As I slog through the job search like an Ice Age animal sinking slowly into the La Brea Tar Pits (shoutout to the George C. Page Museum—love that place), there’s one thing that’s been really getting under my skin:

The “filter” questions.

You know the ones.

“Do you have 7+ years of experience with [Insert oddly specific platform here]?”

“How many years of experience do you have in the Custom Colored Hot Dog Bun Industry™?”

Sure.

You’re trying to weed out candidates so your Talent Acquisition Team doesn’t have to read every resume.

Sounds reasonable in theory.

But here’s the thing:

It’s the questions you’re asking that make the whole system dumb.
Let’s walk through it:

Let’s assume you really do need someone with five years of experience in colored hot dog buns.

Okay.

So you put that question in the filter. What do you think happens?

1. People who don’t have that experience click YES anyway and hope you look at the rest of their resume.
2. People who actually read the question think, “This is idiotic,” and move on.
3. And spoiler: You’re probably going to have to look at the resume anyway.
So now, instead of getting the best candidates, you’re filtering for the ones who either click YES reflexively or don’t care about your system enough to take it seriously.

And here’s the tough love part:

You’re probably attracting the wrong type of people.
Why?

Because the most talented people I’ve met are platform-agnostic.
They understand core concepts.

They move between systems, platforms, and industries with ease.
They adapt.

They learn.

They build things that work.

Meanwhile, the platform-locked folks—the ones with exactly 6.5 years of experience with the software you think you need?

They freeze the moment something doesn’t fit the dropdown menu.

I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating:

As I slog through the job search like an Ice Age animal sinking slowly into the La Brea Tar Pits (shoutout to the George C. Page Museum—love that place), there’s one thing that’s been really getting under my skin:

The “filter” questions.

You know the ones.

“Do you have 7+ years of experience with [Insert oddly specific platform here]?”

“How many years of experience do you have in the Custom Colored Hot Dog Bun Industry™?”

Sure.

You’re trying to weed out candidates so your Talent Acquisition Team doesn’t have to read every resume.

Sounds reasonable in theory.

But here’s the thing:

It’s the questions you’re asking that make the whole system dumb.
Let’s walk through it:

Let’s assume you really do need someone with five years of experience in colored hot dog buns.

Okay.

So you put that question in the filter. What do you think happens?

1. People who don’t have that experience click YES anyway and hope you look at the rest of their resume.
2. People who actually read the question think, “This is idiotic,” and move on.
3. And spoiler: You’re probably going to have to look at the resume anyway.
So now, instead of getting the best candidates, you’re filtering for the ones who either click YES reflexively or don’t care about your system enough to take it seriously.

And here’s the tough love part:

You’re probably attracting the wrong type of people.
Why?

Because the most talented people I’ve met are platform-agnostic.
They understand core concepts.

They move between systems, platforms, and industries with ease.
They adapt.

They learn.

They build things that work.

Meanwhile, the platform-locked folks—the ones with exactly 6.5 years of experience with the software you think you need?

They freeze the moment something doesn’t fit the dropdown menu.

I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: