The Verification Era of Hiring

Post a job online today and your inbox will look like Times Square (my favorite place in the world). All keyword-perfect, beautifully formatted, and oddly… identical.

That’s because they are. AI has flattened résumés into commodities.

So companies are shifting. Instead of asking, “Who wrote the best résumé?” they’re asking, “Who has already been verified?”

Welcome to the Verification Era of Hiring.

The Résumé Is Dead, Long Live the Badge of Approval

Résumés used to be passports. They were useful stamps of where you’ve been. Now, AI has flooded the system with counterfeits. So companies are checking badges instead:

• Referrals. A teammate vouching for you is worth more than 100 bullet points about “driving strategic alignment.”

• Known brands. Schools, companies, and organizations with reputations that act like pre-filters.

• Affiliations. Fellowships, accelerators, or selective programs (YC, TFA, VFA) that serve as shorthand.

• Proof of work. Code repos, decks, side projects, or writing online. AI can fake words, but not lived experience.

This is the new currency of hiring.

My Shortcut: Venture for America

When I started out, I didn’t have a FAANG logo on my résumé. What I did have was Venture for America (VFA).

For those who aren’t familiar, VFA is a two-year fellowship that places grads at startups to build entrepreneurial chops. VFA focused on cities facing “brain drains” like Detroit, Cleveland, New Orleans (where I was).

For employers and investors (especially in those cities), “VFA Fellow” was a signal that:

• I’d been vetted by a competitive process

• I’d chosen the scrappy, messy startup path over a cushy job

• I was part of a network known for hustle and ownership

It wasn’t just a résumé line. It was a badge of approval that opened doors polish alone wouldn’t.

Why Verification Is Taking Over

Three reasons companies are leaning back into verification points:

1. Speed over volume. No recruiter has time to parse 400 lookalike résumés. A referral collapses search time from hours to minutes.

2. Trust over polish. Résumés can be faked; lived-in experiences can’t. One trusted affiliation is worth more than ten auto-generated bullet points.

3. Signal over noise. Verification points act like encryption keys. They cut through résumé spam and tell you who’s actually done the work.

It’s not elegant, but it’s pragmatic.

The Company Playbook: 5 Ways to Hire in the Verification Era

Companies that win in this new environment won’t just lean on pedigree. They’ll build smarter verification systems:

1. Structured referrals. Don’t wait for random intros. Build a referral system. Give real incentives, track outcomes, and watch your top hires come from trusted insiders.

2. Affiliation pipelines. Partner with fellowships, bootcamps, or accelerators to tap into curated talent pools.

3. Proof-of-work projects. Instead of guessing whether someone can sell, design a 1-hour cold email project. Instead of debating whether a dev can code, do a paired programming project.

4. Value-based interviews. Ask questions that tie to values like ownership or curiosity. AI can fake “I managed a cross-functional team.” It can’t fake “Tell me about a time you were dead wrong and what you did about it.”

5. Alternative signals. Open-source repos, a blog, a side hustle, or some sort of community involvement. If they’ve shipped something real, it’s a badge.

The Candidate Playbook: 5 Ways to Earn Verification Without Pedigree

If you’re a candidate without a big-name company or fellowship on your résumé, you’re not locked out. But you do need to earn verification elsewhere:

1. Publish your work. Show, don’t tell. Ship projects, write posts, share code.

2. Get referred. Ask past colleagues, mentors, or even peers to vouch for you. A warm intro beats a cold résumé.

3. Join communities. Alumni groups, online cohorts, and professional groups can add credibility.

4. Show values in action. In interviews, skip “I’m a team player.” Tell a story about backing a colleague when things went sideways.

5. Create your own badge. Build in public. Visibility is its own verification.

The Double-Edged Sword

As a hiring manager verification points are powerful, but lean too hard and you’re basically running a pedigree pageant.

If you only filter for Ivy League + FAANG, you’ll miss the people who will actually run through walls for your company. The ones who:

• Care obsessively about the mission and the team

• Thrive in chaos without waiting for instructions

• Bring scrappy creativity and energy that logos can’t teach

The best leaders know this. They use verification points as shortcuts, not blinders.

Where AI Fits Back In

Ironically, AI can be part of the solution:

• Summarizing résumés and experiences to triage faster

• Generating structured interview questions for consistency

• Running skill simulations to filter real from fake

AI broke the résumé, but paired with human judgment, it can help rebuild the hiring stack.

Final Thought

AI hasn’t broken hiring. It’s just revealed how flimsy résumés always were. In the Verification Era, the edge belongs to:

• Companies who design human-first hiring processes that combine verification with access.

• Candidates who stack real-world badges that prove credibility beyond polish

At the end of the day, the strongest signal isn’t who crafted the prettiest résumé. It’s who already carries a badge of approval you can trust.