What a CV tells you. And what a conversation reveals.

A title is not a role specification.

Two people can share a job title while doing very different work. Project management in special-purpose machinery differs from managing standardised production projects. Team size, decision-making authority and interfaces make the difference.

Our starting point is the actual assignment: what should this person achieve in the first few months? Which experience is essential from day one? What can be learned within the business? This creates a search brief that goes beyond a list of keywords.

Questions that make a conversation more concrete.

Instead of asking about general strengths, explore a specific work situation. Distinguish what the person did from what the wider team achieved.

• What difficult task did you last take on, and what was your own contribution?
• How did you respond when time, quality and budget conflicted?
• What would you do differently today, and why?
• What conditions do you need to do this job well?

Personality needs a fair framework.

For us, personality before the CV does not mean intuition instead of qualifications. Professional requirements remain central. We also consider motivation, working style and expectations about teamwork and leadership.

A common core of questions and documented observations help keep conversations comparable. A likeable manner is not proof of suitability. Equally, a reserved person should have the opportunity to demonstrate experience through concrete examples.

One small step for your next interview.

Before the next interview, choose three requirements that truly matter for the role. For each, write a question about a specific situation. Afterwards, record which examples support the requirement and which questions remain open.

This creates a clear basis for the next technical conversation. This is where SEARCH4 contributes: clarifying requirements, approaching people personally and structuring selection together with your business.