Recruiter fails to understand candidate's CV in first screening

Recruiter didn't understand the CV: candidate exits the process

The initial screening of a recruitment process can reject a professional without understanding a single line of their resume. This peine in the chemical sector, specifically in the validations area: a recruiter from an external consultancy called an applicant and asked questions like "Do you have experience in validations?" or "Have you worked in this sector?" about skills clearly stated in the document. He asked which specific part she did not understand. She replied that she understood nothing. When he pointed out that anyone in the industry would grasp the text, she said she was a psychologist. He ended the process himself.

This is not an isolated anecdote; it describes a pattern. Those who filter do not know the trade, turning the first screen into a game of chance. The initial screening decides without technical criteria, and qualified candidates compete not against other profiles, but against those who cannot read them.

The initial screening that cannot read the job description

Until recently, in the chemical sector, the norm was a single interview with the department head, usually a chemist. That model is being replaced by a funnel where an external consultancy performs the first selection. The problem arises when the filter is applied without knowledge of the profession: the interviewer cannot distinguish between a validation and routine control.

Some argue the system works in reverse. If the first barrier asks for data already written down, it does not filter; it hinders. True experts only appear in the second or third round, if the candidate survives. Several accounts describe the same ending: polite conversation, exit from the process, and starting over. The candidate does not fail. They are rejected.

Why there is a department that doesn't know the business

The most repeated explanation is structural, not technical. In the Anglo-Saxon model, the HR department is established to shield managers from claims: a buffer that applies policies, tracks metrics, and handles uncomfortable tasks. From there, it is copied to consultancies and then to SMEs, without asking if the role requires it.

Regarding legal obligations, precision is needed: it is not mandatory. There are health and safety requirements above a certain size, sometimes handled by the same department, but the expansion of these structures responds to tax incentives, diversity and inclusion policies, and the inertia of copying large corporations. One school of analysis summarizes it bluntly: a filter alien to the work performed is implemented, and then expected to guess.

Hiring is a coin toss, sometimes heads wins

Opposite to the protocol-driven filter is the direct approach. A small business, high turnover, with eight to nine employees, hires directly without requiring qualifications. Its manager states that each hire is a coin toss, yet they succeed around 85% of the time. Their method includes no tests or trick questions: defining what type of person they seek, letting the candidate speak instead of interrogating them, and applying intuition.

It is a notable percentage, even if it is one person's estimate of their own management. Still, the comparison is uncomfortable: those who know the role and let people talk are more accurate than those filling out templates.

The invisible cost: valid candidates who never reach the technical phase

Here appears the most circulated statistic. According to research cited in the discussion, 84% of people with Asperger's syndrome and university degrees in the United States were unemployed, with causes pointing to screens based on first impressions. If the filter rewards social fluency rather than competence, some profiles never make it to the technical interview.

The other cost is time. In processes with hundreds of candidates, the initial screen excludes many valid ones before the area manager sees them. With 300 applicants, dozens are selected; with more, the proportion repeats. Round numbers hiding a design problem, not a demand issue.

What to expect

Given how processes are organized, the trend suggests external filters will continue gaining ground in technical roles, while the actual area manager enters later and later. It is possible that pressure from qualified candidates will eventually force technical interviews from the first contact, but nothing in the described cases guarantees it. What is predictable remains the same: those who know chemistry will keep waiting for someone from the humanities to give them the green light.