruiter says, adding that they always respond to people who write something interesting in that box. The broader lesson: act like you really want the job.

If you are asked to complete an exercise as part of the application process, do it. Some candidates refuse on the grounds that they won't work for free, or worry that the company will not hire them and steal their work—but "honestly, it is a delusion," the recruiter says. If a company is interviewing people, it really wants to hire someone and is trying to work out whether that person could be you.

There is a sharper point as well: if you genuinely believe you can produce better work in a couple of hours than the team working on the problem full time, then you are either the best in the world or the team is rubbish. In either case, you probably shouldn't be interviewing there.

Don't spray and pray

It is common to see people claiming they have applied for 1,000 jobs and received no responses. The blunt response: nobody is qualified for 1,000 jobs, and the time is being wasted. It is the applicant-side version of the volume problem that opens this piece: hiring managers describe receiving thousands of AI-generated CVs, while applicants describe sinking time into roles that were never a fit.

The recruiter's advice is to take that time and spend it researching five jobs and really putting the effort in. Many applicants play the volume game, but most of the jobs they apply for are ones they are either not qualified for or not right for them—something they would realize if they actually went through the job spec.

Put yourself in the hiring manager's shoes

Hiring is a high-stakes game: 50% of new hires fail or quit within 18 months, and only one in five new hires is considered a success after 12 months.

Consider the impact that has on a business: not only the work and cost involved in finding the right candidate and hiring them, but the impact an unsuccessful hire has on the rest of the team. The problem is all the more acute at startups, which tend to have very small teams.

So when you walk into a job interview feeling nervous, remember that the person interviewing you may be just as nervous. They may have been through the process a few dozen times already, and they may have one or two bad hires behind them.

It is also a two-way street. The interviewer wants to get to know you, but you need to get a handle on the company too. The question to ask yourself: do you want to spend 80% of your waking hours here?

When you're asked about your biggest mistake, have an answer

One of the main reasons people fail an interview, the recruiter says, is that they are unable to answer this question. Candidates often worry that admitting an error will make them look bad—but being unable to answer looks far worse. It is inconceivable that your interviewer has never made a mistake, so be honest, open up, and don't turn the question into an opportunity to blow your own trumpet.

And finally, personal recommendations are everything

There is nothing more valuable in hiring than a personal recommendation or a referral. It should serve as a reminder that growing and maintaining your professional network is a key part of your career. You need to be a person others would vouch for.

People don't vouch for others just because they like them—they vouch for people who do a good job. They want to know that when they say "You should hire this person," and the hiring happens, the new employee turns out really well.

It is also, perhaps, the sharpest answer to the AI anxieties that frame this piece: a polished CV can now be produced in seconds, but a recommendation can come only from someone who has seen your work and is willing to put their own credibility behind it.

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