Stop Hiring Shiny Resumes

Start Building Teams That Deliver...

A resume lands on your desk.  Big Tech logos.  Fancy title like “Strategic Growth Architect.”  Prestigious university.

You think, “This is the one.”

But a few weeks in?  All talk, no traction.  Great at meetings. Not so great at moving the work forward. 

And when things go sideways, they disappear faster than a browser tab during a performance review.

At Marketing Automation Ink (MAI), we’ve learned this lesson the hard way.

The flashiest hire isn’t always the smartest.

That’s why we stopped hiring for decoration and started hiring for depth.

Why Surface-Level Hiring Fails

We’ve been conditioned to equate logos, degrees, and job titles with competence. They feel like safe bets. But here’s the hard truth:

A shiny resume doesn’t guarantee real results. It guarantees someone who knows how to talk about work. Not necessarily how to do it.

Meanwhile, the hires who’ll move your business forward? They might not have the name-brand pedigree. 

They might be self-taught, career-switchers, or late bloomers.

But they:

• Ask smart questions.

• Think critically.

• Own their mistakes.

• Solve without making a show of it.
  

They don’t float. They anchor.

The Hidden Cost of Hiring for Relief

Hiring under pressure often leads to a mistake that compounds over time. You’re overwhelmed. You need help. You pick the first resume that “checks the boxes.”

Thirty days later? You’re micromanaging. Fixing their fixes. Re-explaining basics.

Instead of freeing you up, you’re more stuck than before. This is the cost of hiring for relief, not fit.

At MAI, we don’t hire fast to tick a box. We hire slowly and intentionally because the wrong hire costs more than time. It costs momentum.

How MAI Hires

At MAI, we don’t care where someone’s worked. We care how they work.

Here are three questions we ask to uncover depth during interviews:

1. “Tell me about a time something broke — what did you do?” We’re looking for situational awareness, ownership, and clarity in problem-solving.

2. “What’s a mistake you took responsibility for, even when it wasn’t your fault?” This shows character. People with depth don’t care about being right — they care about getting it right.

3. “Give an example of something you simplified — and what changed.” We want systems thinkers, not task-takers.
   

Generic answers? No thanks. Jargon-loaded responses? Pass. Clear, thoughtful, real examples? We pay attention.

Depth Outperforms Surface in Building Systems

In marketing automation, the real work isn’t flashy. It’s fixing workflows. Optimizing sequences. Ensuring systems run while you sleep.

The people who excel here aren’t the loudest in meetings. They’re the ones who:

• Solve quietly.

• Think systematically.

• Build processes that don’t break.
  

Surface-level hires won’t fix your marketing chaos. People with depth will.

Fit Over Flash

At MAI, our hiring mirrors how we build marketing systems: No quick hacks. No fancy tools just for the sake of it. We design scalable systems with clarity and precision.

And we build teams the same way:

• We hire thinkers who simplify.

• Builders who fix, not patch.

• People who don’t need micromanagement — because they take ownership from day one.

We don’t care if your resume is shiny. We care if your work lasts.

Hire What Lasts, Not What Floats

The shiny fades. Depth stays.

So next time you’re hiring, ask: Are we hiring for decoration? Or are we hiring for durability?

Because when you’re scaling a business, surface-level hires slow you down. Depth moves you forward.

At MAI, we build teams and systems that don’t just survive they scale.

Want to see how we build systems and teams that deliver real results?

Let’s have a conversation. No pitch. Just clarity.

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