Every bad hire I have ever heard about was, at some point, “good on paper”.

A strong CV can be impressive. It can show qualifications, experience, job titles, achievements and all the other things we have trained ourselves to look for first.

But paper has never had to deal with a difficult customer.

Paper has never had to work in a team.

Paper has never had to stay calm under pressure, take responsibility, use good judgement, or fit into the way your business actually works.

That is where recruitment often starts to go wrong.

We treat the CV as the evidence, when it is really only the introduction.

The real question is not just: “Has this person done something similar before?”

It is: “Does this person have the skills, attitude, behaviour and working style to succeed here?”

That is a very different question.

And if your recruitment process cannot answer it, you are guessing.

Sometimes expensively.