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Don’t Tell Me About Yourself

Don’t Tell Me About Yourself

Written by: WRKdefined Podcast Network
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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.All rights reserved by WRKdefined Careers Economics Management Management & Leadership Personal Success
Episodes
  • How Many Interviews Is Too Many?

    How Many Interviews Is Too Many?
    Oct 14 2026
    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
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    28 mins
  • Did Anyone Actually Teach You How to Interview? with Danielle Farage

    Did Anyone Actually Teach You How to Interview? with Danielle Farage
    Oct 7 2026
    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
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    38 mins
  • Is Your Interview Panel Just a Group Vibe Check?

    Is Your Interview Panel Just a Group Vibe Check?
    Sep 23 2026
    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
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    23 mins
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