{"id":46712,"date":"2025-12-09T23:23:05","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T23:23:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/isafespend.com\/?p=46712"},"modified":"2025-12-09T23:23:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T23:23:05","slug":"this-ceos-controversial-interview-tactic-divided-the-internet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/isafespend.com\/?p=46712","title":{"rendered":"This CEO&#8217;s Controversial Interview Tactic Divided the Internet"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<h2 class=\"tw:mt-0 tw:mb-1 tw:font-sans tw:text-2xl\">Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"tw:font-semibold tw:font-sans tw:text-base tw:marker:text-blue-600\">\n<li>Gagan Biyani is the CEO of education platform Maven and cofounder of the online learning platform Udemy.<\/li>\n<li>In new social media posts, Biyani disclosed that he shares \u201cdirect feedback\u201d with job candidates while the interview occurs. <\/li>\n<li>He then assesses candidates in real-time \u2014 if they freeze or get offended by the feedback, he can tell that they aren\u2019t a good fit. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>A CEO is taking a controversial approach to hiring by giving candidates blunt, real-time feedback during interviews. He then registers their reaction as a pass-fail signal for the role.<\/p>\n<p>Gagan Biyani, CEO of education platform Maven and cofounder of the online learning platform Udemy, said in recent identical posts on X and LinkedIn that he now shares \u201cdirect feedback\u201d with candidates during interviews, sometimes in front of a panel and other times in a one-on-one setting.<\/p>\n<p>He called the feedback section \u201cthe most telling part of a candidate\u2019s interview\u201d because if the candidate freezes up or gets offended, he can tell that they aren\u2019t a good fit. On the other hand, if they lean in and find the feedback exciting, their reaction boosts their chances of an offer.<\/p>\n<p><b>Related: <\/b><b>Here\u2019s How Many Interviews an AI Bot Creator Got in One Month<\/b><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnyone else do this? I\u2019m wondering if I\u2019m insane or brilliant,\u201d Biyani wrote in the post.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Started to give candidates direct feedback during the interview process. Often in public during our panel interviews or live at the end of my 1:1 with them.<\/p>\n<p>It is often the most telling part of a candidate\u2019s interview tbh.<\/p>\n<p>If this is their nightmare, candidate freezes up or\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Gagan Biyani ? (@gaganbiyani) <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/gaganbiyani\/status\/1997368424985694701?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 6, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Biyani noted that he reserves feedback for candidates he likes, mostly for people with whom he is likely to move forward in the interview process. Sometimes he gives feedback to candidates he \u201creally liked\u201d but who weren\u2019t the right fit for that position.<\/p>\n<p>He wants to see if candidates can absorb comments and change course on the spot.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo matter what, we expect the candidate to take the feedback in real-time and change their answers from then on out,\u201d Biyani wrote in the post.<\/p>\n<p>The interview technique has garnered mixed reactions on social media. One professional on LinkedIn commented that Biyani\u2019s approach was \u201chow you find resilient, adaptable team members.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b>Related: <\/b><b>Major Companies Are Bringing Back In-Person Job Interviews to Combat AI Cheating<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Many others disagreed with Biyani\u2019s tactic. The most-liked comment under his LinkedIn post argued that real-time feedback in interviews does not really measure coachability, but rather which candidates are \u201cwilling to suppress their nervous system response to humiliation, stress and social threat in exchange for a job.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Career coach Kyle Elliott told <i>Fortune<\/i> on Tuesday that Biyani\u2019s approach reads like an \u201cinsensitive science experiment,\u201d emphasizing that the feedback is one-sided, lacks previous rapport and directly affects if someone gets the job.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf your company doesn\u2019t care about psychological safety [and] likes to put people on the spot\u2026 I suppose you could run this test,\u201d Elliott told the outlet.<\/p>\n<p><i>Ready to explore everything on Entrepreneur.com? December is your free pass to Entrepreneur+. Enjoy complete access, no strings attached. <\/i><i>Claim your free month.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<h2 class=\"tw:mt-0 tw:mb-1 tw:font-sans tw:text-2xl\">Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"tw:font-semibold tw:font-sans tw:text-base tw:marker:text-blue-600\">\n<li>Gagan Biyani is the CEO of education platform Maven and cofounder of the online learning platform Udemy.<\/li>\n<li>In new social media posts, Biyani disclosed that he shares \u201cdirect feedback\u201d with job candidates while the interview occurs. <\/li>\n<li>He then assesses candidates in real-time \u2014 if they freeze or get offended by the feedback, he can tell that they aren\u2019t a good fit. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>A CEO is taking a controversial approach to hiring by giving candidates blunt, real-time feedback during interviews. He then registers their reaction as a pass-fail signal for the role.<\/p>\n<p>Gagan Biyani, CEO of education platform Maven and cofounder of the online learning platform Udemy, said in recent identical posts on X and LinkedIn that he now shares \u201cdirect feedback\u201d with candidates during interviews, sometimes in front of a panel and other times in a one-on-one setting.<\/p>\n<div class=\"tw:justify-center tw:bg-gray-100 tw:flex tw:flex-col tw:sm:flex-row tw:rounded-lg tw:p-6 tw:align-middle tw:sm:text-left tw:text-center tw:mt-4 not-prose\">\n<div class=\"tw:flex tw:flex-col tw:justify-center tw:align-middle tw:mr-0 tw:sm:mr-16\">\n<p class=\"tw:text-sm tw:leading-5 tw:my-0 tw:font-sans\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe rest of this article is locked.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"tw:text-xl tw:text-black tw:font-bold tw:leading-5 tw:my-1 tw:font-sans\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJoin Entrepreneur<span class=\"tw:text-yellow-300\">+<\/span> today for access.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/>Read the full article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/business-news\/this-ceos-controversial-interview-tactic-divided-the\/500647\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" rel=\"nofollow\">here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Gagan Biyani is the CEO of education platform Maven and cofounder of the online learning platform Udemy. In new social media posts, Biyani disclosed that he shares \u201cdirect feedback\u201d with job candidates while the interview occurs. He then assesses candidates in real-time \u2014 if they freeze or get offended by the feedback, he<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46713,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[32],"class_list":{"0":"post-46712","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-make-money","8":"tag-featured"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.12 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>This CEO&#039;s Controversial Interview Tactic Divided the Internet | iSafeSpend<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Key Takeaways Gagan Biyani is the CEO of education platform Maven and cofounder of the online learning platform Udemy. In new social media posts, Biyani\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/isafespend.com\/?p=46712\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This CEO&#039;s Controversial Interview Tactic Divided the Internet | iSafeSpend\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Key Takeaways Gagan Biyani is the CEO of education platform Maven and cofounder of the online learning platform Udemy. 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