Looks Good on Paper

Deepfakes in hiring interviews are real. A recruiter at Xero shares the story of a candidate who impersonated a deceased person on a video call, and explains how his team catches fake profiles, eliminates culture fit bias, and reviews every single applicant without using AI to screen anyone out.Nit Karuna is a Principal AI/ML Recruiter at Xero with over a decade of experience building technical teams across Canada, the US, UK, Sweden, Australia, and New Zealand. He leads recruitment for engineering, product, and data roles, including VPs of product and engineering, principal ML leaders, and applied scientists.In this episode, Nit breaks down the three confidence problems he sees in hiring right now: the pedigree trap (assuming someone from Google or Meta will automatically level up your team), culture fit interviews that function as vibe checks instead of structured assessments, and the growing wave of deepfakes and identity fraud that is forcing companies to rethink how they verify candidates.What you'll learn → Why hiring from big-brand companies backfires more often than recruiters admit → How culture fit rounds become bias traps when there are no structured criteria → What Xero does in intake calls to map team gaps and hold managers accountable → How deepfakes and fake profiles are showing up in live hiring interviews in 2026 → Why Nit personally reviews every applicant and refuses to let AI screen candidates out → What a hiring process without CVs could look like for engineering and AI roles → How to spot red flags on video calls (camera off, mismatched audio, off-screen typing)GUEST Nit Karuna, Principal AI/ML Recruiter at Xero https://www.linkedin.com/in/nitharsen/YOUR HOST Anita Chauhan, Founder of InGoodCo. https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan/LISTEN & FOLLOW Youtube: https://youtu.be/qmTSMJHjxhA Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dbfz6y0tMq3crViHQD66HApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/looks-good-on-paper/id1625835562POWERED BY WILLO https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paperCONNECT WITH US https://www.willo.video https://www.linkedin.com/company/10170893/Share this episode with a recruiter or hiring manager who needs to hear it. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.Looks Good on Paper is a hiring podcast that explores the gap between how confident companies think they are in their hiring process and how confident they should actually be. Host Anita Chauhan talks to talent leaders, recruiters, and workforce strategists about the assumptions, biases, and blind spots that shape how companies find, assess, and keep talent. Season 3 is The Confidence Gap: what do you actually trust in your hiring process?Show ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

Most hiring decisions get made on a feeling. A hiring manager comes out of an interview, says "I think this one is a better fit," and the team moves forward. Anu Joshi has spent 17 years inside talent functions watching that pattern play out, and she has a problem with it. Interviews are high-pressure performance environments. The candidates who do well are often the ones who can read the room and tell you what you want to hear. The ones who freeze are not necessarily worse at the job. They are worse at the interview. Those are different things, and most teams are confusing them. Anu is currently Director of Talent at FutureSight, where she leads executive and leadership hiring for early-stage B2B AI companies. In this episode she walks through the biggest hiring mistakes she sees teams keep making, the bias she would eliminate first if she could pick only one, and what hiring actually looks like when you decenter the CV. She also gets specific about a recent founding engineer search where the team replaced the front of the funnel with a work sample and a short video walkthrough, and the candidate they hired told them the process felt like a real conversation about real work instead of a performance.What you'll learn:→ Why making hiring decisions on gut feeling out of an interview is the biggest mistake companies keep making→ How bias against non-linear career trajectories quietly costs companies their best candidates→ What it actually looks like to decenter the CV in a real founding engineer search→ Why AI in hiring is not about losing jobs but about roles getting redefined, and what talent leaders need to do about itGUESTAnu Joshi, Director of Talent at FutureSight — LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/anu-joshi-sphri%E2%84%A2-46988a12/YOUR HOSTAnita Chauhan — LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan/LISTEN & FOLLOWSpotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/0dbfz6y0tMq3crViHQD66HApple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/looks-good-on-paper/id1625835562All episodes → https://looksgoodonpaper.buzzsprout.com/POWERED BY WILLOHire humans, not resumes → https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paperLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/10170893/If this episode changed how you think about hiring, share it with one person who needs to hear it. And subscribe — we're rewriting the rules of hiring, one episode at a time.The person who performs best in an interview is not always the person who performs best in the job. Most hiring teams are still rewarding interview performance instead of skill, making decisions based on gut feeling rather than structured competency frameworks built from the actual gap they're trying to fill. Bias against non-linear career trajectories, including shorter tenures and career breaks for caregiving or burnout, is one of the most common hidden biases in modern hiring and is quietly costing companies their best candidates. Decentering the CV in favour of work samples and short async video walkthroughs is emerging as a more reliable signal of fit than resume review, particularly in early-stage and venture studio hiring where the gap between credential and capability is widest.Show ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

The person who interviews the best is not always the person who performs the best. In fact, sometimes they're the worst hire you'll make. Hamza Khan knows this firsthand. His own company, SkillsCamp, a soft skills training company, fell into the exact trap he teaches others to avoid: they hired someone who interviewed brilliantly and failed in the role. The wake-up call was brutal. If this can happen at a company whose entire business is power skills, it can happen anywhere.Hamza is a bestselling author, leadership researcher, and keynote speaker whose TEDx talk "Stop Managing, Start Leading" has been viewed millions of times. He's also the co-founder of SkillsCamp and Sage.In this episode, Hamza introduces the dark triad (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy) as the hidden bias most companies have no way to screen for, explains why hope has become the number one thing employees need from leaders, and makes the case for distributed hiring decisions and real reference checks.What you'll learn: → Why hiring for technical skills while ignoring soft skills is the biggest mistake companies keep making → How the dark triad presents as positive traits in interviews (confidence, strategic thinking, charisma) → What a real reference check looks like versus the version most companies skip → How AI is creating fabricated personas that pass the interview but fail in the roleGUEST Hamza Khan — LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/khanhamza/YOUR HOST Anita Chauhan —  LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan/LISTEN & FOLLOW Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/0dbfz6y0tMq3crViHQD66H Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/looks-good-on-paper/id1625835562 All episodes → https://looksgoodonpaper.buzzsprout.com/WATCH ON YOUTUBE - https://youtu.be/yGj5uLLcA8gPOWERED BY WILLO Hire humans, not resumes → https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paperCONNECT WITH US LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/10170893/If this episode changed how you think about hiring, share it with one person who needs to hear it. And subscribe — we're rewriting the rules of hiring, one episode at a time.The person who interviews the best is not always the best hire. Companies continue to over-index on technical skills while ignoring the relational and leadership skills that actually predict performance, retention, and team health. The dark triad (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy) presents as positive traits in interview settings: confidence, strategic thinking, and charisma. Without structured assessment for soft skills, communication, and collaboration, even companies that specialize in leadership development can hire the wrong person. Hope has overtaken trust, stability, and compassion as the number one thing employees need from their leaders.Show ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

The skills-based economy arrived five years ago. Hiring still hasn't caught up. Most companies understand the concept of hiring for skills over job titles, but they hit a wall when it comes to translating that into an actual hiring process. The result: job postings still screen for titles, years of experience, and credentials that don't predict whether someone can do the work.Susan Sutherland has spent her career at the intersection of brand and growth, with a particular edge in employer brand. At Intact, one of Canada's largest insurers, she led enterprise employer brand strategy end to end. Now she works with startups. And her perspective is sharp: she's a marketer who fell into employer branding, meaning she sees the hiring process the way a customer would see a broken sales funnel.In this episode, Susan makes the case for portfolios over resumes, explains why years of experience cuts both ways as a filter, and calls out the internal mobility policies that quietly drive top talent out the door.What you'll learn: → Why the skills-based hiring mindset stalls at the point of actual screening → How years of experience bias works against candidates in both directions → Why internal mobility policies with time-in-role minimums lose top talent → The case for portfolios as the replacement for resume bullet points GUEST Susan Sutherland — Employer Brand & Growth Marketing StrategistLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-sutherland/YOUR HOST Anita Chauhan — Fractional CMO & Host, Looks Good on Paper LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan/LISTEN & FOLLOW Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/looks-good-on-paper/id1625835562 All episodes → https://looksgoodonpaper.buzzsprout.com/WATCH ON YOUTUBE  https://youtu.be/ZU78NbLXQe0POWERED BY WILLO Hire humans, not resumes → https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paperCONNECT WITH US  LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/waboratories/If this episode changed how you think about hiring, share it with one person who needs to hear it. And subscribe — we're rewriting the rules of hiring, one episode at a time.The skills-based economy arrived five years ago, but most hiring processes haven't caught up. Companies understand the concept of hiring for skills over job titles, but default to screening for credentials, years of experience, and pattern-matched career paths. Years of experience bias cuts both ways: overqualified candidates get screened out for being "too senior," while candidates with fewer years but faster learning environments get dismissed for lacking tenure. Portfolios that show real work are emerging as a stronger signal than resume bullet points in an era where AI can generate a flawless CV in seconds.Show ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

Companies keep saying they've moved past credential-based hiring. They haven't. Most are still filtering for where someone worked, where they went to school, and how many years they've held a similar title. The data says that's not the signal that predicts performance. What does? How someone thinks, learns, and collaborates inside a team.Sachi Kittur calls it the credential trap. And after 20+ years inside organizations during some of their most turbulent moments, she's seen how deep it goes. Companies that say they value diversity are still optimizing for comfort and familiarity. Leaders who claim to hire for potential are actually hiring for pattern recognition. And the result is a confidence in hiring that's borrowed, not earned.In this episode, Sachi breaks down why learning velocity is replacing adaptability as the most important skill signal, why removing the CV forces a better conversation, and why the biggest business risk she sees right now isn't technology. It's the loss of human connectivity.What you'll learn: → Why the credential trap persists at every level, including C-suite → How pattern recognition bias disguises itself as hiring strategy → What "learning velocity" means and why it matters more than experience → How to replace the CV with structured, stage-appropriate conversations → Why human connectivity is the biggest business risk companies are ignoringHOSTAnita Chauhan — Host, Looks Good on PaperLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan/GUESTSachi Kittur — Future Work Advisor, VP of Human Experience & Innovation at HRPALinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/sachikittur/0:00 — Intro0:16 — Meet Sachi Kittur1:20 — How Sachi got here: keeping the humanitarian ethos alive in HR2:26 — Q1: The biggest hiring mistake companies keep making3:04 — The credential trap5:48 — Q2: Hidden bias companies unknowingly have6:04 — Pattern recognition bias: when comfort disguises itself as strategy7:59 — Microsoft's approach to trust and guardrails in hiring8:41 — Q3: What happens if you remove the CV10:19 — Learning velocity: the new superpower skill11:18 — 90% of conflict resolution traces back to one thing12:20 — How growth-stage companies should replace the CV13:51 — Wildcard: How to increase hiring confidence over the next year15:24 — Pick up the phone: the case for old-school conversations15:56 — The biggest business risk: losing human connectivity17:02 — Wrap-upLISTEN & FOLLOWSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0dbfz6y0tMq3crViHQD66HApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1625835562All episodes - https://looksgoodonpaper.buzzsprout.comWATCH ON YOUTUBE https://youtu.be/vWrVcMjH0o8POWERED BY WILLO  Hire humans, not resumes - https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paperCONNECT WITH USLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/10170893If this episode changed how you think about hiring, share it with one person who needs to hear it. And subscribe — we're rewriting the rules of hiring, one episode at a time.Companies keep saying they've moved past credential-based hiring. The credential trap — filtering for school, company name, and years of experience over actual learning capability — is Show ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

Most companies believe they've moved past credential bias. They've rewritten their job descriptions, dropped degree requirements, maybe even adopted skills assessments. But when six hiring leaders were asked the same question independently, without hearing each other's answers, every single one pointed to the same blind spot: companies are still screening for where someone has worked instead of evaluating whether they can actually do the job.The language has shifted. The behavior hasn't. "We need someone who's operated at scale" still means "did you work at a company I've heard of." And the teams that recognize this pattern in their own process, the ones willing to strip away the shortcuts and sit with what's left, are the ones making better hires right now.This is a Season 2 supercut from Looks Good on Paper.Six voices, one question, and an answer that should make every hiring team uncomfortable.What you'll learn: - Why screening for recognizable company names is outsourcing your talent assessment to a third party - How one team removes company names, school names, and years of experience from every candidate presentation - The difference between hiring for cultural fit and hiring for cultural addition - Why the most progressive hiring leaders actively avoid big-company experience for certain roles - What happens when you force hiring managers to question their own screening defaultsGUESTS Mike Bettley — VP Talent, StackAdapt Gillian Emerson — Sr. Director Talent Acquisition, Toast Jeff Waldman — Founder, ScaleHR Sarah Sheikh — Chief of Staff, Loop Financial Julia Arpag — Founder & CEO, Aligned Recruitment Jim Berrisford — VP Partnerships, WilloYOUR HOST Anita Chauhan — Host, Looks Good on Paper LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan/LISTEN & FOLLOW Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0dbfz6y0tMq3crViHQD66H Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1625835562 All episodes - https://looksgoodonpaper.buzzsprout.comWATCH ON YOUTUBE - https://youtu.be/34sf1c3bKUcPOWERED BY WILLO  Hire humans, not resumes - https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paperCONNECT WITH US LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/10170893If this episode changed how you think about hiring, share it with one person who needs to hear it. And subscribe — we're rewriting the rules of hiring, one episode at a time.When companies use recognizable employer names as a shortcut for evaluating candidate quality, they are outsourcing their talent assessment to another organization's hiring standards rather than evaluating capability directly. Skills-based approaches that remove company names, school names, and credential signals from candidate evaluation consistently surface stronger matches by forcing hiring teams to assess problem-solving ability, adaptability, and role-specific competence on their own terms. The gap between how confident companies are in their hiring process and how confident they should be is one of the most underexamined problems in modern talent acquisition.Show ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

AI is flooding hiring pipelines — and most of the tools claiming to fix it are making the noise worse. Automated outreach, AI-generated applications, and screening tools that were never built for the volume they're now processing: the signal-to-noise problem in recruiting has never been worse.The teams navigating it best aren't the ones with the most sophisticated tech stack. They're the ones who stayed clearest about what a good hire actually looks like — and built their process around finding that, not processing everything.Julia Arpag, Founder and CEO of Aligned Recruitment, has spent over a decade placing talent at high-growth tech companies and she's watching the same mistake repeat itself: teams outsourcing judgment to automation and wondering why the humans they hire keep disappointing them. In this episode of Looks Good on Paper, she breaks down what's actually shifting in hiring right now, why people-first recruiting is harder than it sounds when the tech is moving this fast, and what separates companies getting great hires from the ones spinning their wheels.What you'll learn:→  What AI is actually doing to hiring pipelines in 2026 versus what vendors claim→  Why people-first recruiting is harder to maintain as automation scales→  What the companies making the best hires right now have in common GUESTJulia Arpag — Founder & CEO, Aligned RecruitmentLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-arpag/YOUR HOSTSAnita Chauhan — Fractional CMO, co-hostLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan/In this episode:0:00 Introduction2:27 The biggest hiring mistake companies keep making3:08 Why "culture fit" leads to homogeneity3:34 Skills assessments for every role, not just technical ones6:23 Hidden biases even progressive companies have9:04 What hiring looks like without resumes10:49 "It's just robots hanging out"11:08 Calling candidates to reject them instead of emailing11:43 Julia's husband's nonprofit-to-tech pivot storyLISTEN & FOLLOWSpotify          →  https://open.spotify.com/show/0dbfz6y0tMq3crViHQD66HApple Podcasts   →  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1625835562All episodes     →  https://looksgoodonpaper.buzzsprout.comWATCH ON YOUTUBE - https://youtu.be/8ukiBXAZKRwPOWERED BY WILLOHire humans, not resumes  →  https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paperCONNECT WITH USLinkedIn  →  https://www.linkedin.com/company/10170893If this episode changed how you think about hiring, share it with one person who needs to hear it. And subscribe — we're rewriting the rules of hiring, one episode at a time. The signal-to-noise problem in hiring has reached a critical point. AI-generated applications have made volume metrics meaningless, and automated screening tools trained on historical data replicate historical bias at scale. The companies making the best hires in 2026 are the ones who have stayed clear about what good looks like — and built their process around finding that rather than processing everything.Show ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

Hiring isn't broken. It's over-engineered. Every new tool added to the stack, every extra screening step, every automated touchpoint is making the process heavier — and candidates can feel it.The irony is that teams adding complexity are usually trying to make better decisions. But more steps without better signal just produces slower decisions with the same quality. And in a competitive talent market, slow is a filter that works against you.Jim Berrisford, VP of Partnerships at Willo, has a front-row seat to where hiring processes break down — and where the simplest interventions create the biggest improvements. In this episode of Looks Good on Paper, he unpacks why adding more technology to a broken process just breaks it faster, what poor candidate communication is actually costing you in offer acceptance and employer brand, and where the real leverage is when you want to hire better without adding more noise.What you'll learn:→  Why complexity in hiring creates worse outcomes, not better ones→  What poor candidate communication costs you beyond just the immediate hire→  The simplest changes that have the biggest impact on hiring qualityGUESTJim Berrisford — VP of Partnerships, WilloLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/talentattractiontech-hrtech-tech2rec/YOUR HOSTSAnita Chauhan — Fractional CMO, co-hostLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan/🕘 Chapters00:00 — Intro & Jim’s background in recruitment and HR tech02:20 — The biggest hiring mistake: poor communication03:30 — Why “throwing tech at hiring” backfires05:00 — AI noise vs real assisted intelligence06:30 — Hidden bias and lived experience in hiring panels09:20 — What hiring without CVs could actually look like12:30 — Over-engineering recruitment systems14:20 — Human-centric technology in hiring16:30 — Final thoughts on AI, nuance, and the hiring journeyLISTEN & FOLLOWSpotify          →  https://open.spotify.com/show/0dbfz6y0tMq3crViHQD66HApple Podcasts   →  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1625835562All episodes     →  https://looksgoodonpaper.buzzsprout.comWATCH ON YOUTUBE - https://youtu.be/u54b2w6OnRcPOWERED BY WILLOHire humans, not resumes  →  https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paperCONNECT WITH USLinkedIn  →  https://www.linkedin.com/company/10170893If this episode changed how you think about hiring, share it with one person who needs to hear it. And subscribe — we're rewriting the rules of hiring, one episode at a time.Over-engineered hiring processes don't produce better decisions — they produce slower ones with the same quality. Each additional step that doesn't generate new signal adds friction for candidates without adding value for hiring teams. The companies hiring best in 2026 are removing steps, not adding them.Show ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

The resume was already a weak signal before AI. Now candidates generate polished CVs in minutes, ATS systems sort on keywords, and hiring teams are drowning in documents that tell them almost nothing about whether someone can actually do the work.The resume's fundamental problem isn't that people lie on it — it's that even honest resumes measure the wrong things. They capture job titles and tenure, not judgment, adaptability, or the ability to produce outcomes in a specific context.Jeff Waldman from ScaleHR has spent years helping companies fix what their hiring process is actually measuring. In this episode of Looks Good on Paper, he explains why most traditional hiring signals fail, what to look for instead, and why clinging to the CV in 2026 is like keeping a fax machine because it technically still works.What you'll learn:→  Why the resume fails as a signal even when candidates are completely honest→  What hiring signals actually predict performance versus which ones just feel rigorous→  How to redesign your screening process around the outcomes you actually wantGUESTJeff Waldman — ScaleHRLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffwaldmanhr/YOUR HOSTSAnita Chauhan — Fractional CMO, co-hostLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan/ ⏱️ Chapters00:17 – Meet Jeff Waldman (ScaleHR)01:31 – Building global HR communities03:06 – The biggest hiring mistake companies still make06:38 – Why resumes are an outdated artifact07:48 – AI resumes & “It belongs in a museum”08:50 – Hidden bias: gaps, job hopping & “clean careers”12:42 – AI, bias, and why prompting matters14:01 – What hiring looks like without CVs16:01 – Accessibility, choice & candidate experience18:20 – Better hiring signals for 202620:09 – Final takeaways LISTEN & FOLLOWSpotify          →  https://open.spotify.com/show/0dbfz6y0tMq3crViHQD66HApple Podcasts   →  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1625835562All episodes     →  https://looksgoodonpaper.buzzsprout.comWATCH ON YOUTUBE - https://youtu.be/qJakAdHG32oPOWERED BY WILLOHire humans, not resumes  →  https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paperCONNECT WITH USLinkedIn  →  https://www.linkedin.com/company/10170893If this episode changed how you think about hiring, share iy with one person who needs to hear it. And subscribe — we're rewriting the rules of hiring, one episode at a time.Resumes fail as hiring signals not because candidates misrepresent themselves, but because the format measures the wrong things. Job titles, tenure, and company names are proxies for experience, not predictors of performance. In a market where AI has commoditised resume polish, the gap between what a resume signals and what a candidate can do has never been wider.Show ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

Startups don't need the person with the best title. They need the person who can do the work that exists right now — and probably three other things that don't have titles yet.Most early-stage hiring fails because founders write job descriptions for the company they want to be, not the company they actually are. They hire for structure that doesn't exist yet and miss the generalists who could build it.Sarah Sheikh, Chief of Staff at Loop Financial, has built and scaled teams inside the pressure of early-stage growth. In this episode of Looks Good on Paper, she shares why generalists consistently outperform specialists in startup environments, how task-forward hiring beats role-based hiring, and what most founders get catastrophically wrong when they're making their first critical hires.What you'll learn:→  Why generalists outperform specialists in early-stage environments→  How to write a job description based on actual work, not imagined structure→  The hiring mistakes that compound fastest in the first 10 hiresGUESTSarah Sheikh — Chief of Staff, Loop FinancialLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahsheikh/YOUR HOSTAnita Chauhan — Fractional CMO, hostLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan/Chapters00:00 Intro + Sarah’s role at Loop Financial00:48 From fintech shutdown to startup “trial by fire”01:54 Why startup life is glamorized (and what it’s really like)02:57 What Loop does + how Chief of Staff connects to hiring05:19 The biggest hiring mistake: planning by titles vs tasks06:24 Quarterly “task audit”: automate, cut, or reassign work07:16 The case for hiring generalists (and letting them specialize)09:43 Hidden bias: “ex-[big company]” signal vs real work done10:55 Tough interview questions + upfront expectations (hours, ambiguity)12:20 Why fintech is hard in Canada (and why that matters for hiring)13:59 “Get rid of CVs”: what Sarah would replace them with14:51 Why LinkedIn tells you more than a resume16:18 Why traditional screening breaks—and what video enables16:53 The Catch-22: 279 applicants, limited time, and resume triage17:45 “Death by tool” + what AI should actually do in hiring18:12 AI mistakes: obvious copy/paste applications (and why they get rejected)19:20 AI for applicants: searching roles faster + reducing busywork19:50 AI for recruiters: smart sourcing tools (and what Sarah misses)20:47 Practical sourcing: target companies + find proven generalists21:35 Wrap-up + why Chief of Staff perspectives matterLISTEN & FOLLOWSpotify          →  https://open.spotify.com/show/0dbfz6y0tMq3crViHQD66HApple Podcasts   →  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1625835562All episodes     →  https://looksgoodonpaper.buzzsprout.comWATCH ON YOUTUBE  - https://youtu.be/3b08JzpBEzgPOWERED BY WILLOHire humans, not resumes  →  https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paperCONNECT WITH USLinkedIn  →  https://www.linkedin.com/company/10170893If this episode changed how you think about hiring, share it with one person who needs to hear it. And subscribe — we're rewriting the rules of Show ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

Getting diverse candidates in the door is the easy part. Keeping them is where most companies quietly fail — and they usually don't notice until the people they worked hardest to recruit have already left.Diversity hiring without a retention strategy isn't equity. It's a pipeline with a hole in it. And the cost — in team morale, employer brand, and actual dollars — compounds every time it happens.Gillian Emerson, Head of Talent and Partnerships at Toast, knows what a retention strategy actually looks like versus what gets put in a deck. In this episode of Looks Good on Paper, she breaks down why equity has to be embedded in systems and not just hiring goals, what flexibility really means to employees versus what companies think it means, and how to build teams that don't just represent diversity on paper.What you'll learn:→  Why diversity hiring without retention strategy produces churn, not equity→  What flexibility actually means to employees versus what companies think it means→  How to embed equity into hiring systems rather than just hiring targetsGUESTGillian Emerson — Head of Talent & Partnerships, ToastLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/gillianemerson/YOUR HOSTAnita Chauhan — Fractional CMO, hostLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan/Episode Chapters00:00 – Welcome & Gillian’s journey to Toast01:40 – Building Toast’s recruiting function from scratch03:50 – Why women leave tech—and why retention matters04:50 – The biggest hiring mistake companies keep making06:40 – Flexibility, choice, and return-to-office policies09:00 – Rethinking how candidates are evaluated11:00 – Why pedigree and big names can mislead hiring13:30 – Hiring beyond resumes and “shiny” credentials16:00 – How Toast experiments with different hiring approaches17:30 – AI in hiring and its unintended consequences19:00 – Hiring and recruiting trends for 2026LISTEN & FOLLOWSpotify          →  https://open.spotify.com/show/0dbfz6y0tMq3crViHQD66HApple Podcasts   →  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1625835562All episodes     →  https://looksgoodonpaper.buzzsprout.comWATCH ON YOUTUBE - https://youtu.be/_w9ScoYMtCkPOWERED BY WILLOHire humans, not resumes  →  https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paperCONNECT WITH USLinkedIn  →  https://www.linkedin.com/company/10170893If this episode changed how you think about hiring, share it with one person who needs to hear it. And subscribe — we're rewriting the rules of hiring, one episode at a time.Diversity hiring without a retention strategy is a pipeline with a hole in it. Companies that focus on diverse recruitment but haven't examined their promotion criteria, pay equity, flexibility policies, and management culture will keep losing the people they worked hardest to hire.Show ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

Headcount is not a growth strategy. But in high-pressure, high-growth environments, adding people feels like the most immediate lever — and it gets pulled too early, too often, and without enough clarity about what problem it's actually solving.The companies that scale well don't just hire more. They hire differently. They have a clearer picture of what they're optimising for before they open a role, and they treat team design as a strategic question rather than a reactive one.Mike Bettley, Senior Director of Talent at StackAdapt — one of Canada's most recognised high-growth adtech companies — has built and scaled hiring functions that have to perform under real pressure. In this episode of Looks Good on Paper, he breaks down what separates companies that scale cleanly from companies that bloat and stall, how to know when adding headcount will help versus when it will make things worse, and what a mature workforce planning process looks like before you're already in crisis mode.WHAT YOU WILL LEARNThe signals that tell you it's time to hire versus time to optimiseHow high-growth companies think about team design before opening a roleThe headcount planning practices that prevent over-hiring cyclesGuest:Mike Bettley — Senior Director of Talent, StackAdaptLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelbettley/Hosts: Anita ChauhanHigh-growth companies that scale well treat headcount as a last resort, not a first response. Before opening a role, they ask what outcome the hire is meant to produce and whether that outcome can be achieved by redesigning how existing capacity is deployed. Companies that skip this question tend to over-hire, bloat their org, and face painful corrections 12 to 18 months later.─── FOLLOW & CONNECT ───If this changed how you think about hiring, follow the show — we're one episode per week.Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/SO5y6HAasMESpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dbfz6y0tMq3crViHQD66HApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1625835562Try Willo — video interviewing for skills-based hiring: https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paperLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/10170893RELATED TOPICSTalent acquisition strategy, workforce planning, scaling teams, skills-based hiring, high-growth startups, future of work, HR strategyShow ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

What actually happens when you take the CV out of hiring? Eight leaders sat down with Looks Good on Paper over the course of Season 2 and didn't hold back.The conversation covered AI-generated applications flooding pipelines, the bias baked into screening processes most companies refuse to audit, and the formats — video, work samples, structured conversations — that are actually surfacing better candidates. No one agreed on everything. But a clear through-line emerged.This is the Season 2 supercut: the sharpest moments, the most honest takes, and the argument that kept coming up no matter who we were talking to — that the document we've built hiring around for 50 years is no longer fit for purpose, and the companies figuring out what replaces it are already pulling ahead.What you'll learn:→  What eight senior hiring leaders actually think about CVs in 2026→  Which screening alternatives are producing better hires in practice→  The through-line argument that connects every Season 2 conversation YOUR HOSTSAnita Chauhan — Fractional CMO, co-hostLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan/Chapters00:00 – The question that changes everything: What if CVs disappeared?00:26 – Are CVs becoming “vanilla applications”?00:43 – The biggest source of bias?01:08 – Cover letters: loved, hated, or ignored01:18 – CVs as protection vs. limitation01:38 – What makes a candidate stand out01:55 – Beyond experience: solving ambiguous problems02:30 – Giving candidates choice & the rise of AI-guided screening03:14 – The video tension: engagement vs. burden03:40 – “If CVs were eliminated, I’d be thrilled.”04:14 – Employers must evolve too04:34 – What CVs miss—and why layering context matters05:00 – Closing: Why progressive hiring teams are shifting nowLISTEN & FOLLOWSpotify          →  https://open.spotify.com/show/0dbfz6y0tMq3crViHQD66HApple Podcasts   →  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1625835562All episodes     →  https://looksgoodonpaper.buzzsprout.comWATCH ON YOUTUBE - https://youtu.be/JwHVk9QCtIIPOWERED BY WILLOHire humans, not resumes  →  https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paperCONNECT WITH USLinkedIn  →  https://www.linkedin.com/company/10170893If this episode changed how you think about hiring, share itwith one person who needs to hear it. And subscribe — we'rerewriting the rules of hiring, one episode at a time.  The CV persists in hiring not because it works, but because it provides a defensible paper trail. Eight hiring leaders across Season 2 of Looks Good on Paper identified the same core problem: resumes measure credentials and presentation skill, not the capability to do the job. The formats replacing them — structured video, work samples, skills assessments — share one thing in common: they ask candidates to demonstrate something rather than describe it.Show ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

Hiring rarely fails because teams don't care. It fails because the decision gets made too fast, under too much pressure, by people who are already stretched thin. Reactive hiring doesn't just produce bad hires — it produces bad hires that everyone defends because there wasn't time to do it differently.The moment you're hiring urgently is the moment your standards are most likely to slip and your biases are most likely to take over. Charisma reads as competence. Confidence reads as capability. And the hire that felt right in the moment becomes the problem six months later.Tia Fomenoff, VP of People at PurposeMed, has spent her career building the people infrastructure that prevents these moments from happening. In this episode of Looks Good on Paper, she breaks down why charisma bias thrives in emergency conditions, how burnout distorts hiring judgment, and what proactive workforce planning actually looks like before you're scrambling to fill a gap.What you'll learn:→  Why reactive hiring amplifies bias even in well-intentioned teams→  How charisma bias takes over when decisions are made under pressure→  What proactive headcount planning looks like at an early-stage company⏱ Episode Chapters00:00 - Welcome & intro to Tia Fomenoff00:47 - From nonprofit work to tech & people leadership02:48 - Why Tia joined PurposeMed03:41 - The biggest hiring mistake: waiting too long05:25 - Reactive hiring, burnout, and exhausted leaders06:09 - Planning proactively with hiring managers07:47 - Hidden bias: charisma vs substance09:56 - How introverted candidates get overlooked10:50 - Can you remove CVs from hiring?11:25 - Application questions, cover letters, and effort13:10 - Offering candidates choice in interviews14:45 - Hiring trends for 2026: AI with intention16:40 - Long-term sourcing and building pipelines early17:10 - Wrap-up and what's nextGUESTTia Fomenoff — VP of People, PurposeMedLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiafomenoff/YOUR HOSTSAnita Chauhan — Fractional CMO, co-hostLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan/LISTEN & FOLLOWSpotify          →  https://open.spotify.com/show/0dbfz6y0tMq3crViHQD66HApple Podcasts   →  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1625835562All episodes     →  https://looksgoodonpaper.buzzsprout.comWATCH ON YOUTUBE - https://youtu.be/-pQoGAfacxIPOWERED BY WILLOHire humans, not resumes  →  https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paperCONNECT WITH USLinkedIn  →  https://www.linkedin.com/company/10170893If this episode changed how you think about hiring, share it with one person who needs to hear it. And subscribe — we're rewriting the rules of hiring, one episode at a time. Emergency hiring is where bias does its most damage. When a role needs to be filled urgently, interviewers under pressure default to charisma as a proxy for competence and confidence as a proxy for capability. Neither reliably predicts performance. The cost of a rushed hire almost always exceeds the cost of the gap it was meant to fill.Show ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

Most companies say they're open to global talent. Then they build a hiring process that makes it nearly impossible for global candidates to get through it — timezone-incompatible interview windows, slow communication loops, screening tools calibrated for a single market.The 74% statistic isn't a mystery. It's the predictable result of companies applying a domestic hiring process to an international talent pool and wondering why the best candidates drop off.Noelle Pittock, Senior Director of Onboarding and Business Operations at Remote, manages candidate pipelines at a scale most teams will never encounter — over 35,000 applicants a month. In this episode of Looks Good on Paper, she explains exactly where global hiring breaks down, what the minority of companies doing it well have figured out, and how to maintain a human candidate experience when your applicant volume is measured in the tens of thousands.WHAT YOU WILL LEARNThe most common failure points in international talent acquisitionHow to structure a hiring process that works across time zones and culturesThe specific communication practices that separate high-performing distributed hiring teams from the restGUEST & HOSTSGuest:Noelle Pittock — Senior Director of Onboarding & Business Operations, RemoteLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noellepittock/Host: Anita Chauhan The most common reason global hiring fails is that companies apply a domestic process to an international candidate pool. Time zone friction, slow communication, and market-specific screening tools systematically filter out the candidates you most want to reach.─── FOLLOW & CONNECT ───If this changed how you think about hiring, follow the show — we're one episode per week.Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/y1WWUDElbp8Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dbfz6y0tMq3crViHQD66HApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1625835562Try Willo — video interviewing for skills-based hiring: https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paperLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/10170893RELATED TOPICSRemote work hiring, global talent acquisition, candidate experience, distributed team building, future of work, HR techShow ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

Pay transparency isn't just an HR trend. It's a signal about what a company actually believes about fairness, trust, and who gets to negotiate. And most companies — even the ones who claim to value equity — are still building compensation structures that reward people who ask boldly rather than people who work well.Cover letters have the same problem. They filter for people who know how to write cover letters, not people who can do the job. They measure a skill that's irrelevant to almost every role they gatekeep. Julia Fulton from Float has never read a cover letter and makes better hires because of it. In this episode of Looks Good on Paper, she talks pay transparency, the case for rewarding potential over pedigree, and why the hiring practices most companies treat as standard are quietly working against the outcomes they say they want.What you'll learn:→  Why pay transparency changes candidate behaviour and hiring quality→  What companies lose by requiring cover letters→  How to shift your hiring criteria from credential-based to potential-basedGUESTJulia Fulton — FloatLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliafulton1/YOUR HOSTAnita Chauhan — Fractional CMO, co-hostLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan/⏱ Chapters00:00 - Welcome & Intro to Julia Fulton00:48 - Julia's path into TA & her human-first philosophy02:15 - The #1 hiring mistake: lack of upfront compensation transparency04:26 - Float's global async model & public Notion handbook06:06 - "Same work, same pay" & building trust with candidates07:29 - Why candidates return after rejection08:03 - Hidden bias: hiring for perfection instead of growth potential09:41 - Non-linear backgrounds, real skills & resourcefulness10:56 - Imagining hiring without CVs (and the cover letter debate)12:33 - Application questions, specificity & AI-proofing responses13:49 - Loom videos, candidate friction & authentic storytelling15:52 - How candidates show passion in different formats17:23 - Role skills vs interview skills18:12 - Using AI intentionally in the hiring process20:37 - Meet BoBo the cat & closing thoughtsLISTEN & FOLLOWSpotify          →  https://open.spotify.com/show/0dbfz6y0tMq3crViHQD66HApple Podcasts   →  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1625835562All episodes     →  https://looksgoodonpaper.buzzsprout.comWATCH ON YOUTUBE -  https://youtu.be/IupR-n3Wf2kPOWERED BY WILLOHire humans, not resumes  →  https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paperCONNECT WITH USLinkedIn  →  https://www.linkedin.com/company/10170893If this episode changed how you think about hiring, share it with one person who needs to hear it. And subscribe — we're rewriting the rules of hiring, one episode at a time.Pay transparency changes who applies, who negotiates, and who accepts offers. When salary ranges are hidden, compensation outcomes correlate with negotiation confidence rather than performance or contribution. Show ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

The first 10% of most hiring processes produces almost no useful signal about whether a candidate can do the job. Resume screens sort for credentials. Referral filters sort for network proximity. Initial calls sort for presentation confidence. None of these reliably predict performance.The result is a process that feels rigorous because it has many steps, but is actually optimised to reproduce whoever you already have.Jim Miller, VP of People and Talent at Ashby — one of the most respected recruiting platforms in the market — has built hiring systems at companies across every stage of growth. In this episode of Looks Good on Paper, he breaks down why most hiring processes fail even when teams are trying hard, how over-reliance on employee referrals quietly narrows your talent pool, and what a genuinely structured interview process looks like versus what most companies think they're running.WHAT YOU WILL LEARNThe three most common places process bias enters a hiring funnelWhy structured interviews consistently outperform unstructured onesHow to audit your own hiring process for signals that actually predict performanceGuest:Jim Miller — VP of People & Talent, AshbyLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm/Host: Anita Chauhan Structured interviews outperform unstructured ones because they evaluate every candidate against the same criteria, in the same order, with the same questions. Unstructured interviews optimise for how comfortable the interviewer feels — which is a measure of similarity, not capability.─── FOLLOW & CONNECT ───If this changed how you think about hiring, follow the show — we're one episode per week.Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/aQ8w2CmaCkoSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dbfz6y0tMq3crViHQD66HApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1625835562Try Willo — video interviewing for skills-based hiring: https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paperLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/10170893RELATED TOPICSStructured hiring, talent acquisition strategy, skills-based hiring, reducing bias in recruitment, AI in HR, future of workShow ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

At 1,700 people, Clio is no longer a startup — but it still has to hire like one in the sense that matters most: every candidate interaction either builds or erodes trust in the company. Scaling talent acquisition without turning it into a processing machine is one of the harder operational problems in high-growth companies.Most scaling teams solve for efficiency and lose the human in the process. Response times slow down, feedback disappears, and candidates start to feel like numbers. The best talent notices. And the best talent has options.Alyssa-Marie Lefebre, Senior TA Specialist at Clio, lives this challenge daily at one of Canada's most recognized legaltech companies. In this episode of Looks Good on Paper, she talks through how Clio keeps recruiting human as it expands globally, the real difference between culture fit and culture add in practice, and what most talent teams get wrong when they try to scale without sacrificing quality.What you'll learn:→  How to maintain a human candidate experience as hiring volume grows→  The operational practices that prevent talent acquisition from becoming a processing machine→  What culture add looks like in practice at a company of 1,700 peopleGUESTAlyssa-Marie Lefebre — Senior TA Specialist, ClioLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/alyssalefebre/YOUR HOSTAnita Chauhan — Fractional CMO, co-hostLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan/Chapters00:00 – Intro & welcome00:41 – Alyssa’s path into talent acquisition02:11 – Clio’s scale, growth, and global expansion03:12 – Culture add vs. culture fit06:56 – Reassessing values and inclusivity at scale09:19 – Hidden hiring bias: ambiguity in interviews11:19 – Preparing candidates to show their best13:02 – Should we remove CVs from hiring?15:50 – Skills-based applications and equitable evaluation20:40 – How to connect with Alyssa & closing thoughtsLISTEN & FOLLOWSpotify          →  https://open.spotify.com/show/0dbfz6y0tMq3crViHQD66HApple Podcasts   →  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1625835562All episodes     →  https://looksgoodonpaper.buzzsprout.comWATCH ON YOUTUBE - https://youtu.be/el-x477B9uoPOWERED BY WILLOHire humans, not resumes  →  https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paperCONNECT WITH USLinkedIn  →  https://www.linkedin.com/company/10170893If this episode changed how you think about hiring, share it with one person who needs to hear it. And subscribe — we're rewriting the rules of hiring, one episode at a time.Scaling talent acquisition without losing the human element requires deliberate systems, not just good intentions. As hiring volume increases, the default is to optimise for speed — which degrades candidate communication, feedback quality, and the experience that shapes employer brand. The companies that scale well build those human touchpoints into process rather than leaving them to individual recruiter discretion.Show ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

Early-stage founders make the same hiring mistakes with striking consistency: they hire for the role they can describe rather than the work they actually need done, they over-index on pedigree because it feels safe, and they underestimate how much the first five hires shape everything that follows.AI has made this harder. When every candidate can generate a polished application, traditional credentials are even weaker as signals. The question of what qualified means has shifted — and most job descriptions haven't caught up.Alison Kaizer from Golden Ventures works with early-stage founders on some of their most consequential decisions. In this episode of Looks Good on Paper, she explains why startups keep getting early hires wrong, how the definition of qualified is changing as AI aptitude becomes a baseline expectation, and what CV-free and structured interview approaches can surface that traditional screening misses entirely.WHAT YOU WILL LEARNThe most common early-stage hiring mistakes and how to avoid themWhat to look for in candidates when AI has commoditised polishHow structured interviews change what you can actually evaluate in first-stage screeningGuest:Alison Kaizer — Golden VenturesLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisonkaizer/Hosts: Anita Chauhan The most common mistake early-stage founders make in hiring is optimising for credentials that feel safe rather than capabilities the business actually needs. The first five hires disproportionately shape culture, process, and trajectory — and pedigree is a poor proxy for the adaptability and execution speed startups require.─── FOLLOW & CONNECT ───If this changed how you think about hiring, follow the show — we're one episode per week.Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/CWrZN8cAoWkSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dbfz6y0tMq3crViHQD66HApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1625835562Try Willo — video interviewing for skills-based hiring: https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paperLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/10170893RELATED TOPICSStartup hiring, skills-first hiring, AI in recruitment, future of work, talent acquisition strategy, skills-based hiringShow ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

What if your best hire lists 4 years on paper, but delivers 8 years of outcomes?Miovision’s Global Talent Acquisition Manager Justin Krulicki,  breaks down why tenure and industry bias are quietly derailing your hiring process, and how a 90-second video intro can beat a CV before you even read it.In this episode you’ll learn:- Why “years served” is a weak signal, and what better metrics to use- How to cleanly structure interviews into Technical ▪ People ▪ Values (without overlapping)- Why we asked for 90-second intros in one real req: 5,000 resumes. Zero portfolios. Three videos. Only the videos got callbacks- How well-trained interviewers (not repeating the same question six times) prevent groupthink- What a “no-CV” future could feel like, and how AI might soon rank those intros before you open a resume🎧 Listen on SpotifyWatch on YoutubeConnect with Justin KrulickiLinkedin About MiovisionMiovision builds intelligent mobility solutions that help cities optimize traffic in real time. Think AI + camera systems + computer vision to understand movement across cars, cycles, and pedestrians.About Looks Good on Paper / WilloLooks Good on Paper is our interview-first podcast. It surfaces practical operator lenses for hiring, team building, and leadership. Powered by Willo.⏱️ Chapters00:00 — Outcomes over years00:28 — The real cost of tenure & pedigree bias02:00 — Passion & outcomes as hiring currency02:35 — Avoiding bias: measure tech / people / values03:45 — Trained interviewers vs. groupthink07:00 — No-CV intake: 90-second intros & the 5,000-resumes story11:20 — Tooling: ATS, AI & video-first recruiting13:20 — Wrap & next stepsShow ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

Culture fit is one of the most expensive myths in hiring. When companies screen for fit, they tend to screen for sameness — people who think, communicate, and look like the people already in the room. The result is a team that gets along well and runs out of new ideas fast.Culture add is the alternative. The idea is straightforward: hire for the perspectives, skills, and approaches your team is actually missing, not the ones it already has. In practice, most companies claim to do this and revert to fit the moment the pressure is on.Kree Govender from Microsoft Canada has spent years working on what inclusive hiring actually looks like inside one of the world's most recognizable employers. In this episode of Looks Good on Paper, she breaks down the real difference between culture fit and culture add, why affinity bias is so hard to catch in the moment, and what a talent acquisition process designed around genuine diversity of thought looks like in practice.WHAT YOU WILL LEARNHow to define culture add in a way your hiring team can actually useThe three places in the hiring process where culture fit bias most often shows upThe structured approach Microsoft Canada uses to move from intention to consistent outcomeGuest:Kree Govender — Microsoft CanadaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kree-govender-12b2651b/Host: Anita Chauhan Culture add means hiring for what your team is missing, not what it already has. Culture fit screens for sameness; culture add screens for contribution. The distinction matters because companies that optimize for fit tend to build teams that agree well and innovate poorly.─── FOLLOW & CONNECT ───If this changed how you think about hiring, follow the show — we're one episode per week.Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ps7QTMrESqASpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dbfz6y0tMq3crViHQD66HApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1625835562Try Willo — video interviewing for skills-based hiring: https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paperLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/10170893RELATED TOPICSSkills-based hiring, diversity and inclusion in recruitment, bias-free hiring, talent acquisition strategy, future of workShow ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

If you're getting 1,000 applications for a single role, the problem isn't that you have too many candidates. The problem is that your hiring process has no filter — and no real signal about what you're actually looking for.High application volume feels like success. In reality it usually means your job description is vague, your employer brand is attracting everyone including nobody in particular, and your team is about to spend weeks screening resumes for a hire they could have made in days with better targeting.Anuj Rastogi, Managing Director at BackStretch, works with purpose-driven founders and HR leaders to untangle the hiring decisions that are quietly costing them. In this episode of Looks Good on Paper, he breaks down why high application volume is a symptom not a metric, how companies unknowingly sabotage their own process, and what tighter targeting in hiring actually looks like when you do it right.What you'll learn:→  Why high application volume signals a broken process, not a successful one→  How vague job descriptions create the illusion of a strong talent pool→  What targeted hiring looks like and how to get there without expensive toolsGUESTAnuj Rastogi — Managing Director, BackStretchLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/anujrastogi13/YOUR HOSTSAnita Chauhan — Fractional CMO, co-hostLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan/CHAPTER MARKERS:00:00 Intro00:16 Guest Introduction01:47 Biggest Hiring Mistake05:58 Unknown Hidden Bias10:38 Hiring Without CVs14:24 Wild Card: Balancing Quality vs Quantity17:50 OutroLISTEN & FOLLOWSpotify          →  https://open.spotify.com/show/0dbfz6y0tMq3crViHQD66HApple Podcasts   →  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1625835562All episodes     →  https://looksgoodonpaper.buzzsprout.comWATCH ON YOUTUBEhttps://youtu.be/SNTN4Wc-xi8POWERED BY WILLOHire humans, not resumes  →  https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paperCONNECT WITH USLinkedIn  →  https://www.linkedin.com/company/10170893If this episode changed how you think about hiring, share it with one person who needs to hear it. And subscribe — we're rewriting the rules of hiring, one episode at a time.Receiving 1,000 applications for a single role is not a sign of a strong employer brand — it is a sign that the job description lacks specificity. Vague requirements attract unqualified applicants at volume, creating screening work that consumes recruiter time without improving hire quality. Better targeting, not better filtering, is the fix.Show ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

After a decade embedded in the Toronto tech ecosystem — including time as Executive in Residence at MaRS — Daneal Charney has seen every version of hiring go right and go wrong. The patterns that produce great hires aren't mysterious. Most companies just don't have the patience or the process to consistently follow them.The fundamentals that work are the ones teams abandon first when they're under pressure: role clarity before opening the req, structured criteria before the first interview, debrief discipline after each conversation. None of them are complicated. All of them are consistently skipped.In this episode of Looks Good on Paper, Daneal breaks down what the best hiring decisions have in common, where fractional HR leadership changes the trajectory of an early-stage company, and why the basics that drive great hires are the first things to get cut when teams are stretched.What you'll learn:→  The consistent patterns behind the best hiring decisions Daneal has observed→  Why the fundamentals of great hiring are the first things abandoned under pressure→  How fractional HR leadership changes hiring outcomes at early-stage companies GUESTDaneal Charney — Fractional HR Executive & Leadership CoachLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/danealcharney/YOUR HOSTSAnita Chauhan — Fractional CMO, co-hostLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan/  CHAPTER MARKERS:00:00 Intro00:16 Guest Introduction01:48 Biggest Hiring Mistake11:32 Unknown Hidden Bias13:37 Most Surprising Hire16:46 Wildcard: Thoughts on one-way video interview tools?18:45 Conclusion19:07 Outro  LISTEN & FOLLOWSpotify          →  https://open.spotify.com/show/0dbfz6y0tMq3crViHQD66HApple Podcasts   →  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1625835562All episodes     →  https://looksgoodonpaper.buzzsprout.comWATCH ON YOUTUBE - https://youtu.be/_Y4aBtfgQR0POWERED BY WILLOHire humans, not resumes  →  https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paperCONNECT WITH USLinkedIn  →  https://www.linkedin.com/company/10170893If this episode changed how you think about hiring, share it with one person who needs to hear it. And subscribe — we're rewriting the rules of hiring, one episode at a time. Great hiring outcomes share a set of consistent fundamentals: clarity about the role before it opens, structured evaluation criteria agreed on before candidates are seen, and disciplined debrief processes after interviews. These aren't complicated. They are consistently skipped when teams are under pressure — which is exactly when skipping them does the most damage.Show ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

What happens when 9 of Canada’s top hiring leaders get brutally honest about bias? During Tech for Canada Conference, we captured raw, unfiltered insights from executives at Microsoft, Deloitte, True Search, and more. From “pedigree bias” to companies getting “completely blindsided” by famous names, these behind-the-scenes conversations reveal the hidden forces sabotaging your talent strategy.The most eye-opening revelations include: Simon De Baene (Workleap) admitting companies get “completely blindsided” by famous company names, Marianne Bulger (True Search) breaking down the “pedigree trap,” and Yauhan Mehta sharing hard truths about elite education bias. Meanwhile, Anuj Rastogi (Backstretch) delivers the ultimate reality check: “Often the best hire is not the one that was most obvious.”This exclusive supercut compilation features candid moments captured during Tech for Canada Conference interviews, giving you a preview of the powerful conversations coming in Season 2 of Looks Good on Paper - launching this month! If you’re ready to break up with the CV and discover what really matters in hiring, these insights will change how you think about talent forever.Featured Leaders:Yauhan Mehta: Deloitte - ConsultantKatrin Kourtoff: Big Viking Games - VP of TalentKree Govender: Microsoft - SMB Canada Area LeadAnuj Rastogi: Backstretch - Managing DirectorMarianne Bulger: True Search - PartnerSarah Blackmore: Riipen - Talent Acquisition ProfessionalAndy Claremont: Glide - Head of Ecosystem & CommunitySimon De Baene: Workleap - Co-founder & CEOAmir Tavafi: Abloomify - Co-founder & CEOWatch the video version of this podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/dDPDXg-HSYQ?si=il1pVFl1ECK00URBSeason 2 launches this month!Special Thanks:StartWell for providing their incredible studio space for us to capture these interviews in-person: https://startwell.coCameron Suorsa for expert video podcast editing since the start of season one: Show ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

Years on a resume is not the same thing as the ability to do the work. It's one of the most persistent assumptions in hiring — and one of the most expensive. A candidate with 15 years of experience can be deeply incompetent at the thing you actually need. A candidate with four years can be exceptional.The experience proxy persists because it's easy to defend. Nobody gets fired for hiring the person with more years on paper. But the people who get hired because of it, and who can't do the job, cost far more than a well-designed screening process would have.David Hiford, Lead Talent Acquisition at Hitachi Rail, has recruited across New Zealand and the UK and watched companies make this mistake with striking consistency. In this episode of Looks Good on Paper, he challenges the assumption that experience and competence are the same thing, and explains what you should be measuring instead.What you'll learn:→  Why experience is a poor proxy for competence and what replaces it→  How to design screening that measures capability rather than tenure→  The true cost of hiring for years on paper rather than ability to do the work GUESTDavid Hiford — Lead Talent Acquisition, Hitachi RailLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidhiford/YOUR HOSTAnita Chauhan — Fractional CMO, co-hostLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan/CHAPTER MARKERS:00:00 Intro00:35 Introduction03:20 Biggest Hiring Mistake08:08 Unknown Hidden Bias12:37 Most Surprising Hire15:54 Wildcard: Spotting Potential That Doesn't Follow The Rules17:31 Conclusion18:28 Outro  LISTEN & FOLLOWSpotify          →  https://open.spotify.com/show/0dbfz6y0tMq3crViHQD66HApple Podcasts   →  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1625835562All episodes     →  https://looksgoodonpaper.buzzsprout.comWATCH ON YOUTUBE https://youtu.be/k8SrugxcidYPOWERED BY WILLOHire humans, not resumes  →  https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paperCONNECT WITH USLinkedIn  →  https://www.linkedin.com/company/10170893If this episode changed how you think about hiring, share it with one person who needs to hear it. And subscribe — we're rewriting the rules of hiring, one episode at a time.Experience and competence are not the same thing, and treating them as equivalent is one of the most common and costly mistakes in hiring. Years in a role measures persistence and availability, not the ability to produce outcomes in a new context. Competency-based screening — structured tasks, situational questions, work samples — consistently predicts performance better than tenure-based filters.Show ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

If your hiring decision includes any version of 'I could see myself having a drink with this person,' you have a bias problem masquerading as an instinct. Affinity bias doesn't feel like bias when it's happening. It feels like good judgment.The result is teams that get along well, think alike, and produce predictable work. Which is fine until the market shifts, the problem changes, or you need someone to tell you something you don't want to hear.Derek Polowyj from Eden Scott studied recruitment academically while practising it in deep technology — which gives him an unusual lens on why hiring decisions go sideways even when everyone in the room means well. In this episode of Looks Good on Paper, he unpacks the social biases that shape hiring choices most people never examine, and what it takes to build a process that's actually more resistant to them.What you'll learn:→  What affinity bias looks like in practice and why it's so hard to catch in the moment→  How likeability and cultural familiarity distort hiring decisions→  The process changes that make bias less likely without making hiring slowerGUESTDerek Polowyj — Eden ScottLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/derek-polowyj/YOUR HOSTSAnita Chauhan — Fractional CMO, co-hostLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan/CHAPTERS:00:00 Intro00:35 Introduction05:08 Biggest Hiring Mistake08:10 Unknown Hidden Bias11:54 Most Surprising Hire14:33 Wildcard: One Thing You'd Ban From CVs Forever18:39 OutroLISTEN & FOLLOWSpotify          →  https://open.spotify.com/show/0dbfz6y0tMq3crViHQD66HApple Podcasts   →  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1625835562All episodes     →  https://looksgoodonpaper.buzzsprout.comWATCH ON YOUTUBE - https://youtu.be/oPjbH16TEYsPOWERED BY WILLOHire humans, not resumes  →  https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paperCONNECT WITH USLinkedIn  →  https://www.linkedin.com/company/10170893If this episode changed how you think about hiring, share it with one person who needs to hear it. And subscribe — we're rewriting the rules of hiring, one episode at a time.Affinity bias in hiring occurs when interviewers favour candidates who remind them of themselves — in background, communication style, or social cues. It doesn't register as bias because it feels like chemistry or fit. But teams built on affinity rather than capability tend to be homogeneous, less innovative, and more vulnerable to groupthink.Show ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

Swipe right on the right credentials, hope for a match, and call it recruiting. LinkedIn has turned talent acquisition into a pattern-matching exercise — and most people playing it aren't finding what they're actually looking for.The infrastructure problem runs deeper than behaviour. The systems connecting talent and opportunity were built for a labour market that no longer exists, optimised for searchability rather than fit, and generating enormous activity with mediocre outcomes on both sides.Joshua Sklüt, co-founder of MyStandard and a builder of Web3-based employment technology, thinks the underlying architecture of modern hiring is broken — not just how people use it, but the systems underneath. In this episode of Looks Good on Paper, he talks about what's actually wrong with how talent and opportunity connect today, and what a version of recruiting that doesn't work like a dating app might look like.What you'll learn:→  Why LinkedIn's structure produces pattern-matching rather than genuine fit→  What's broken at the infrastructure level of how talent and opportunity connect→  What alternative models of recruitment could look like as Web3 and decentralised systems mature GUESTJoshua Sklüt — Co-founder & CPO, MyStandardLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-skl%C3%BCt/YOUR HOSTAnita Chauhan — Fractional CMO, co-hostLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan/STUDIES & EXAMPLES REFERENCED:- Bertrand-Mullainathan Study (2004): https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/0002828042002561 - American Economic Review research showing identical resumes with white-sounding names resulted in 50% more callbacks for white applicants (Josh referenced this as a "New York Times study" in the episode, but the actual research was published in the American Economic Review)- Ivy League Hiring Bias - Example of companies that "only hired out of Ivy League schools" blocking 90% of qualified candidates- Quadriplegic Employee Success Story - Josh's experience at a previous employer hiring a wheelchair-using employee who became an invaluable team member, challenging assumptions about ability and cultural fitCHAPTER MARKERS:00:00 Intro00:36 Introduction04:24 Biggest Hiring Mistake06:56 Unknown Hidden Biases10:08 Most Surprising Hire15:42 Wildcard: If Resumes Disappeared - Choose One Survivor19:02 Wrap Up19:36 Outro LISTEN & FOLLOWSpotify          →  https://open.spotify.com/show/0dbfz6y0tMq3crViHQD66HApple Podcasts   →  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1625835562All episodes     →  https://looksgoodonpaper.buzzsprout.comWATCH ON YOUTUBE - https://youtu.be/NZyud0AtuaoPOWERED BY WILLOHire humans, not resumes  →  https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paperCONNECT WITH USLinkedIn  →  https://www.linkedin.com/company/10170893If this episode changed how you think about hiring, share it with one person who needs to hear it. And subscribe — we're rewriting the rules of hiring, one episode at a time.LinkedIn optimises for searchability and network proximity, not fit or capability. The resuShow ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

The candidates most companies are sleeping on aren't hard to find. They're just being filtered out by job descriptions designed to attract the people who already have the job, salary bands that haven't moved with the market, and sourcing strategies that fish in the same three ponds.The gap between companies paying 70K for a role and companies paying 500K isn't always budget. It's often clarity — about what the role actually requires, what the market actually pays for it, and where the people who can do it at the highest level actually are.Adam Gellert, founder of Linkus Group and talent marketplace Hipo, has spent two decades finding the gap between where companies look for talent and where the talent actually is. In this episode of Looks Good on Paper, he shares what companies paying at the top of the market have figured out that others haven't, and why the difference is rarely about budget.What you'll learn:→  Why the best candidates get filtered out before hiring teams ever see them→  How salary band construction shapes the quality of candidates you attract→  Where high-performing companies source differently from everyone elseGUESTAdam Gellert — Founder, Linkus Group & HipoLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamgellert/YOUR HOSTAnita Chauhan — Fractional CMO, co-hostLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan/CHAPTER MARKERS:00:00 Intro 00:35 Introduction 01:54 Biggest Hiring Mistake 04:06 Unknown Hidden Bias 07:27 Most Surprising Hire 14:21 Wildcard: Can We Finally Get Rid Of The CV? 17:50 Wrap Up 18:08 OutroLISTEN & FOLLOWSpotify          →  https://open.spotify.com/show/0dbfz6y0tMq3crViHQD66HApple Podcasts   →  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1625835562All episodes     →  https://looksgoodonpaper.buzzsprout.comWATCH ON YOUTUBEhttps://youtu.be/rYWkrUAIxiQPOWERED BY WILLOHire humans, not resumes  →  https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paperCONNECT WITH USLinkedIn  →  https://www.linkedin.com/company/10170893If this episode changed how you think about hiring, share it with one person who needs to hear it. And subscribe — we're rewriting the rules of hiring, one episode at a time.The gap between average and exceptional hires is rarely a budget problem. It is most often a sourcing and clarity problem: job descriptions written for the wrong candidate, compensation bands set by benchmarking against peers rather than the market for the specific capability needed, and sourcing strategies that reach active candidates while ignoring the passive talent pool entirely.Show ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

Nobody reads job ads the way companies write them. And the best candidates — the ones not actively looking — aren't reading them at all. The job ad as a recruiting tool had a good run. It's over.The companies still investing in job description craft and job board spend as their primary sourcing strategy are fishing in a shrinking pond, competing for the same pool of active candidates while the passive talent market goes entirely untouched.Christine Spagnuolo has been a headhunter for 18 years and founded The Sorelle Group on the premise that great hiring happens through relationships, not listings. In this episode of Looks Good on Paper, she makes the case for why the traditional job ad is dead, what's replaced it for companies serious about talent, and why the way most companies write job descriptions is actively working against them.What you'll learn:→  Why job ads reach active candidates but miss the best passive talent→  What relationship-based sourcing actually looks like in practice→  How to rewrite job descriptions that work for the talent you actually wantGUESTChristine Spagnuolo — Founder, The Sorelle GroupLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinespagnuolo/YOUR HOSTSAnita Chauhan — Fractional CMO, co-hostLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan/CHAPTER MARKERS:00:00 Intro 02:00 Biggest Hiring Mistake 07:20 Unknown Hidden Bias 13:45 Most Surprising Hire 16:00 Wildcard 19:10 Conclusion 19:32 OutroLISTEN & FOLLOWSpotify          →  https://open.spotify.com/show/0dbfz6y0tMq3crViHQD66HApple Podcasts   →  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1625835562All episodes     →  https://looksgoodonpaper.buzzsprout.comWATCH ON YOUTUBE - https://youtu.be/NKlc3a7dED8POWERED BY WILLOHire humans, not resumes  →  https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paperCONNECT WITH USLinkedIn  →  https://www.linkedin.com/company/10170893If this episode changed how you think about hiring, share it with one person who needs to hear it. And subscribe — we're rewriting the rules of hiring, one episode at a time.The traditional job advertisement reaches only the candidates who are actively looking — which typically excludes the highest performers, who are already employed and not browsing job boards. Companies that rely on job ads as their primary sourcing strategy are competing for a subset of the talent market by default, regardless of how well the ad is written.Show ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

The rules of hiring were written for a different era, by people who needed to manage risk at scale, not find the best person for a specific job. Most of those rules are still in place — and most of them are quietly producing worse outcomes than the alternatives.Degree requirements for roles that don't need degrees. Interview processes that test presentation rather than capability. Reference checks that produce no useful information. The standard hiring playbook is full of practices that persist because they're defensible, not because they work.Martin Hauck is a fractional HR consultant and founder of People People Group, a community of over 5,000 HR, recruitment, and operations professionals. In this episode of Looks Good on Paper, he challenges the norms that still govern most hiring decisions, explains what he's seen actually work at the companies doing it differently, and makes the case for looking past what looks good on paper.What you'll learn:→  Which standard hiring practices persist despite producing poor outcomes→  What the companies doing hiring differently actually do instead→  How to challenge inherited hiring norms inside an organisation that resists changeGUESTMartin Hauck — Fractional HR Consultant & Founder, People People GroupLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/martinhauck/YOUR HOSTSAnita Chauhan — Fractional CMO, co-hostLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan/CHAPTER MARKERS:00:00 Intro00:35 Introduction01:44 Biggest Hiring Mistake05:37 Unknown Hidden Bias10:48 Most Surprising Hire15:01 Wildcard: How Can We Look At Candidates Differently?18:30 Wrap Up19:33 Outro LISTEN & FOLLOWSpotify          →  https://open.spotify.com/show/0dbfz6y0tMq3crViHQD66HApple Podcasts   →  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1625835562All episodes     →  https://looksgoodonpaper.buzzsprout.comWATCH ON YOUTUBE - https://youtu.be/D1y4yxhH34gPOWERED BY WILLOHire humans, not resumes  →  https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paperCONNECT WITH USLinkedIn  →  https://www.linkedin.com/company/10170893If this episode changed how you think about hiring, share it with one person who needs to hear it. And subscribe — we're rewriting the rules of hiring, one episode at a time. Most hiring norms persist not because they produce good outcomes but because they are defensible. Degree requirements, unstructured interviews, and pro forma reference checks are difficult to challenge internally because they look rigorous. The companies that hire best have replaced defensibility with validity — asking not 'is this practice standard?' but 'does this practice predict the performance we actually want?'Show ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

Most hiring processes were designed without neurodivergent candidates in mind — and it shows. Timed assessments, unstructured interviews, rigid communication norms: the standard screening gauntlet systematically removes people whose brains work differently, regardless of whether those people would be exceptional at the actual job.AI tools are supposed to make hiring more objective. For neurodivergent candidates, they often make it worse — pattern-matching on communication styles and response formats that have nothing to do with capability, and filtering out exactly the people who bring the most distinctive thinking.Theo Smith is a celebrated recruiter and co-founder of Neurodiversity World, which helps organisations build workplaces where neurodivergent people can actually thrive. In this episode of Looks Good on Paper, he talks through the specific ways standard hiring fails neurodiverse candidates, where AI tools help and where they actively cause harm, and what truly inclusive hiring looks like in practice rather than in policy.What you'll learn:→  Where standard hiring processes systematically exclude neurodivergent candidates→  Why AI screening tools can amplify bias against non-neurotypical communication styles→  What inclusive hiring design looks like at the process level, not just the policy levelGUESTTheo Smith — Co-founder, Neurodiversity WorldLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/theosmithuk/YOUR HOSTSAnita Chauhan — Fractional CMO, co-hostLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan/CHAPTER MARKERS:00:00 Intro00:35 Introduction01:06 Biggest Hiring Mistake06:45 Unknown Hidden Bias11:04 Surprising Hire16:40 Wildcard: How Recruiters Can Educate Candidates To Leverage AI18:58 Wrap Up19:28 OutroSHOW RESOURCES:CV Free Toolkit: https://cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsWillo: https://willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeLISTEN & FOLLOWSpotify          →  https://open.spotify.com/show/0dbfz6y0tMq3crViHQD66HApple Podcasts   →  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1625835562All episodes     →  https://looksgoodonpaper.buzzsprout.comWATCH ON YOUTUBE - https://youtu.be/TI-ngol6TocPOWERED BY WILLOHire humans, not resumes  →  https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paperCONNECT WITH USLinkedIn  →  https://www.linkedin.com/company/10170893If this episode changed how you think about hiring, share it with one person who needs to hear it. And subscribe — we're rewriting the rules of hiring, one episode at a time.Standard hiring processes — timed assessments, unstructured interviews, rigid written communication requirements — were designed for neurotypical candidates and consistently screen out neurodivergent applicants before any human evaluates their actual capability. Inclusive hiring design requires examining each stage of the process for the assumptions it makes about how competent people think and communicate.Show ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

The candidate who looks perfect on paper — right school, right company, right titles — is often not the right hire. Not because the credentials are irrelevant, but because the process of selecting for credentials filters out the things that actually matter: adaptability, judgment, the ability to do the specific work in the specific context.This is the founding argument of Looks Good on Paper. And in the first episode, hosts Andrew Wood and Anita Chauhan lay out exactly why the gap between what looks impressive on a resume and what makes someone exceptional at a job is wider than most hiring managers want to admit.This is where it all started. If you're new to the show, this is the episode that explains why we exist — and what we set out to change.What you'll learn:→  Why credentials correlate poorly with job performance in most roles→  The founding thesis behind Looks Good on Paper→  What skills-based and potential-based hiring look like as alternatives YOUR HOSTSAnita Chauhan — Fractional CMO, co-hostLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan/Andrew Wood (Woody) — Co-hostLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-douglas-wood/ SHOW RESOURCES:CV Free Toolkit: https://cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsWillo: https://willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCHAPTER MARKERS:00:00 Intro 00:35 The Problem with Traditional Hiring Practices 03:33 Core Issues with CVs 06:38 What to Expect from Future Episodes 08:51 OutroLISTEN & FOLLOWSpotify          →  https://open.spotify.com/show/0dbfz6y0tMq3crViHQD66HApple Podcasts   →  https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1625835562All episodes     →  https://looksgoodonpaper.buzzsprout.comWATCH ON YOUTUBE - https://youtu.be/EZ8bcodDY0MPOWERED BY WILLOHire humans, not resumes  →  https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paperCONNECT WITH USLinkedIn  →  https://www.linkedin.com/company/10170893If this episode changed how you think about hiring, share it with one person who needs to hear it. And subscribe — we're rewriting the rules of hiring, one episode at a time. The credential-to-performance correlation is weaker than most hiring managers believe. Candidates who look perfect on paper — top schools, recognisable companies, clean career progression — have been selected for the ability to accumulate credentials, which is a different skill from the ability to produce outcomes in a new role. The gap between these two things is what Looks Good on Paper is built to close.Show ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

In this episode of the Recruitment Reality Podcast, I am joined by Artimese Braddy Lawrence, Coordinator of Human Resources at Tyler ISD, the largest school district in Northeast Texas. Artimese discusses the broad range of recruitment responsibilities in the school district, from hiring teachers to custodial staff and bus drivers. Within the educational sector there are some unique challenges, including finding quality candidates who are genuinely interested in working with children.We explore strategies for attracting potential candidates, such as utilizing social media, incentives, community partnerships, and emphasizing the district's family-oriented environment. Additionally, the conversation touches on the role of technology, specifically AI, in the recruitment process and the importance of maintaining human elements in human resources. Her advice to candidates was to research the company that you are applying to and to not hide your personality in your interviews.Watch on YouTubeRESOURCES:► Willo: Video Interview Screening Software► Andrew Wood, COO & Co-founder at Willo► Tyler ISD: Largest School District in Northeast Texas► Artimese Braddy Lawrence, Coordinator of Human Resources at Tyler ISDShow ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

In this episode of the Recruitment Reality Podcast, I am joined by Joe Atkinson, Founder at PURPL, a peer-to-peer learning platform built by talent acquisition for talent acquisition professionals. They specialize in upskilling recruiters with practical, time-efficient & industry relevant training.The episode delves into Joe's journey from his passion for startups to identifying a gap in professional training for recruiters. PURPL emerges as a solution, offering a platform for recruiters to upskill by learning from top professionals in the tech world. Joe shares insights on the challenges in talent acquisition, the lack of data literacy, and stakeholder management. The discussion also covers how PURPL sources its creators, their motivations, and the unique approach to content authenticity and learnability.In facing economic downturns with massive tech layoffs, PURPL began assisting displaced professionals by offering free trainings to enhance their employability for their next role. Looking ahead, Joe outlines plans to engage a broader segment of the recruitment industry, emphasizing the importance of fundamental skills. The episode concludes with valuable advice for aspiring entrepreneurs and recruiters. Watch on YouTubeRESOURCES:► Willo: Video Interview Screening Software► Andrew Wood, COO & Co-founder at Willo► PURPL: Peer-to-Peer Learning Platform for Talent Acquisition► Joe Atkinson, Founder at PURPLShow ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

In this episode of the Recruitment Reality Podcast, I am joined by Robert Garner, Director at Abstraction Labs, a recruitment website design & development firm. We discuss his transition from a career in recruitment to becoming a software developer and eventually starting his own web design business.Robert shares his diverse experiences, from selling recruitment advertising and working in media recruitment to launching a job board and moving into talent acquisition and software development, focusing on recruitment CRM systems. He delves into the challenges he faced early on trying to launch his own software platform, the pivotal role of self-teaching and online learning resources in his career shift, and gives advice for effective cold calling.Robert also provides insights into the current state of the recruitment market, the importance of business development, and utilizing AI and automation. Additionally, he offers valuable advice for recruitment agencies on improving their websites, emphasizing the use of 3 easy things you can do today to assess your website:Perform the Google Lighthouse performance testEnsure Mobile Responsiveness of your pagesIncorporate high quality Images and VideosWatch on YouTubeRESOURCES MENTIONED:► Willo: Video Interview Screening Software► Andrew Wood, COO & Co-founder at Willo► Abstraction Labs: Recruitment Website Design & Development ► Robert Garner, Managing Director at Abstraction Labs ► The Challenger Sale, a book about taking control of the customer conversation ► The Jelly Effect, a book about how to make your communication stickShow ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

In this episode of the Recruitment Reality Podcast, I am joined by Ahva Sadeghi, CEO/Co-founder at Symba, an innovative onboarding and talent management platform. She highlights how Symba has grown from its initial conception of remote internships to focusing on new hire readiness in order to allow individuals to be productive from day one. She shares insights into the challenges faced during the initial years of launching her startup and how customer feedback played a crucial role in expanding the product's capabilities. Ahva emphasizes the importance of forming a strong team, providing a great onboarding experience, the impacts of a company's culture on its growth, and the need to constantly learn and adapt.Avha’s first piece of advice for listeners was that when receiving feedback, you should only implement wisdom that resonates with you from people you respect. She also shared advice that one of her mentors gave her, which was that you should make sure that everyone that comes into contact with your company is better off because of it.Watch on YouTubeRESOURCES MENTIONED:Willo: Video Interview Screening Software https://www.willo.videoAndrew Wood, COO & Co-founder at Willo https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-douglas-woodSymba: The Go-To Platform for New Hire Readiness https://symba.ioAhva Sadeghi, CEO & Co-founder at Symba https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahvasadeghiShow ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

In this episode of the Recruitment Reality Podcast, I am joined by Dace Straupmane, a Talent Acquisition Manager at SmartLynx, an aviation lending company (think of them as the B2B ‘Uber of aviation’). We discussed SmartLynx’s unique business model and recruitment strategies, specifically how they have had success attracting global talent by valuing candidate’s potential over experience. This has allowed them to invest in junior talents and attract talent from other industries (such as banking).Filling technical roles is a challenge, but SmartLynx has leveraged technology like Willo into their hiring workflow to streamline identification of driven candidates from around the world. Valuing diversity and inclusion in the workplace, Dace mentioned how she has seen her colleagues break role stereotypes. They have so many ladies working as engineers and serving in leading roles of their technical departments.Woody shared his view that the employee of the future is one that knows how to do their job with the help of AI.  Dace also has a positive view of AI for both candidates & recruiters, citing it as a huge time saver with efficiency that reduces stress in the workplace. She wraps up by urging recruiters to leverage modern technologies and candidates to take the time to prepare and communicate throughout the whole interview process.Watch on YouTubeRESOURCES MENTIONED:Willo: Video Interview Screening Software https://www.willo.videoDace Straupmane, Talent Acquisition Manager at SmartLynx https://www.linkedin.com/in/dacestraupmaneAndrew Wood, COO & Co-founder at Willo https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-douglas-woodSmartLynx: aviation lending company https://www.smartlynx.aeroShow ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

In this episode of the Recruitment Reality Podcast, I am joined by Yasmin Castle, a Talent Acquisition Specialist at Ideagen, a global software company based in Nottingham built for regulated and high-compliance industries. We discussed Ideagen’s hiring methods, early career programs, and the challenges of global recruitment with the varying market trends in the UK and India. One of Ideagen’s early career programs, ‘Think Big,’ incentivizes high schoolers with opportunities to enter the workforce directly without a college degree. Yasmin highlights some challenges with assessing a significant number of candidates while still providing them with meaningful feedback and how Willo has helped them streamline these processes.We explored the effectiveness and impact of artificial intelligence adoption in recruitment and the workplace. We also delved into the importance of feedback and company culture in shaping a company’s employer branding. Yasmin ended the interview by sharing some key advice for recruitment professionals and job applicants.Watch on YouTubeRESOURCES MENTIONED:Willo: Video Interview Screening Software https://www.willo.videoYasmin Castle, Talent Acquisition Specialist at Ideagen https://www.linkedin.com/in/yasmin-castle-6858751a9Andrew Wood, COO & Co-founder at Willo https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-douglas-woodIdeagen: Software Company for Regulated High Compliance Industries  https://ideagen.comiCIMS: Applicant Tracking System https://www.icims.comOktopost: B2B Social Media Management Solutions https://www.oktopost.com Show ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

In this episode of the Recruitment Reality Podcast, I am joined by Rosa Hilmi, the co-founder and managing director of Stellar Select, a niche recruitment consultancy specializing in the lending sector. Rosa shares her insights and experiences in the industry, highlighting the importance of having a strong USP and niche focus in a tough market. Rosa emphasizes the need for recruiters to prioritize the candidate experience and truly listen to their needs and preferences. She discusses the value of providing honest feedback to candidates, even if it's not the news they were hoping for, as it builds trust and fosters long-term relationships. We also discuss the impact of automation and technology on improving the candidate journey and ensuring a seamless recruitment process.  Overall, Rosa's advice to recruiters is to stay positive, adapt to market changes, and focus on building strong relationships with candidates. By prioritizing the candidate experience and maintaining a niche focus, recruiters can thrive in a challenging market and secure long-term success.Watch on YouTubeRESOURCES MENTIONED:Willo: Video Interview Screening Software https://www.willo.videoRosa Hilmi, Managing Director at Stellar Select https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosa-hilmi-72749414Andrew Wood, COO & Co-founder at Willo https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-douglas-woodStellar Select: Specialists in Mortgage and Financial Services Recruitment https://www.stellarselect.co.ukHereFish: Recruitment Automation Software https://herefish.comShow ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

In this week's episode of the Recruitment Reality Podcast, I had the pleasure of speaking with Sean Allen, a prominent figure in the talent acquisition community. Sean, who is currently the head of talent acquisition at The Very Group  shared his extensive experience in tech recruitment and his role in fostering a vibrant talent community. Sean's journey in recruitment spans over 15 years, starting in agency work and transitioning to in-house roles across various companies. He's also a co-founder and community manager of The Talent Community, a platform for recruiters from all sectors to share knowledge and elevate the industry. During our conversation, Sean discussed the challenges he faced when stepping into his first head of role at  The Very Group particularly learning about new industries beyond tech. He emphasized the importance of employer branding, especially in tech and customer care, and how authenticity in telling a company's story can attract the right talent. We delved into the impact of AI on recruitment, both from the perspective of improving internal processes and the potential concerns around candidates using AI to enhance their applications. Sean believes that AI should be seen as a tool to aid recruiters, not replace them, and that candidates using AI are simply demonstrating their resourcefulness. Sean also shared insights on the evolution of the interview process, advocating for automation to streamline the candidate experience and allow recruiters to focus on more strategic, value-added activities. To wrap up, Sean offered advice for both recruiters and candidates. For recruiters, especially those starting in a new company, he suggested looking for opportunities to automate and integrate processes to save time and improve the candidate experience. For candidates, he encouraged using AI as a smart tool for research but also advised going the extra mile to stand out. Overall, my discussion with Sean Allen provided valuable insights into the dynamic world of talent acquisition and the role of technology in shaping its future.Watch on YouTubeRESOURCES MENTIONED:Video Interview Screening Software https://www.willo.videoSean Allen, Head of Talent Acquisition at The Very Group https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean1allenAndrew Wood, COO & Co-founder at Willo https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-douglas-woodThe Talent Community https://www.thetalentcommunity.netThe Very Group https://www.theverygroup.comShow ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

In this episode of The Recruitment Reality Podcast, I had the pleasure of talking with Harvey Bass from Stascom about how he has maintained his business over 30 years.In this episode, we focus on how 'old school' methods are exactly what you need to keep your business alive. Harvey talks about: The importance of using the phoneHow to remain persistent and politeWhy he has his team in the officeHow Stascom has survived multiple recessions You'd be a fool not to listen if you want to hear some advice from an expert in our industry. Watch on YouTubeRESOURCES MENTIONED:CompaniesStascom - Leaders in Executive Recruitment Since 1987Willo.video - Video Interview Screening SoftwarePeopleHarvey Bass, CEO & President at Stascom Andrew Wood, COO & Co-founder at WilloShow ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

In this episode of The Recruitment Reality Podcast, I had the pleasure of talking with Justin Plagis from Packaly.  Join us as we discuss how Justin and his team have scaled their business across multiple cities and countries. Following their € 2.6 million seed funding, their team has expanded their last leg delivery service into more than 125 cities! Listen to this episode to hear exactly how they have done this whilst remaining lean. In this episode, we discuss: 🔸 The importance of pace in the gig economy🔸 How to build a simple, cost-effective and efficient tech stack🔸 How to reduce onboarding time from 8 days to 7 hours! Follow us on Linkedin, Youtube and Spotify! Watch on YouTubeRESOURCES MENTIONED:CompaniesPackaly - Power your business with Sustainable deliveryTech StackWillo.video - Video Interview Screening SoftwarePeopleJustin Plagis, Product & Growth (Co-founder) at PackalyAndrew Wood, COO & Co-founder at WilloShow ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

In this episode of The Recruitment Reality Podcast, I had the pleasure of talking with Mark Gibbons from Tunstall.  Join us as we discuss how to recruit for secret but mission-led brands!In this episode, we discuss: 🔸 Promoting a powerful business mission: Craft a compelling mission that attracts top talent and fosters engagement.🔸 Managing candidate expectations: Learn effective techniques to foster positive candidate experiences and clear communication.🔸 Using technology to automate tasks at scale: Discover innovative ways to streamline recruitment processes using automation and technology.🔸 Finding meaning in your work: Gain insights into inspiring candidates by giving them meaning to their potential work. Follow us on Linkedin, Youtube and Spotify! #SecretBrands #TalentAcquisition #PodcastEpisodeWatch on YouTubeRESOURCES MENTIONED:CompaniesTunstall - Innovative Telehealth & Telecare ServicesJob OpeningsTech StackWillo.video - Video Interview Screening SoftwarePeopleMark Gibbons, Head of Talent at TunstallAndrew Wood, COO & Co-founder at WilloShow ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

In this episode of The Recruitment Reality Podcast, I had the pleasure of talking with Chandy Tucker... Here's a recap of the fantastic insights Chandy shared:🌐 AI Empowering Recruiters: Discover how artificial intelligence is amplifying recruiter success and transforming the recruitment landscape.💡 Problem First, Tech Solution Second: Understand the importance of identifying the core problem before developing a tech solution for your recruiting technology.🚀 Simple Software, Superpowers Unleashed: Demystify the notion that complex tools are the only path to success. Learn how simple, user-friendly software can deliver recruiting superpowers.Listen now to find out how Chandy has helped companies improve the efficiency of their recruitment funnel by implementing simple technology 🌟#AIinRecruiting #RectechSolutions #RecruitingSuperpowers Watch on YouTubeRESOURCES MENTIONED:CompaniesChandy Tucker Consulting - Your one-stop shop, Human Resources, Recruiting, and Job Search support solutionBlacksheep HR - Uniquely better job search and career coaching supportTech StackWillo.video - Video Interview Screening SoftwarePeopleChandy Tucker, Job Search Expert and HR Consultant at CTC & Blacksheep HRAndrew Wood, COO & Co-founder at WilloShow ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

In this episode of The Recruitment Reality Podcast, I had the pleasure of hosting the amazing Sabrina Houssami, and it was an absolute game-changer! We dove deep into some crucial topics that every leader and aspiring leader should know about. Here's a recap of the fantastic insights Sabrina shared:🔍 Vulnerability as a Leader: Sabrina emphasized the importance of vulnerability in driving diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives within an organization. She explained how being open and transparent about your own journey and experiences can create a safe space for employees to share their perspectives and foster a culture of trust.🔍 Crafting Questions as a Candidate: Sabrina emphasized the importance of candidates asking thoughtful and strategic questions during job interviews. We explored the significance of candidates demonstrating their curiosity, preparedness, and genuine interest in the organization. Sabrina provided valuable guidance on how to craft questions that showcase your qualifications, align with your values, and help you evaluate if the company is the right fit for you.💸 Tackling Pay Inequality: In the episode, we addressed the critical issue of pay inequality and discussed ways to address it within organizations. Sabrina shared her advice on how to establish transparent salary structures and foster a culture of fairness and equality.🎧 Don't miss out on this empowering episode! Tune in to the podcast to hear Sabrina's expert advice, thought-provoking anecdotes, and actionable steps you can take to enhance DEI in your business.I want to express my deepest gratitude to Sabrina Houssami for her invaluable contributions and for being such an inspiration to leaders everywhere. Her expertise in DEI, talent acquisition, and leadership development is truly remarkable.💼 If you're passionate about creating a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace, this episode is a must-listen! Share your thoughts, insights, and any questions you may have in the comments below. Let's continue the conversation and work together towards building better organizations for everyone. #DEI #LeadershipMatters #InclusionMattersWatch on YouTubeRESOURCES MENTIONED:CompaniesAvanti Search - Boutique Recruitment Agency in Sydney, AustraliaTech StackWillo.video - Video Interview Screening SoftwareJobAdder - Applicant Tracking System and CRM Recruiting SoftwareZoomInfo TalentOS - Recruiting Database & Management SystemSEEK Talent Search - Australia's largest employment marketplacePeopleSabrina Houssami, Founder & Recruitment Expert at Avanti SearchAndrew Wood, COO & Co-founder at WShow ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

In this episode of The Recruitment Reality Podcast,  I had the pleasure of interviewing Kate Wright, Director of Talent Acquisition & Programs at WillowTree Apps. Kate shared with us her valuable insights and experience on how to hire talent for a fast-moving and ever-changing business like WillowTree Apps.During our conversation, Kate explained how her team works closely with project planning to deliver future talent, and how their brand and culture shape the types of individuals that join their business. As a big company with an intimate feel, WillowTree Apps offers a unique work environment that attracts top talent.We also discussed the latest technology that Kate has implemented to drive the success of her business, ensuring that all the technology they choose drives both efficiency and candidate experience. It is possible to create a dynamic and fast-paced environment while delivering top talent in the tech consultancy industry.If you want to learn more about the secrets of recruiting in a dynamic and fast-paced environment, listen to the latest episode of The Recruitment Reality Podcast with Kate Wright. You won't want to miss it! #talentacquisition #recruiting #techconsultancy #podcastWatch on YouTubeRESOURCES MENTIONED:CompaniesWillowTree Apps - We design and build award-winning digital products. And we help shape the teams and process that drive them forward. Tech StackWillo.video - Video Interview Screening SoftwareGreenhouse - Applicant tracking software & hiring platformTextio - Interrupt bias in performance feedback and recruitingPeopleKate Wright, Director of Talent Acquisition & Programs at WillowTree AppsAndrew Wood, COO & Co-founder at Will tShow ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

In this episode of The Recruitment Reality Podcast, I speak with Chase Kocher about the death of remote working in Austin.Chase Kocher has years of experience in the Austin market. But it's all changing.In this episode, you will hear:1. How his team has seen a move away from resumes2. Why remote working has become a perk3. How the death of telephone interviews is affecting recruitmentWatch on YouTubeRESOURCES MENTIONED:CompaniesAim4Hire - Austin-based Recruiting Partner finding elite technical talent 4 elite tech startups.Tech StackWillo.video - Video Interview Screening SoftwarePeopleChase Kocher, CEO & Founder at Aim4HireAndrew Wood, COO & Co-founder at WilloShow ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

In this episode of The Recruitment Reality Podcast, I speak with Debbie Penn and Chris Havens about hiring at a huge scale across multiple state locations. Debbie and Chris share their experience of running a huge-scale recruitment function with only 3 dedicated recruiters! This is something I've always been fascinated and surprised about. How do large, disparate organisations manage recruitment with only 3 people? The answer, introduce a framework built on a culture that allows for individual adaptation! If that doesn't make sense, then this is a great episode to listen to. Debbie shares her years of experience within the Watermark Communities team, and how their CEO has managed to give freedom, whilst also creating a sense of belonging. Listen to this episode to learn more about the importance of culture when building your recruitment function...Watch on YouTubeRESOURCES MENTIONED:Watermark Retirement Communities - Creating extraordinary and innovative communities where people thrive.Apply on Indeed.comTech StackSymplr.com - Talent management software and solutions to hire, keep, and grow quality talentWillo.video - Video Interview Screening SoftwarePeopleDebbie Penn, National Director of Recruitment at WatermarkChris Havens, Health Care Recruiter at WatermarkAndrew Wood, COO & Co-founder at WilloShow ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

In this episode of The Recruitment Reality Podcast, I speak with Mikey de Mello and Hamish Livingston about product development within the recruitment technology space.This was a fascinating chat. Mikey, Product Manager at Florence, and Hamish, VP of Product at Willo®, are both experts at building disruptive rectech. They share their experience of building products that aim to challenge the market through innovative technology. If you've ever wondered what it takes to build a rectech product, this could be a really interesting listen for you. Most people never speak to the person behind actually building out the tool they are using, so here is your opportunity! We cover everything from problem-focused to development to managing client expectations and the future of rectech. It was a pleasure to chat with Mikey and Hamish. Listen if you want to learn more about how the rectech tools you use are created. Watch on YouTubeRESOURCES MENTIONED:Tech StackFlorence.co.uk - Revolutionizing Social Care StaffingWillo.video - Video Interview Screening SoftwareHotjar.com - Website Heatmaps & Behavior Analytics ToolsPeopleMikey de Mello, Product Manager at FlorenceHamish Livingston, Head of Product at WilloAndrew Wood, COO & Co-founder at WilloShow ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

In this episode, I speak with Caitlin Ingham, Talent Acquisition Manager at Lunio about how to recruit post-Series A.Caitlin jumped from agency to internal recruiting to follow the Lunio company mission. Her experience in building the post-series A business gives us invaluable insights. Caitlin talks us through how to stay true to your company culture while accelerating growth. From the tools that Caitlin uses to the way she engages critical stakeholders in the hiring process, there are many takeaways from this episode.We also discuss how CVs for junior sales hires are meaningless. Instead, you should assess drive, communication, and personality, something we at Willo have long believed in!Listen if you want to learn more about what it takes to build a team post a Series A investment...Watch on YouTubeRESOURCES MENTIONED:Tech StackLunio.ai - Remove bots, fake users & fake touchpoints from your entire performance marketing stack to win against the competition.Careers at LunioWillo.video - Video Interview Software Teamtailor - Recruitment & Employer Branding ATSPeopleCaitlin Lingham, Talent Acquisition Manager at LunioSam Madden, VP Global Sales at LunioJames Pritchard, Head of SDR at LunioAlex, Segev, and Neil, Co-founders of LunioAndrew Wood, COO & Co-founder at WilloShow ResourcesWillo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any timeCV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessmentsAnita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host