When reviewing candidates for a job position that got an overwhelming amount of applications, I realized how many rad people there are in the world.

It makes me a bit sad that there’s only one position for so many amazing individuals, and this process has also helped me realize there are often real limits to organizational resources and capacities. There’s also limits to our ability to share the value we bring to the world.

Even if you’re a master copywriter who also understands how to craft a valuable career narrative, and knows what the hiring managers are looking for, you still might get the tone wrong, or you might be emphasizing something that’s less important than another skill. 

To be honest, there’s also the luck of the draw – if I’m tired or hungry, I might not even be reading your application as thoroughly as someone else’s. Or perhaps your style of writing doesn’t resonate as much with me, but it would have resonated more with another person.

Thankfully the hiring process involves multiple blind reviewers and taking breaks between long evaluation sessions to minimize some of the randomness, but regardless, there is no perfect hiring process. It doesn’t mean that we can’t do our best to build one, though. 

Whether you’re looking to hire someone, or looking to get a new job, remember that we all have limits, and that while it might seem incredibly personal, if you don’t get selected for a role, it’s probably much less about you and more about the medium of the hiring process itself.