The Blind Spots of Hiring Managers & Candidates with Varun Puri of Yoodli

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://a