What the Resume Filters Miss: Why Good Talent Deserves a Closer Look
We’ve all been there: you post a job on LinkedIn and within 24 hours, there are hundreds of applications. On the surface, this seems like a great problem to have if you’re the employer. Not for the candidate, though. But anyone who’s had to hire in today’s digital landscape knows that the volume can be overwhelming.
That’s where filtering comes in. When you post a job, LinkedIn and similar platforms use a combination of automation and manual input to narrow the pool or sift through the pile. They use things like Keyword matching to look for resumes that match words in your job description to move to the top of the pile. Experience filters plow through X years of experience, specific tools, or job titles, and then there’s Education or location requirements. Finally, they add in Engagement signals like how quickly someone applied, if they follow your company, etc.
In just a few clicks, bam! You’ve gone from 250 resumes to a “shortlist” of 20.
Great! Right? Not really, because there’s the catch: the system isn’t necessarily surfacing the best candidates—it’s surfacing the most easily searchable ones.
Once again, the candidate suffers because automated filtering systems are designed to spot patterns and match hard skills. But that’s only part of what makes a great hire, especially in creative, digital, and marketing roles, where success depends on far more than what’s written on a resume.
Here’s what often gets overlooked! Personality & culture fit for starters. A resume can’t tell you who’s collaborative, curious, or calm under pressure. And yet, those are often the qualities that make someone truly great to work with. How about Soft skills? A robot can’t identify strategic thinking, storytelling ability, emotional intelligence, and client communication skills, but they’re critical in creative and marketing roles. Remember good old Trajectory & potential? Maybe someone took a less traditional path or pivoted careers, but their unique background could bring fresh thinking to your team. And who’s looking at the Portfolio strength? In creative roles, a candidate’s work speaks louder than a resume. The filters won’t tell you whose portfolio is quietly brilliant. Lastly, Why did the candidate apply in the first place? A system won’t pick up on a candidate’s passion for your brand or interest in your mission, and that motivation can make all the difference in how invested they’ll be.
At smartdept., we believe that good talent shouldn’t be lost in the shuffle just because they didn’t use the right buzzwords. Our vetting process goes beyond the resume—we talk to candidates, understand their stories, assess their soft skills, and look at their work. We find out what makes them tick and how they might complement your team, not just fill a gap. And hey hiring managers, it’s free to look at our candidates!
Yes, filtering has a place. But people make the difference.
We take pride in connecting our clients with talent who not only check the boxes but also bring something extra to the table. Let’s find the people who wouldn’t just pass the filter, but exceed expectations once they’re in the door. Contact us today.
Amber Rowher, Creative Account Manager at smartdept. says, “The first person that comes to mind is Dolly Parton. Aside from being an incredible artist who has found success across several music genres, she has always challenged societal norms of being a woman. To this day, she continues to speak out and support LGBTQ rights and Black Lives Matter. I think it is because of women like her that others today are given more opportunities they otherwise wouldn’t have.”
Aphra Behn was born on December 14th, 1640. Yup! I had to bust out Peabody’s Way Back Machine for this one. But Aphra Behn’s contributions are substantial! And think of all the travel miles I accumulated during my research. An English playwright, poet, prose writer, and translator from the Restoration era, Aphra was one of the first English women to earn a living from her writing. As a result, she broke cultural barriers and served as a literary role model for later generations of women authors.
Yaazzz! Sarah knocks it out of the park with her choice of Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg. RBG was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until she died in 2020. Ginsburg was the first Jewish woman and the second woman to serve on the Court after Sandra Day O’Connor. President Bill Clinton nominated her for The Supreme Court to fill the seat vacated by retiring Justice Byron White.
Creative Account Manager, Haley Stowell, enjoys the writing of Sandra Cisneros. Known for work that experiments with literary forms which investigate emerging subject positions, Cisneros, herself, attributes her style to growing up in a context of cultural hybridity and economic inequality. Sandra is the only daughter in a family of six brothers which often made her feel isolated. Additionally, the constant migration of her family between Mexico and the United States made her feel as though she was always straddling two countries, while never really belonging to either culture. As a result, her work deals with the formation of Chicana identity, exploring the challenges of being caught between Mexican and Anglo-American cultures, facing the misogynist attitudes present in both these cultures, and experiencing poverty.
Eryn Briscoe, Talent Acquisition Specialist at smartdept., admires the work of Mexican Painter, Frida Kahlo. Frida is known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Born to a German father and a mestiza mother, Kahlo spent most of her childhood and adult life at La Casa Azul, her family home in Cayoacán. Inspired by the country’s popular culture, she employed a naïve 
Creative Account Manager, Morgan Gorecki, would like you to take some time to learn about Sylvia Rivera. Born on July 2, 1951, this Latina trailblazer was a Venezuelan-Puerto Rican trans woman who pioneered LGBT activism, fighting for trans rights. Raised in New York City, Sylvia was abandoned by her birth father and became an orphan after her mother died by suicide. Living on the streets before her 11th birthday, Rivera was forced to work as a child prostitute before she was taken in by a local community of drag queens who gave her the name Sylvia. Together she and Marsha P Johnson (who allegedly was the first person who threw a brick in the 
while playing winter ball in Puerto Rico. He had just finished his rookie campaign when, on Dec. 31, 1972, he was among a handful of ballplayers helping to load the small plane in San Juan with food, clothing, and medical supplies.