In many ways, buyers of lottery tickets have more information about the game they’re playing than job candidates do. They know the odds, and how the numbers will be chosen, and when. That’s not always true when you fire off a resume, or even when you’re invited to interview.

So I’ve been asking recruiters, founders, and human resources executives about the parts of the hiring process that aren’t especially transparent to job-seekers. What exactly happens as they review resumes, conduct interviews, and make hiring decisions? I broke down their replies into three different phases of the hiring process.