In a recent LinkedIn post, Architafritz shares surprising insights from reviewing over 30 CVs daily for various roles within their portfolio companies, ranging from Product Marketing Managers to CMOs. While acknowledging the exceptionally high quality of candidates, Architafritz highlights a common pitfall: many make it unnecessarily difficult for hiring teams to identify their suitability for a role.
Architafritz notes that the primary challenge is not finding talented individuals, but rather in how candidates present their experience. The post emphasizes the need for clarity and directness in showcasing relevant skills and achievements.
“The quality of candidates is ridiculously high. So the challenge isn’t finding good people. The challenge is that many of them are making it harder than necessary for hiring teams to understand why they’re the right fit.”
Streamlining the CV for Busy Hiring Managers
Architafritz offers practical advice for candidates to ensure their applications get noticed. A key recommendation is to leverage AI not just for Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), but as a tool to align a CV with a specific job description. This proactive approach, Architafritz argues, helps hiring managers quickly grasp a candidate’s qualifications without having to search extensively through the document.
“If you’ve done exactly what the company needs, don’t bury it halfway down page two,” Architafritz advises, underscoring the importance of prominent placement for crucial information.
Quantifying Impact and Contextualizing Experience
Beyond simply listing responsibilities, Architafritz stresses the importance of demonstrating tangible impact. Candidates are encouraged to quantify their contributions by detailing changes in revenue, pipeline, adoption, retention, launches, pricing, reporting, or forecasting that occurred because of their involvement.
Understanding the operating environment is also critical, as Architafritz points out. “A VP Marketing at a Fortune 500 company and a VP Marketing at a PE-backed company may have the same title and completely different jobs.” This highlights the need for candidates to provide context about the scale and nature of the companies they have worked for.
“Tell me what changed because you were there. Revenue, pipeline, adoption, retention, launches, pricing, reporting, forecasting. Make it measurable. Don’t share a laundry list of responsibilities.”
Navigating AI and Interview Presentations
Architafritz also addresses the growing use of AI in the job application process. The advice is to use AI as a tool for improvement, not a crutch. For instance, when using AI to generate interview presentations, candidates are urged to heavily edit the output. Architafritz wants to understand the candidate’s genuine thought process, not a generic response generated by ChatGPT.
“Stop writing ‘AI expert’ or listing a slew of tools you are an ‘expert’ in. Tell me what you’ve actually built, automated, tested, improved, or learned,” Architafritz suggests, emphasizing the need for practical, verifiable experience over self-proclaimed expertise.
The Differentiator: A Memorable Takeaway
To stand out from a high volume of applications, Architafritz recommends providing a single, memorable piece of information about oneself. This could be anything from a board role or a unique career turn to a hobby or a sport. As Architafritz states, after reviewing numerous CVs, generic descriptors like “strong big picture commercial leader” become meaningless.
“Give me one thing to remember. A board role, a weird career turn, a board game, a side project, a sport, anything. After 30 CVs, “strong big picture commercial leader” means nothing.”
The post concludes with a poignant observation about the interview process itself. Architafritz notes that some candidates excel in panel interviews but falter in final conversations, suggesting a disconnect between prepared answers and true understanding of their craft. This final stage, according to Architafritz, truly exposes who understands their domain versus those who relied heavily on AI prompts.
Architafritz expresses empathy for job seekers in the current market, offering encouragement and support.
📝 About This Content
This article is based on insights shared by Architafritz on LinkedIn.
📅 Originally posted on June 4, 2026 | View original post on LinkedIn →