Name Dropping on Your Resume & in Interviews

Getting a job in the NBA

We started with a few hundred applications and had gotten down to our final 3 candidates, with one clearly in the lead.

There was one resume that stood out.  They had the experience and skill set we were looking for.  Our group doing interviews had different preferences for candidates #2 and #3 but we were pretty set on who our top one was.

There was only one concern.

And the problem was, he didn’t know it was a concern.  So he brought it up over… and over… and over again until it was his demise.

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This Intern prospect had a connection with Sam Presti.  We didn’t mind that but in every interview with each of us, he brought up his connection with Sam Presti.  When we entered the group interview stage (3 final candidates), he brought up Sam Presti again. 

And we moved him from #1 to #3.  Why?

• As this prospective Intern started sharing more and more about his relationship with Sam Presti, our question became, well, why hasn’t Sam Presti hired you then?

• There was no way we were going to put this Sam Presti name dropper in front of Neil Olshey as our top Intern candidate. 

If he had simply known ‘no one,’ he was basically a shoe-in. 

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Oftentimes, prospective Interns find it important to drop the names of people they know in the business.  This isn’t always a positive and can be a negative.  You want to use those names to make connections but not in an interview.

If someone in the hiring process doesn’t like that person, you’re out.  If we call that person and they say, ‘I talked to them on the phone one time’ or give a less than over-the-top recommendation, you’re out.  If you have an established relationship with someone in the industry, they should be calling on your behalf, not you using their name.