Season 1, Episode 6 • 15:00
When Good Candidates Don't Get Hired
In our first "Summer Shorts" episode, Matt and James dive into something every hiring manager and recruiter has faced: candidates who seem like a great fit — strong CV, good early interviews — but don't make it through. Or, just as often, the ones that slip through the cracks but might have been the right hire.
Drawing on Matt's years of experience leading engineering teams, we talk through:
Topics Discussed
- Why hiring starts with understanding the real problem you're solving
- How the cost of a "wrong hire" compares to the risk of missing the right person
- What makes hiring for deep tech roles fundamentally different from product-focused startups
- Why values alignment can matter more than technical brilliance
- What engineers should look for when evaluating whether a startup is worth joining
If you're scaling a team or navigating your next move as an engineer, this episode offers a grounded look at where things go right — and wrong — in the hiring process.
🎧 15 minutes. Zero fluff. Tune in now.