If the resume is the weakest signal in hiring, what should you trust instead? Greenhouse TA leader Shannon Castleman provides key guidance on uncovering what’s real when AI is polishing both sides of the process:
Trust contextual authenticity over polish. A tailored resume or a rehearsed screen tells you who prepared well. Specific, authentic answers to your actual questions tell you far more. Shannon’s most reliable early signal is a candidate who can speak to their work in real detail, not in keywords.
Use live moments to see real thinking. “Candidates can use AI to prep and rehearse perfect STAR method answers,” Shannon noted. A live, unscripted problem-solving exercise is where you see who can actually think through the role versus who interviews well. Build at least one into your loop.
Keep the decision human and explainable. Tie every advance or reject to a pre-defined attribute on the role’s scorecard, and keep a person making the final call. If you can’t explain the why, you’ve traded a faster hire for trust and legal risk.
