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Struggling with Behavioural Questions in Interviews?
They are the most common and also the toughest for many candidates.
This free E-book shows you how to answer them with confidence.
They are the most common and also the toughest for many candidates.
This free E-book shows you how to answer them with confidence.
Career Reshaped Episode 34: ONE THING Every JOB SEEKER Should Know! Says Recruitment Expert…
What if landing your next job isn’t just about a great resume or nailing interviews, but about understanding what really matters to recruiters—and how you present yourself along the way?
In this episode, recruitment expert Zvi Azimov gets real about what job seekers need to know in today’s market. He breaks down why so many people get stuck in endless interviews or feel invisible to employers, and what you can actually do to break through.
You’ll learn how to build genuine relationships with recruiters (hint: it’s not about spamming LinkedIn messages), the most common mistakes job seekers make, and what hiring managers are really looking for—even if they never say it out loud. Zvi shares real-world tips for getting noticed, how to follow up without being annoying, and why clarity and honesty in your job search can change everything.
This episode is for anyone tired of the guessing game in job hunting, or wondering how others land opportunities that never seem to get posted online. You’ll hear straightforward advice, real talk about job search frustration, and practical steps to connect with people who can actually help you move forward.
If you’re ready to stop spinning your wheels and start making progress in your career, tune in for strategies that work—no magic tricks, just smart moves.
🎧 Listen for honest advice and simple tactics to help you get noticed, build recruiter relationships, and move closer to the job you want.
Discussion Overview
It’s all about tailoring your application for each job. Use keywords from the job description, but keep it honest and relevant. Automated systems look for alignment, but recruiters want to see a clear match right at the top of your resume. If your first few bullet points don’t address what the role needs, your application might not make it through.
It goes way beyond skills on a checklist. Hiring managers want to see problem-solving ability, adaptability, and real, measurable impact. They’re looking for evidence that you can learn quickly, work well with others, and connect your work to outcomes. Show how you made a difference in past roles—not just what you did, but the results you helped achieve.
Most jobs are filled before they ever go public. When you build genuine relationships—whether with recruiters or people inside companies—you move to the front of the line. Networking, following up with intention, and giving value (not just asking for favors) can open doors that cold applications simply can’t.
Video interviews are here to stay, so treat them like you would an in-person meeting: be on time, dress appropriately, and check your tech setup. Be concise and keep your energy up, as attention spans are shorter on camera. Video resumes can work well for creative roles, but they aren’t essential for everyone—only use them if they help you tell your story better.
The biggest mistakes include being too generic, failing to follow up, and not having real examples ready to share. Avoid sending the same resume to every job. Always follow up after interviews or recruiter messages, and prepare stories that show how you’ve solved problems or contributed in past roles. Thoughtful preparation shows you care and sets you apart.
Podcast Transcript:
| Time | Transcript |
|---|---|
| 00:05 | What's the longest process you I know you said don't get excited, but I'm just |
| 00:08 | interested. What is the longest or the most amount of interviews you've had a |
| 00:12 | candidate go through? 7 months. |
| 00:15 | Seven months. |
| 00:16 | It was It was outrageous. It was outrageous. Yeah, it was outrageous. |
| 00:20 | I still have PTSD for a month. No. Imagine what the candidate feels |
| 00:25 | like. I as I And they still took the job. |
| 00:27 | They took the job. I I get it. At least they got offers Facebook. Like if we go |
| 00:32 | back uh to what you were saying earlier about, you know, it can be quite costly |
| 00:36 | and a risk, you know, if you get the wrong candidate. So I get it. There's |
| 00:40 | that fear to pull the trigger and get someone on board. And I mean, I when I |
| 00:45 | was doing recruitment, I thought I was a pretty good recruiter. I used to hire |
| 00:49 | quite a lot of people. And I would say I had about a 90% success rate. I |
| 00:53 | had quite a few good good individuals. But there were times when I had got it |
| 00:59 | wrong as well and it it happens and but you do still need to take a risk. If you |
| 01:05 | don't take any risks in life 7 months that's that's imagine what that person |
| 01:10 | could have done in 7 months in that company as opposed to just going in |
| 01:14 | circles having a discussion after a point what's left to talk about. |
| 01:18 | Yeah. I mean, this is a bit of a this is a bit of an odd circumstance cuz they |
| 01:21 | offered him the role, he rejected it. Then they asked me to go back to him, |
| 01:23 | then they offered the role, he accepted it, but then got a counter offer and |
| 01:26 | rejected it. It was a really, really, really [ __ ] process. |
| 01:29 | Sounds like the same to me. Yeah. But but but at the same time, you |
| 01:34 | know, it was a nine-stage interview process as well. So, it was, you know, |
| 01:37 | six, you know, a bit from column A and a bit from column B. So, but look, |
| 01:41 | typically speaking, you know, I've got clients that have a a standard six |
| 01:45 | interview process and you sort of you get to a point where you're just having |
| 01:49 | the same conversation over and over and over again and go, what else? Who else |
| 01:52 | do I need to tell this story to? Um, you know, why can't they make a decision? |
| 01:55 | And the candidates do start to get disenfranchised with the whole process. |
| 01:59 | But, you know, at the same time, it's my job as a recruiter to to massage that |
| 02:03 | process and make sure that there's there's open lines of communication and |
| 02:06 | everyone knows what's going on. If you know what the interview process is up |
| 02:10 | front, it makes it much easier to go through the process, which is why I tell |
| 02:13 | my candidates, it's at x amount of interviews. This is the interview stages |
| 02:17 | who you'll be interviewing with and break it down. And that way, if they get |
| 02:20 | to interview four and like, what else do I have to do? As we discussed earlier in |
| 02:23 | the process, it's a six-stage process. Duh. You're at stage four. You've still |
| 02:27 | got these two stages. Prepare for that to be the case. And and then there's |
| 02:31 | there's no noses out of joint. I can tell you though from a candidate's |
| 02:35 | perspective, it'll be quite nerve-wracking because each interview is |
| 02:40 | stressful and imagine getting to stage five and then not getting the role. It |
| 02:45 | it just it'll be quite painful. You feel like all this time, all this energy |
| 02:51 | wasted. You want it to go quickly. You want to take the band-aid off. Yes. No. |
| 02:57 | So, I can move on or get excited, whatever. |
| 03:00 | That can also be counterproductive. I've got other clients that have one to two |
| 03:04 | stage interview processes and sometimes that can be too much of a baptism of |
| 03:07 | fire and I've actually had to tell certain clients like you need to |
| 03:11 | interview this person again like no we're ready to hire we're ready to offer |
| 03:14 | no you need to interview this person again because they're not fully |
| 03:18 | convinced. You need to understand that whilst you might be ready to make an |
| 03:21 | offer and give this person a go and that's fantastic. You need to court this |
| 03:25 | person. You need to make them feel comfortable that they you need to make |
| 03:29 | them want it more. They want the role. They want they want to work with you, |
| 03:33 | but they still need to get their head around the fact that they're going to |
| 03:36 | leave their current employer because I've headunted them. So, you know, it |
| 03:39 | can go the other way as well where it's a little bit too much too quick and it's |
| 03:43 | a baptism of fire and it's like, oh well, you know, last weekend I was |
| 03:47 | chatting with my boss over a cup over a beer talking about how good the quarter |
| 03:51 | was and and now we're 4 days on and I'm about to resign because I've got I've |
| 03:55 | had two interviews in two days and I've got an offer in my hand for an extra 30 |
| 03:58 | grand on the salary. Whoa. you know, I wasn't ready for this. I wasn't ready to |
| 04:03 | go from one weekend being happy to the next weekend being sad. So, um, you |
| 04:07 | know, you you you've also got to, you know, it can go the other way as well. |
| 04:10 | So, it's just a it's a finding a good balance. |
| 04:13 | That's true. You're right. Especially with the head hunting because |
| 04:17 | they need to come around to it. It's not like they've made the active decision to |
| 04:21 | get up and start looking. It's something that they need to process and that takes |
| 04:26 | time because it is a big life choice. it can |
| 04:31 | it's a risk for them as well. It's not like they have nothing. Uh they got a |
| 04:36 | lot to lose. So and and on that note, you know, for for |
| 04:39 | your c your clients or what have you that might be active job seekers or |
| 04:43 | might be passive job seekers, whatever the case is, just be prepared for it. |
| 04:46 | Just be prepared to have those conversations and, you know, roll with |
| 04:49 | the punches. Don't be afraid of the |
| 04:51 | complicated. We're not all that bad. |
| 04:53 | No. No. End of the day, everyone, we're all human people. |
| 04:58 | Yeah, that's right. the same thing. So, and and that's the thing about, you |
| 05:01 | know, seeing the human behind the profile, you know, as well, right? You |
| 05:05 | know, as recruiters sometimes we do get a little bit not transactional, but like |
| 05:09 | we've got so many candidates to get through, so many people to talk to, so |
| 05:11 | much to to weed through, you know, so many dragons to slay to get to the |
| 05:16 | princess, so to speak, that, you know, we can sometimes forget about the human |
| 05:19 | element. And, you know, it can become a bit of a number, if that makes sense. if |
| 05:23 | I've got, you know, and that's the thing about applying for job ads, you got to |
| 05:27 | understand that you could be one of 40 50 applicants that have applied for this |
| 05:31 | job. So to to bring it full circle around our conversation, your CV is what |
| 05:35 | will separate you from the competition, right? That's why you got |
| 05:38 | to understand that if if a recruiter's being dismissive with you or what have |
| 05:43 | you, understand that there's a lot of people that um have have applied for |
| 05:47 | this role or have inquired about this role or whatever the case is. So, you |
| 05:52 | know, I would recommend reach out to the recruiter or the hiring manager or |
| 05:56 | whoever they are and have an elevator pitch ready to go. I've applied for this |
| 05:59 | role. I know you've got probably got 50 other applicants. I appreciate you |
| 06:04 | working your way through it. Can I just take a minute of your time to explain |
| 06:07 | why I feel I'd be really suitable for this role. Do you have time now or can |
| 06:10 | we put a spot in your diary and get love it and I couldn't agree more. You |
| 06:16 | got to stand out and that's a really effective way of doing so. You got to |
| 06:22 | skip the queue a little bit. So yeah, if you can, if you can, |
| 06:25 | you're always worth a try. Before we get into the nitty-gritty of |
| 06:28 | this topic, we just wanted to check in and say that if you believe that you |
| 06:32 | need some assistance and that we could help you, reach out to us today. Check |
| 06:37 | out our website, join our newsletter. We'd love to be in touch. We wanted to |
| 06:41 | quickly mention that subscribing to the podcast is the best way to support the |
| 06:46 | show and ensure you never miss an episode. It's super easy. Just click the |
| 06:52 | subscribe button whenever you're listening. Thanks for tuning in. So, |
| 06:56 | we've got a few last questions to pick your brain about. Um, and it's |
| 07:01 | about the future of recruitment, whether you have any insight, you know, with AI |
| 07:05 | and and tech and everything evolving so quickly. Do you can you see a different |
| 07:11 | future for recruitment? So, uh that's I'm I'm frequently asked |
| 07:16 | this question to be honest in recent times with chat GPT and so forth and |
| 07:20 | some people forgetting you know or not forgetting but some people associating |
| 07:25 | those sort of AI tools to the end of the recruitment industry as a whole. The |
| 07:30 | reality is that recruitment, whether it's as a recruiter or as a business, is |
| 07:37 | a human-centric function. An AI will not be able to |
| 07:41 | replace building a relationship. An AI will not be able to replace convincing |
| 07:46 | somebody that an opportunity is worth pursuing. The reality is that in my role |
| 07:51 | as a recruiter, and I've said this often, is that my job is actually just |
| 07:56 | putting two people in the same room. That's all I have to do. I have to find |
| 07:59 | the people. So when a client call reaches out to me and says, "I have job |
| 08:03 | X. I need you to find me someone." My job is to get that client in front of |
| 08:07 | the right people in a room together. And that and that's fundamentally what it |
| 08:11 | is, right? I've lost count of how many times someone has said, "No, I'm not |
| 08:14 | interested in that business." And just purely based on me being a an affable |
| 08:19 | individual, I've brought them around to just go and have a cup of coffee. If you |
| 08:23 | walk away and you say it's not for me, then great. you walk away and you say |
| 08:27 | it's not for you. You're not here for me on the matter again. I'm not going to |
| 08:29 | pursue it further. Don't look at external perception. Like I had somebody |
| 08:34 | yesterday go, "Oh yeah, I knew I had experience with that company 13 years |
| 08:37 | ago." It's like probably a little bit unfair to assess this company's |
| 08:42 | suitability or capabilities based on what they did 13 years ago cuz what you |
| 08:47 | were doing 13 years ago was equally as irrelevant today as what they were doing |
| 08:51 | 13 years ago. Go and have a chat to them. go and meet with them. You know |
| 08:56 | what's the worst that can happen? You walk away and go, I was right and you've |
| 08:58 | wasted an hour of your time and I'm sorry, I'll even pay for the coffee. And |
| 09:01 | AI won't replace that. AI will replace a lot of things. And in fact, I'm |
| 09:06 | currently building workflows with AI. But that's more about the repetitive |
| 09:10 | tasks and the researchbased tasks. It's not about the human element of what do |
| 09:17 | you want? How can they provide what you want? What do they want? And how do you |
| 09:20 | provide what they want? And bridging that gap. and then putting context |
| 09:24 | around that. AI can record a conversation and create an email based |
| 09:28 | on that conversation to then send to your to your client about that |
| 09:33 | candidate's capabilities. Those sorts of things exist. And so they're tools that |
| 09:37 | will facilitate the recruitment process. They won't replace it in my opinion. |
| 09:41 | No, it makes sense. I I |
| 09:45 | you know, I've built a career around hoping that that that I'm right. |
| 09:50 | Well, it makes sense. I mean I think that human element is the key you know |
| 09:55 | when we this video interviewing is now you know a thing for round one and I |
| 10:03 | sincerely believe a lot of companies are missing out on good employees because |
| 10:07 | that person can't on the spot give them a one min ute story when sometimes you |
| 10:13 | need to take a moment to think about hey hang on what what is the best example |
| 10:18 | I'm going to talk about to you right now Um, you're basically asking people to |
| 10:23 | practice their elevator pitch in less than 60 seconds. So, they have to become |
| 10:30 | suddenly someone they're not. Practice and be inauthentic. Unauthentic. |
| 10:34 | Inauthentic. Unauthentic. Not authentic. Disinguous. |
| 10:37 | Disinguous just to be seen to then be authentic again. Like that's I I get it. |
| 10:44 | You think you're going to save time by filing people out, but I feel that |
| 10:48 | you're missing a lot of good people. It's like exams. Everyone learns |
| 10:53 | differently and this standardized schooling and there's exams and all that |
| 10:59 | might not necessarily bring out the best from everyone and the real um abilities |
| 11:06 | and talents of everyone. So there needs to be a little bit more of a flexibility |
| 11:12 | in how you engage with people. And I think that AI would not allow for that |
| 11:18 | at all. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like I said, it's the |
| 11:21 | human element that it misses. Again, it's got its place. |
| 11:23 | You've actually Yeah, it does. It helped. It's a |
| 11:26 | psychic. It's got its place, but it's a tool. |
| 11:28 | It's a tool. It's a tool. It's a psychic. Make your |
| 11:30 | life easier. So, you you mentioning the uh video |
| 11:34 | recorded interviews actually also triggered another question. Sorry to add |
| 11:38 | another one in here, but uh we've been hearing a lot of video résumés starting |
| 11:45 | and CVs people. I've actually never |
| 11:48 | video cover letters as well. Video cover letter. So, yeah, video applications. |
| 11:53 | Um, I've not I don't know anyone yet who has done one, but the you know, you hear |
| 11:58 | all the the influencers talking about how this is the new trend. Have you seen |
| 12:03 | a video application? Do any of your clients want people to apply this way? |
| 12:08 | It's it's it's non-existent in my world. I'm I'm sure it I'm sure it's out there |
| 12:11 | and it there's plenty of people that are doing it and and companies that are |
| 12:15 | asking for it, accepting it. I'm pretty sure you can load a video cover letter |
| 12:20 | to your seek profile, etc., etc., but it's it's not something that's entered |
| 12:24 | my realm. Okay, it's good to know that it's not |
| 12:26 | far and wide. It's a good way to stand out if you |
| 12:33 | wanted to, but I would have it more as a a link in your resume rather than |
| 12:39 | replace |
| 12:42 | I think it also depends on what what industry you're in, what market you're |
| 12:45 | in, and what your job what your job is. Like I'm sure that there are certain |
| 12:49 | markets and industries and jobs where it's prevalent and there are others like |
| 12:53 | mine where it's non-existent. So for job seekers listening today, if there was |
| 12:58 | only one thing that they needed to remember about how to better position |
| 13:02 | themselves in today's market, what would it be? |
| 13:05 | Keywords and information on your CV. Brilliant. Great. Nice. |
| 13:09 | Straightforward. Yeah. Keywords and information on your |
| 13:12 | CV and your LinkedIn profile get you found. You're one of 50 people that are |
| 13:16 | applying for a job. That reduces your odds. Being found as one of 50 people in |
| 13:22 | a LinkedIn search increases your odds because someone's actually looking for |
| 13:26 | you. Absolutely. And for anyone who wants to |
| 13:29 | connect with Shiva or work with you, where should they go? What's the best |
| 13:32 | way um to take next steps? Yeah, I mean you'll find me on LinkedIn. |
| 13:35 | Um as I said, I'm very I'm more client driven, so I'm not the sort of recruiter |
| 13:39 | that will typically take somebody and help them find a job. Um, but certainly, |
| 13:43 | you know, if you're in the technology space, I'm always happy to connect and |
| 13:47 | if something comes up, then obviously first-deree connections mean I can have |
| 13:50 | a direct conversation with you rather than, you know, having to send you an |
| 13:54 | invitation to connect and then talk and then whatever, whatever. It shortens the |
| 13:57 | workflow. Thank you so much, sweetie. It was |
| 13:59 | great. No worries. Thank you for your time, |
| 14:02 | ladies. Thank you. |
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