Advice Hub

Not Every Great Hire Starts With a CV — And That’s Exactly the Point

Insights

We get it – hiring can feel like a search for perfection.

The right skills.
The right experience.
The right CV.

But here’s the thing: some of the best hires we’ve ever seen didn’t start with a perfectly crafted CV. Most of the time they didn’t even think they were looking for a new role.

And yet — they were exactly what the business needed.

Great Candidates Aren’t Always Actively Looking

There’s a whole pool of high-performers out there who:

  • Haven’t updated their CV in five years

  • Don’t apply to adverts

  • Don’t touch LinkedIn unless it’s a birthday notification

  • Aren’t visible to algorithms or databases

But they’re out there. And when they trust the person on the other end of the call? That’s when the magic happens.

They’ll listen.
Ask good questions.
Meet the client.
And make an impact.

Why CVs Only Tell Half the Story


A CV can show you what someone’s done — but it rarely shows why they did it, how they did it, or what that meant in the context of their team or business.

It won’t capture their attitude, adaptability, or potential. And it definitely won’t reflect those instinctive, intangible things you pick up in conversation.

The best recruitment goes beyond surface-level screening. It’s about understanding the person behind the bullet points — and spotting what they could grow into, not just what they’ve already done.

Recruitment Isn’t a Matching Game — It’s a Timing Game

Recruitment is about so much more than keyword-matching.
It’s a conversation game. A trust game. A timing game.

A great recruiter knows:

  • Where to look

  • What to listen for

  • When to open a door a candidate didn’t even know existed

Some of the strongest placements we’ve made started with a simple five-minute call. No CV. No application. Just curiosity, timing, and a little bit of belief.

The bottom line?

Not every brilliant hire comes with a shiny CV. And not every CV tells the full story.

But when a recruiter gets it right — that’s when the real results happen.

In a world full of AI and copy and paste templates, human contact and trust with your recruiter is everything.

Hiring currently? Or thinking about it? We’d love to help.

We Do Group  find the high-performers you can’t see on job boards — the ones who might not be actively looking, but are open to the right opportunity.

Let’s find the ones who’ll make the impact you didn’t see coming.

Start the search differently. Get in touch.

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