Why Interviews and Resumes Aren’t Enough

Why Interviews and Resumes Aren’t Enough

Hiring a Chief Commercial Officer or VP of Sales is high stakes.

The cost of a mishire is too steep to rely on gut alone.
But too many searches rely solely on interviews and resumes to make the call.

And that’s a problem.

Because the resume tells you where they’ve been.
The interview tells you how they talk about it.
Neither tells you how they actually lead.

What Resumes Don’t Show

• Did they lead — or ride the wave of a hot market?
• Did they build the team — or inherit it?
• Were they driving strategy — or executing someone else’s plan?
• Can they lead through adversity — or only in momentum?

The companies that hire well dig deeper.

What to Look for Instead

Start by looking for proof of performance — not just claims of it.

Ask questions like:

• Tell me about a time you missed plan — how did you course-correct and still hit year-end targets?
• What commercial infrastructure did you build from scratch?
• What changed because of your leadership — not just the company’s momentum?
• What was your team’s turnover rate, and how did you coach through underperformance?

You’ll learn more from how they led in hard seasons than in highlight reels.

What We’ve Learned

At Alder Brooks, we help CEOs and Investors go beyond first impressions.
We benchmark commercial leaders against what actually drives success in your environment.

Because resumes are the surface.
Great hiring decisions come from what’s underneath.

Here's how to make your process more objective and still trust your instincts.

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