Don’t Tell Me About Yourself

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“Don’t Tell Me About Yourself” is where old-school hiring meets a modern reality check. Hosted by Expert Interviewers Co-Founders Lorna Erickson and Victoria Gates, this show blends their combined 40 years of real-world experience with the unfiltered commentary that made 340K+ people laugh, cringe, and rethink how interviews actually work. Each week, they tackle the biggest news in hiring, from chaotic interview moments to ghost jobs and questions that should have been retired decades ago. Whether you hire, apply, or just love a good interview trainwreck, this show is for anyone who’s ever sat on either side of the interview table. Real stories. Real data. Real talk about how to make interviews actually work for everyone. Because great hiring isn’t luck—it's a skill.

  1. 21h ago

    Does Every Candidate Deserve Interview Feedback?

    Episode Description: Everyone says candidates deserve feedback. But what happens when the hiring manager can't actually explain why someone was rejected? In this episode of Don't Tell Me About Yourself, Expert Interviewers co-founders Victoria Gates and Lorna Erickson debate whether every job candidate deserves interview feedback, why companies are so hesitant to provide it, and what candidates should realistically expect after being rejected. From ghosting and generic rejection emails to legal concerns, gut-feeling hiring decisions, and poorly documented interviews, they explore the difference between communication, transparency, feedback, and coaching. You'll learn how much feedback candidates should receive at different stages of the hiring process, why internal candidates need additional consideration, and how recruiters and hiring managers can give more useful, evidence-based feedback. Because if you can't explain why you rejected someone, the bigger problem might be how you made the hiring decision in the first place. KEY TAKEAWAYS Not every candidate needs personalized interview feedback, but candidates deserve clear communication about where they stand in the hiring process. Candidates often want closure more than coaching. A timely update or rejection can prevent unnecessary confusion, frustration, and speculation. Companies hesitate to give interview feedback because of time constraints, legal concerns, uncomfortable conversations, poor documentation, and unclear hiring decisions. Poor feedback doesn't necessarily mean poor candidate performance. It may indicate that interviewers lack the evidence needed to explain their decisions. Communication, transparency, feedback, and coaching are different levels of candidate engagement. Communication is the baseline, while personalized feedback and coaching require more time and investment. The further a candidate progresses through the hiring process, the more specific and individualized their feedback should become. Applicants and candidates completing initial recruiter screens should receive timely updates and clear decisions, even when personalized feedback isn't practical. Final-round candidates deserve meaningful, job-related feedback that explains how their experience and interview responses aligned with the role's requirements. Internal candidates may need additional feedback and development guidance because rejection can affect their ongoing working relationships and future career opportunities. Generic rejection explanations like "we went in another direction," "you weren't a fit," or "we needed someone more senior" provide little useful information without specific context. Effective interview feedback should connect directly to predefined job criteria, observable evidence, and the skills or experience required for the position. Hiring managers must be able to explain why they selected or rejected a candidate. If the decision was based primarily on gut feeling or personal chemistry, meaningful feedback becomes difficult. Feedback is valuable, but communication is non-negotiable. Silence should never be a company's rejection strategy. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 – Does every candidate deserve interview feedback? 01:41 – Why candidates want feedback after rejection 02:54 – Why candidates are left without answers 03:50 – Interview feedback versus basic communication 05:16 – Why companies hesitate to give feedback 07:53 – How poor documentation prevents useful feedback 09:17 – When hiring managers can't explain their decisions 10:38 – Communication, transparency, feedback, and coaching 13:15 – The bare minimum every candidate deserves 15:37 – How much feedback should candidates receive? 16:37 – Giving honest feedback during recruiter screens 18:17 – What candidates deserve after an interview 19:24 – Why finalists need personalized feedback 20:24 – Should internal candidates receive more coaching? 22:41 – What to say instead of generic rejection phrases 25:22 – Why good feedback starts before the interview 26:34 – Feedback is valuable, communication is non-negotiable KEYWORDS candidate feedback, interview feedback, interview rejection, why companies don't give feedback, how to give interview feedback, candidate experience, candidate ghosting, rejection email, hiring manager feedback, recruiter communication, candidate rejection, internal candidate feedback, structured interviews, evidence-based hiring, hiring decisions, interview scorecards, hiring manager training

  2. Oct 14

    How Many Interviews Is Too Many?

    Episode Description: Five rounds. Nine interviewers. Six weeks. And the final hiring decision still comes down to a “good feeling.” Sound familiar? How many interview rounds does it actually take to make a good hire? In this episode of Don't Tell Me About Yourself, Expert Interviewers co-founders Victoria Gates and Lorna Erickson break down why hiring processes become unnecessarily long, whether more interviews actually improve hiring decisions, and how recruiters and hiring managers can design a more efficient interview process. From recruiter screens and panel interviews to executive approvals and hiring debriefs, they explore how to eliminate redundant interviews without sacrificing hiring quality, candidate experience, or confidence in the final decision. KEY TAKEAWAYS 1. Why interview processes get longer: Fear of making the wrong hiring decision, groupthink, unnecessary approvals, and poorly defined evaluation criteria can all contribute to interview bloat. 2. More interviews don't automatically mean better hires: Google's research on its own hiring process found diminishing returns after four interviews, demonstrating why adding rounds doesn't necessarily improve decision-making. 3. Every interview round needs a purpose: Recruiter screens, hiring manager interviews, panel interviews, and executive conversations should each evaluate something specific rather than repeat the same questions. 4. Panel interviews can improve efficiency: When structured properly, panels bring different perspectives together, reduce repetitive questions, and allow interviewers to evaluate the same evidence. 5. The right number of interviews depends on the role: Hourly, entry-level, individual contributor, management, and executive positions require different levels of evaluation. 6. Internal candidates still deserve a structured process: Familiarity, previous performance, and internal reputation shouldn't replace consistent, evidence-based evaluation. 7. Uncertainty isn't a reason to add another round: Before scheduling an additional interview, identify exactly what information is missing and how the next conversation will uncover it. 8. Structured interviews need structured decisions: Interview scorecards and independent evaluations help prevent hiring debriefs from becoming exercises in groupthink. 9. Hiring teams need clear responsibilities: Each interviewer should understand what they're evaluating, what evidence to collect, and how that information contributes to the final decision. 10. The goal isn't fewer interviews at any cost: It's fewer pointless interviews and a hiring process that respects everyone's time while producing better-informed decisions. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 – Five rounds, nine interviewers, and one gut feeling 01:25 – Why interview processes become unnecessarily long 04:03 – What should each interview round actually evaluate? 07:38 – Are panel interviews helpful or just intimidating? 11:13 – Does adding more interviews improve hiring decisions? 13:31 – How many interviews are needed for different roles? 19:35 – Should internal candidates follow the same process? 21:28 – How to design a more efficient interview process 23:20 – Why structured debriefs and scorecards matter 25:20 – How to eliminate unnecessary interview rounds KEYWORDS interview process, interview rounds, hiring process efficiency, structured interviews, hiring decisions, candidate experience, panel interviews, interview scorecards, hiring managers, recruitment best practices

  3. Oct 7

    Did Anyone Actually Teach You How to Interview? with Danielle Farage

    Episode Description: We train managers on leadership, performance, and compliance, but when it comes to interviewing, many are handed a resume and expected to figure it out. In this episode, we’re joined by future of work expert Danielle Farage to talk about why interviewing is still treated like an assumed skill, what happens when new managers are not given the tools to hire well, and how poor interviews affect hiring decisions, candidate experience, employer brand, and manager confidence. We also share what every new hiring manager should know before interviewing their first candidate and officially launch the New Hiring Manager Playbook, a practical guide built to help managers prepare, interview, and make better hiring decisions without needing years of experience first. Get the New Hiring Manager Playbook for $29.99:https://expert-interviewers.mykajabi.com/new-hiring-manager-playbook Created by Expert Interviewers in collaboration with Danielle Farage and delivered through Adobe PDF Spaces, the Playbook includes practical guidance, checklists, scripts, and interactive support designed for first-time interviewers and hiring managers who were never formally taught how to interview. Key Takeaways: Becoming a manager does not automatically make someone a skilled interviewer. Interviewing is often treated as an assumed skill instead of something managers need to learn and practice. Many interviewers inherit their approach from previous managers, outdated question lists, or their own experiences as candidates instead of receiving formal training. A poor interview process can lead to bad hiring decisions, cause companies to lose strong candidates, damage employer brand, and hurt a new manager’s confidence. Candidates are evaluating the company and hiring manager during the interview just as much as the company is evaluating them. Hiring managers should prepare before every interview by understanding the role, reviewing the candidate’s background, knowing what they are responsible for assessing, and preparing useful questions. Interviews should be treated as a two-way conversation rather than an interrogation or test of whether a candidate knows the unwritten rules. The interviewer owns the meeting and is responsible for asking good questions, following up, and collecting enough evidence to make a hiring decision. A candidate who interviews well is not automatically the candidate who will perform best in the job. New hiring managers need practical support they can use before, during, and after an interview. The New Hiring Manager Playbook was created to give first-time and undertrained interviewers the most important tools they need to get started. Your first few interviews should not have to be your training. Interviewing is a skill, and skills can be learned. Timestamps 00:00 Why managers are expected to interview without training 04:15 What happens when a new manager makes a bad hire 06:12 Why interviewing is treated like an assumed skill 09:28 What’s at stake when managers interview poorly 13:40 Signs an interviewer needs more support 18:20 Why “I’ll just wing it” is a problem 21:38 What every new hiring manager should know 22:36 Why interviewing should be a two-way conversation 26:34 The interviewer’s responsibility in the conversation 28:22 Why we created the New Hiring Manager Playbook 33:10 What’s inside the Playbook + Adobe PDF Spaces 34:17 The New Hiring Manager Playbook launch Keywords hiring manager training, new manager training, interview training, how to interview candidates, interview skills, hiring manager interview questions, candidate experience, interview preparation, structured interviews, New Hiring Manager Playbook

  4. Sep 23

    Is Your Interview Panel Just a Group Vibe Check?

    Episode Description:Interview panels are supposed to bring more perspectives, reduce bias, and lead to better hiring decisions. But adding more interviewers does not automatically create more structure. In this episode, we break down why panel interviews often turn into repeated questions, conflicting standards, loud opinions, and groupthink. You’ll learn how to prepare interviewers before a panel, assign clear areas of evaluation, improve the candidate experience, score candidates independently, and run a debrief that focuses on evidence instead of who liked the candidate most. Key Takeaways: Adding more interviewers does not automatically make an interview process more structured or objective. A successful panel should not be five people interviewing the same candidate. It should be five people collecting different pieces of evidence. Interviewers should know exactly which skills or competencies they own before the candidate enters the room. Repeating the same questions wastes interview time and prevents the team from evaluating other important job-related criteria. Candidates notice when interviewers are unprepared, distracted, contradicting each other, or unclear about their role in the process. A panel interview can become a candidate’s first preview of how meetings, communication, and decision-making work inside the company. Interviewers should score candidates independently before discussing them with the rest of the panel. The first or loudest opinion in a debrief can influence everyone else, especially when interviewers have different levels of seniority. Disagreement between interviewers can be useful when the team goes back to the evidence instead of averaging scores or trying to reach immediate consensus. Having a structured interview process is not the same as having a structured hiring decision process. Calibration means interviewers are using the same definitions and standards to evaluate evidence, not that everyone has to give the candidate the same score. Good panel interviews define success before the interview, focus on job-related evidence during it, and use independent scoring followed by an evidence-based debrief afterward. Timestamps 01:21 Why interview panels make companies feel safer03:20 Why more interviewers do not mean more structure05:09 Why a successful panel starts before the interview05:59 The problem with repeated interview questions07:21 How candidates know a panel is unprepared09:27 When the debrief becomes a group vibe check10:21 What hiring managers told us about debriefs11:29 Why interviewers should score candidates independently12:41 How seniority and loud opinions influence decisions15:09 Why disagreement can improve a hiring debrief16:48 Structured interviews versus structured hiring decisions18:22 What a good panel looks like before, during, and after21:28 Are panel interviews actually bad? Keywords panel interviewinterview panelpanel interview questionshow to conduct a panel interviewpanel interview best practicesinterview debriefhiring debriefinterview scorecardstructured interviewsgroupthink in hiringhiring manager interview traininginterview biascandidate evaluationinterview calibration

  5. Sep 16

    Did You Really Ever Have A Shot At That Promotion?

    Internal interviews can be harder to evaluate fairly than external interviews because managers already know the candidate, their reputation, their past mistakes, and their current performance. In this episode, we explain how to interview internal candidates fairly, how to avoid predetermined promotion decisions, why strong performance in a current role does not automatically predict success in the next one, and how to give useful feedback when an employee does not get promoted. You will also learn how structured interviews, clear job criteria, and neutral interviewers can improve internal hiring decisions. Key Takeaways: If the hiring decision is already made and no interview could change the outcome, do not put employees through a performative interview process. Having a frontrunner for an internal role is different from having a predetermined winner. Internal candidates can have both advantages and disadvantages because managers already know their strengths, weaknesses, reputation, and past performance. Being successful in a current role is not evidence that someone will automatically succeed in the next role. Internal promotions should be based on the requirements of the new job, not tenure, likability, loyalty, or whose turn it seems to be. Familiarity and personal chemistry can easily replace job-related evidence when managers evaluate internal candidates. Internal candidates need specific feedback when they are not selected so they understand what skills, competencies, or experience they need to develop. Feedback like “you are not ready yet” or “someone else was stronger” is too vague to help an employee improve. Internal and external candidates should still be evaluated against the same job-related standards and structured interview criteria. A neutral interviewer can help hiring teams separate familiarity, internal history, and bias from evidence about whether someone can do the job. Timestamps 01:22 Was the internal job actually open? 02:27 Frontrunner versus predetermined promotion 03:04 When an internal interview is already decided 06:09 Why internal interviews become awkward 07:22 Why high performance does not guarantee promotion success 09:11 Internal candidate advantages and disadvantages 11:29 How gut feeling affects internal hiring 16:45 Why internal candidate feedback matters 19:41 How to give useful promotion feedback 24:49 How to reduce bias in internal interviews Keywords internal interviewinternal candidate interviewinternal promotionpromotion interviewhow to interview internal candidatesinternal hiring processinternal candidate feedbackstructured interviewspromotion decisionshiring manager interview training

  6. Sep 9

    Can You Believe These Interview Questions Still Exist?

    Some interview questions refuse to die. We break down why hiring managers still ask questions like “Tell me about yourself,” “What’s your greatest weakness?” and “Where do you see yourself in five years?” even when they often provide very little useful evidence about whether someone can do the job. You’ll learn what these questions are actually measuring, what to ask instead, why structured interviewing leads to better decisions, and why the best interviewers focus less on finding the perfect question and more on asking better follow-ups. Key Takeaways Many outdated interview questions survive because they are familiar and easy to ask, not because they are effective. “Tell me about yourself” is often too broad to produce consistent, job-related information. Questions about weaknesses commonly produce rehearsed answers instead of useful evidence. Understanding what candidates liked and disliked about past roles can reveal more than asking where they see themselves in five years. “Sell me this pen” and other hypotheticals are weaker than asking about real past experience. Animal questions, brain teasers, and other non-qualifying questions add little value to hiring decisions. Structured interviews help hiring teams evaluate candidates more consistently. The best interviewers are not the ones with the most creative questions. They know when to follow up. When candidates speak generally, ask them to walk you through a specific situation. A good interview is about collecting evidence you can actually use to make a hiring decision. Timestamps  01:04 The interview questions that won’t die 02:21 Why outdated interview questions survive 03:55 What to ask instead of “Tell me about yourself” 06:50 Why the weakness question misses 10:04 The problem with five-year questions 12:25 Why “Sell me this pen” fails 15:31 Retiring animal and brain-teaser questions 18:35 Why structured interviews work better 19:27 The interviewing skill that matters most 20:59 How to ask better follow-up questions Keywords interview questions to avoid best interview questions how to interview candidates structured interviews behavioral interview questions hiring manager interview training better interview questions interview follow-up questions

  7. Sep 2

    Do Recruiters & Hiring Managers Need Couples Therapy?

    Season 2 is back, and we’re starting with one of the relationships that can make or break the entire hiring process: recruiters and hiring managers. We break down why the two sides so often end up frustrated with each other, where the partnership starts to fall apart, and how that disconnect impacts candidates. You’ll learn how to define success together, set clearer expectations, improve communication, clarify ownership, and turn hiring from a handoff into an actual partnership. Key Takeaways Recruiters and hiring managers often want the same outcome but blame each other when the process breaks down. Many hiring problems start in the initial intake meeting when expectations are vague or assumed. Recruiters and hiring managers need to define what success looks like before candidates enter the process. Changing requirements or scorecards mid-process makes hiring slower and less consistent. Candidate motivation matters just as much as whether someone can technically do the job. Candidates feel internal misalignment through delays, repeated questions, and poor communication. Clear boundaries and proactive communication build stronger hiring partnerships. Recruiters bring market knowledge, candidate pipelines, and candidate communication expertise. Hiring managers own interview quality, decision quality, and meaningful feedback. Hiring works best when recruiters and hiring managers treat success as shared responsibility. Timestamps 00:52 Why recruiters and hiring managers clash 01:44 The biggest recruiter frustrations 04:33 What hiring managers complain about 07:03 How candidates feel the disconnect 08:40 Where hiring partnerships break down 11:00 Why candidate motivators matter 15:26 Coaching hiring managers in real time 17:48 Trust, boundaries, and communication 22:35 What recruiters and managers each own 28:10 How to run a better kickoff meeting Keywords recruiter hiring manager relationship recruiter hiring manager partnership hiring process alignment hiring manager responsibilities recruiter responsibilities recruiting intake meeting candidate experience hiring process communication interview process alignment recruiting collaboration

  8. May 20

    You’re Losing Candidates and Customers with Daniel Birkholm

    In this live episode, you’ll learn why most companies are overlooking the biggest risk in their hiring process: candidate experience. Daniel Birkholm shares how focusing only on hired candidates ignores the majority of people interacting with your brand and why that can hurt both hiring outcomes and business performance. This is a practical look at how to measure candidate experience, improve hiring quality, and build a more sustainable recruiting strategy. Key Takeaways: Most companies reject 95% of candidates and ignore their experience Poor candidate experience can damage your brand and revenue Happy candidates are more likely to become customers Negative experiences spread faster than positive ones Candidate experience impacts quality of hire Feedback loops are critical to improving hiring Many teams focus too much on efficiency over experience Data-driven hiring leads to better outcomes Candidates can still have a good experience even if rejected Measuring experience helps create more sustainable hiring Keywords: candidate experience, hiring metrics, candidate NPS, recruitment feedback, employer brand impact, hiring strategy data, talent acquisition metrics, candidate journey, recruitment analytics, hiring experience improvement Follow Daniel at https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielbirkholm/ Sponsored by @shakerrecruitmentmarketing

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“Don’t Tell Me About Yourself” is where old-school hiring meets a modern reality check. Hosted by Expert Interviewers Co-Founders Lorna Erickson and Victoria Gates, this show blends their combined 40 years of real-world experience with the unfiltered commentary that made 340K+ people laugh, cringe, and rethink how interviews actually work. Each week, they tackle the biggest news in hiring, from chaotic interview moments to ghost jobs and questions that should have been retired decades ago. Whether you hire, apply, or just love a good interview trainwreck, this show is for anyone who’s ever sat on either side of the interview table. Real stories. Real data. Real talk about how to make interviews actually work for everyone. Because great hiring isn’t luck—it's a skill.

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