The Blind Spots of Hiring Managers & Candidates with Varun Puri

Let's face it, a lot of people are BAD at interviewing on both sides of the table. 

It is easy to understand that candidates or job seekers are bad for numerous reasons. Being nervous, out of practice, and under pressure to do well because of NEED,  create a large margin for error. For seasoned interviewers, it becomes easier to perform because the person has a lot of practice interviewing. That practice is what eventually makes it easier to land a job. 

On the company side, interviewers get a lot of practice asking the same questions as everyone else, but the lack of structure & coordination does very little to uncover evidence to support the decision. The problem with that is that only surface information is gathered and at the end of the day, the hiring decision is made on circumstantial evidence, assumptions, and bias.

Guest Bio:

Varun Puri is the Founder of Yoodli and an Entrepreneur in Residence at Paul Allen's AI Institute. Yoodli uses AI to help people improve their public speaking and interviewing skills without the pressure of an audience. 

Prior to Yoodli, Varun worked on a GoogleX project to bring high speed internet to unconnected regions using invisible lasers. He also ran special projects for Sergey Brin, Google's co-founder.

 Today we discuss:

Why it is important to practice your interview (or any presentation)
How to practice effectively for an interview

HIRING STORY:

Struggle getting someone to hire him…
Now getting people to hire for his startup
The key to getting people to bet on you is how you communicate with them

PROBLEM:

Smart people on both sides of the fence (interviewers and candidates) who miss dream job and miss dream candidate
Outcome: Missed hiring on both sides 
Hiring managers may not represent companies in the best way

Challenges today?

Communication skills are an amorphous training concept. No clear way of measuring progress or diagnosing issues (we’re dealing with peoples’ deep insecurities).  We practice in front of the mirror, camera, and stopwatch. Or worse, avoid it altogether

Why is this important to the company?

Individual: 
Land your dream job. Get access to the opportunities you deserve and don’t miss out on them because of how you speak

Corporation: 
Get your dream candidate 
Ensure your team is aligned
Help people become more confident communicators and leaders

Rick’s Nuggets

We don’t set Expectations
Allow people to prepare 
Makes interviewers seem unimpressive - demonstrate 
Unable to 

How do we solve the problem? 

3 pronged solution needed:
Be aware of your biases/ way you communicate
Collaborate with your team to ensure you’re all saying the same story
Diagnose the issues and work on them

Solution:
Practice interviewing skills for hiring managers:
Be aware of your biases/ way you communicate
 

Stay on company brand
Collaborate with your team to ensure you’re all saying the same story

Don’t say the wrong thing (non inclusive language, berate competition)
Diagnose the issues and work on them
Time stamped feedback

Convey energy

Practice for candidates

Rick’s Nuggets

Interview Structure- expectations
Repeatable & predictable process
Timing and Steps in process
Interview question scripts
Feedback loop

Interview training
Documentation habits
Interview preparation 
How to prepare the candidate
How the interviewer prepares

Key Takeaways that the Audience can plug into their business today! (Value):

Align with your team with a set of interview questions you want to ask and follow up with the Why questions to dig deeper.
Conduct the work as a team
Watch the post-game highlight reel & critique 

Guest Links

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/varun-puri001/
Company: https://www.yoodli.ai/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/yoodli/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/yoodli

Host Links: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-girard-07722/
Company: https://www.stridesearch.com/
Podcast: https://www.hirepowerradio.com
Authored:  "Healing Career Wounds"  https://amzn.to/3tGbtre
HireOS inquiry: [email protected]

Show Sponsor:

www.stridesearch.com