The Best Candidates Are Not Always the Loudest

The Best Candidates Are Not Always the Loudest

 

What 30 Years in Recruiting Has Taught Me About Presence, Confidence, and Executive Communication

One of the biggest misconceptions in hiring is that the most impressive person in the interview is automatically the best candidate for the job.

After more than three decades in executive recruiting, I can tell you that it is often not true.

Some of the strongest professionals I have ever placed were not the loudest voice in the room. They were not overly polished. They were not performing. They were not trying to dominate the conversation or deliver perfect interview answers.

What they had was clarity.

And clarity is incredibly powerful in an interview.

 

At Tangent West, we place executive assistants, chiefs of staff, accounting, finance, and human resources professionals, and one pattern consistently stands out across all levels of hiring: candidates who communicate clearly and confidently almost always separate themselves from the competition.

The candidates who consistently stand out understand how to communicate their experience in a grounded, direct, and thoughtful way. They know how to explain what they have done, how they think, how they solve problems, and how they create impact without overselling themselves.

That distinction matters more than people realize.

Many professionals walk into interviews believing they need to impress hiring managers with nonstop talking, memorized answers, or highly rehearsed delivery. In reality, experienced leaders are usually looking for something very different.

They are looking for trust.

They are asking themselves questions like:

• Can this person communicate clearly under pressure?
• Can they prioritize information?
• Can they represent the company well internally and externally?
• Can they operate with maturity and judgment?
• Can I picture working with this person every day?

Those answers are often revealed less through what candidates say and more through how they say it.

Executive presence is not about being the most charismatic person in the room. It is about creating confidence in the people around you.

And one of the fastest ways candidates lose that confidence is by overexplaining.

 

Strong candidates know how to answer questions directly. They provide context, explain their decision-making, and communicate outcomes clearly. They understand that interviews are conversations, not performances.

This becomes especially important in today’s hiring environment, where communication skills have become one of the biggest differentiators across nearly every level of business.

Technical skills matter. Experience matters. But the ability to think clearly and communicate effectively has become increasingly rare.

 

At Tangent West, we often tell candidates that interviews are not simply evaluating whether you can do the work. They are evaluating what it will feel like to work with you.

That is a very different lens.

Hiring managers are paying attention to emotional intelligence, self-awareness, listening ability, composure, professionalism, and communication style in every interaction — from the first email to the final interview.

And interestingly, the candidates who perform best are often the ones who stop trying so hard to perform.

 

Instead, they focus on clarity.

They prepare thoughtfully. They understand the role deeply. They communicate their experience with structure and confidence. They answer the question being asked rather than delivering overly complicated responses they rehearsed in advance.

Most importantly, they stay connected to who they actually are.

The best interviews rarely feel robotic. They feel real.

 

After 30 years in recruiting, I can say this confidently: hiring managers remember candidates who make them feel comfortable, confident, and clear about the value they bring.

Not the ones who simply talked the most.

Because in hiring, presence is not volume.

Presence is clarity.

 

Cheryl Grimaldi, CPC
President/Founder
Tangent West
cgrimaldi@tangentwest.com
970-390-0773 mobile
www.tangentwest.com