Description: Julia Arpag is the founder and CEO of Aligned Recruitment, where she helps high-growth tech companies build exceptional teams. With over a decade of global recruiting experience, she's known for her people-first approach and genuine advocacy for both clients and candidates.

In this episode, Julia talks with host Anita Chauhan about the "culture fit" trap that leads to homogenous teams, why she bakes skills assessments into every single role she recruits for, and why she only works with clients whose values genuinely align with hers.

She also shares a refreshingly human practice: when candidates make it past the first interview and get rejected, her team picks up the phone and calls them instead of sending an automated email. "It's a more human way to honor them as a human."

Plus, Julia tells her favorite hiring story from her own household: how her husband pivoted from nonprofit to tech with zero industry experience on paper and landed his dream job anyway.

Key moments:

→ The biggest hiring mistake: defaulting to "culture fit" and hiring people who look and act like you

→ Why skills assessments should be standard for every role, not just engineering

→ "It's just robots hanging out and then the humans are involved at some point"

→ Why Julia turns down clients whose values don't match hers

→ The case for calling candidates to deliver rejections

→ How Julia's husband broke into tech without the "right" resume

Connect with Julia: LinkedIn and Aligned Recruitment

About Looks Good on Paper: Looks Good on Paper is a podcast powered by Willo exploring what actually predicts success in hiring, and what just looks good on paper. Hosted by Anita Chauhan.

Show Resources

• Willo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any time
• CV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessments
• Anita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

Hiring isn’t broken — it’s over-engineered. In this episode, Jim Berrisford (VP of Partnerships at Willo) unpacks why poor communication, AI noise, and “more tech” are quietly making hiring more complex, not better.

What you will learn:

• Why communication gaps derail the entire hiring journey
• The hidden risk of using technology before understanding process
• How over-engineered recruitment hurts candidate experience
• What removing CVs could realistically look like in modern hiring
• Why human-centric AI (not decision-making AI) will win in the future of work
  
  

☘️ Guest Bio
Jim Berrisford is Vice President of Partnerships at Willo and a leader in talent and HR technology, with experience spanning agency, in-house talent, and recruitment tech. He has spent years working at the intersection of recruitment, innovation, and workforce transformation, helping organizations rethink how they attract, assess, and support talent in an increasingly AI-driven hiring landscape.

📄 About Looks Good on Paper
Looks Good on Paper is powered by Willo, a podcast that explores modern hiring, talent strategy, and the future of work — going far beyond resumes, buzzwords, and surface-level signals.

🕘 Chapters
00:00 — Intro & Jim’s background in recruitment and HR tech
02:20 — Biggest hiring mistake: lack of communication
03:30 — Why “new tech” isn’t the real fix
05:00 — AI noise vs assisted intelligence in hiring
06:30 — Hidden bias and ongoing self-checking in hiring
09:20 — What happens if we remove CVs from hiring?
12:50 — Over-engineering recruitment systems
14:30 — Human-centric AI and the future of hiring
16:40 — Final thoughts on tech, nuance, and the hiring journey

📌 Pinned CTA: Enjoying the episode? Follow, rate, and share Looks Good on Paper — it helps more talent leaders discover smarter, more human approaches to hiring.

Show Resources

• Willo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any time
• CV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessments
• Anita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

Resumes are totally out of date — and AI has only made the problem worse. In this episode, Jeff Waldman (ScaleHR) explains why most hiring signals fail, and what to look for instead if you actually want better hires.

This week's episode, we're talking about:

• Why job titles, brand names, and polished CVs don’t predict performance
• How AI-generated resumes are increasing bias and bad hiring decisions
• The hidden bias around “clean” careers, gaps, and job hopping
• What to use instead of resumes as a first hiring signal
• How to assess how candidates think, not just where they’ve been

⚖️ Jeff Waldman (ScaleHR)

Jeff Waldman is the founder of ScaleHR, host of the Unmuted podcast, and a longtime builder of HR communities around the world. With over two decades at the intersection of HR, technology, leadership, and inclusion, Jeff has advised growing companies, hired thousands of people, and led grassroots HR events across North America and beyond. His work focuses on practical, human-first hiring in an AI-driven world.

📄 About Looks Good on Paper / Willo

Looks Good on Paper is Willo’s podcast exploring how hiring actually works — and where traditional systems fall apart.

⏱️ Episode Chapters

00:17 – Introduction to Jeff Waldman & ScaleHR

01:31 – Building global HR communities

03:06 – The biggest hiring mistake companies keep making

06:38 – Why resumes are outdated artifacts

07:48 – AI resumes and “it belongs in a museum”

08:50 – Hidden bias: gaps, job hopping, and “clean” careers

12:42 – AI, bias, and the importance of prompting

14:01 – What hiring looks like without CVs

16:01 – Accessibility, flexibility, and candidate choice

18:20 – Better hiring signals for 2026

20:09 – Final reflections and wrap-up

⭐ Enjoying the show?

Follow Looks Good on Paper, leave a rating, and share this episode with a hiring leader who’s still relying on resumes — it helps more than you think.

Show Resources

• Willo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any time
• CV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessments
• Anita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

Startup hiring improves fast when you stop hiring for titles and start hiring for the work that actually needs to get done. In this episode, Sarah Sheikh (Chief of Staff at Loop Financial) shares how she loves a generalist for her task-forward hiring plan, and why we shouldn’t be dazzled by big company names.

This episode’s all about finding the right fit. Here’s a quick breakdown of what we’re chatting about this week on Looks Good on Paper:

• Why job titles can be limiting, and how to hire for the tasks at hand instead
• Hiring habits companies can rethink to drive better outcomes – for everyone
• The hidden bias behind polished resumes and big-brand credentials
• What a no-CV hiring process could look like
• How AI is changing applications, screening, and sourcing

🏦 About Our Guest

Sarah Sheikh is Chief of Staff at Loop Financial, a cross-border banking platform for Canadian businesses. Working closely with the CEO, Sarah supports scaling operations and execution, team growth, and complex product or system migrations in a fast-moving fintech environment—bringing hard-won lessons from seeing a startup lifecycle end-to-end.

📄 About Looks Good on Paper

Looks Good on Paper is powered by Willo, the platform that's on a mission to restore trust in hiring at scale through candidate verification, employer proof, and actionable hiring insights.

Chapters

00:48 From Moves Financial to Loop: seeing the full startup cycle
01:54 The truth about early-stage work (and why it’s “trial by fire”)
02:57 What Loop Financial does + what a Chief of Staff actually owns
05:19 Biggest hiring mistake: planning by titles vs tasks
06:24 Quarterly “task audit”: automate, cut, or rebalance work
07:16 The case for hiring generalists (and letting people specialize)
09:43 Hidden bias: “ex-[big company]” and what it really signals
10:55 Why Sarah asks tough interview questions (and why it saves pain)
13:59 “Get rid of CVs”: what she’d do instead
14:51 Why LinkedIn often beats a resume for understanding candidates
16:53 The Catch-22: hundreds of applicants and limited time
17:45 AI in hiring: “death by tool” vs what’s actually useful
18:12 AI application fails (and why obvious copy/paste gets rejected)
19:20 AI for applicants + the sourcing tool Sarah wishes still existed
20:47 Practical sourcing: target companies + find proven generalists
21:35 Wrap-up

Show Resources

• Willo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any time
• CV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessments
• Anita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

Hiring more women in tech isn’t enough if companies can’t retain them. In this episode, Gillian Emerson, Head of Talent & Partnerships at Toast, breaks down what actually drives equity, flexibility, and long-term retention in modern hiring.

Just a few things that we cover in this week's episode:

• Why diverse pipelines fail without retention-first systems
• How flexibility and choice impact women staying in tech
• What happens when company names and credentials are removed from candidate reviews
• How return-to-office mandates affect hiring and retention
• Where AI helps hiring—and where it quietly creates new risks

🍞 About This Week's Guest

Gillian Emerson is the Head of Talent & Partnerships at Toast, where she helps tech companies hire and retain more women by redesigning recruiting systems from the ground up. As one of Toast’s first employees, Gillian helped build its recruiting function while also growing a membership community that supports women in tech across North America.

📄 About Looks Good on Paper / Willo

Every week Looks Good on Paper explores how trends in hiring, talent, and work are going beyond what shows up on a résumé.

Episode Chapters

00:00 – Welcome & Gillian’s journey to Toast
01:40 – Building Toast’s recruiting function from scratch
03:50 – Why women leave tech—and why retention matters
04:50 – The biggest hiring mistake companies keep making
06:40 – Flexibility, choice, and return-to-office policies
09:00 – Rethinking how candidates are evaluated
11:00 – Why pedigree and big names can mislead hiring
13:30 – Hiring beyond resumes and “shiny” credentials
16:00 – How Toast experiments with different hiring approaches
17:30 – AI in hiring and its unintended consequences
19:00 – Hiring and recruiting trends for 2026

⭐ Enjoying the show?
Follow Looks Good on Paper, leave us a rating, and share this episode with someone rethinking how hiring really works.

Show Resources

• Willo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any time
• CV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessments
• Anita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

Most companies think growth means hiring more people. According to Mike Bettley (Senior Director of Talent, StackAdapt), that mindset is exactly what leads to wasted budgets, bloated teams, and stalled growth.

In this episode of Looks Good on Paper, Mike explains why hiring is the most expensive decision a company makes — and why adding headcount is often a lazy substitute for real strategy. Drawing on his experience at Google, Thomson Reuters, and OpenCare, Mike breaks down how high-growth companies decide who to hire, when to hire, and what problem each role is actually meant to solve.

This is a must-listen for founders, hiring managers, recruiters, and talent leaders navigating today’s volatile job market.

In this episode, we're covering

• Why “we need more people” is usually the wrong answer
• How to identify the real business bottleneck before hiring
• When scaling too early creates long-term damage
• Why company pedigree (Google, Meta, etc.) is a misleading hiring signal
• Whether CVs still matter in an AI-driven hiring market
• The skills talent leaders will need heading into 2026

👤 About Mike Bettley

Mike Bettley is Senior Director of Talent at StackAdapt, leading global hiring across a company that has grown from 800 to over 1,600 employees in just two years. His career spans Google, Thomson Reuters, and high-growth startups, giving him a rare perspective on what actually works at every stage of scale — from scrappy startups to global enterprises.

👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelbettley/

About Looks Good on Paper

Looks Good on Paper, powered by Willo, explores modern hiring, talent strategy, leadership, and how work is changing beyond what shows up on a résumé.

Episode Chapters

00:00 – Why hiring is more dangerous than people think
01:40 – From Google to startups to StackAdapt
03:10 – Why hiring is the most expensive business decision
04:15 – The biggest hiring mistake companies keep making
05:30 – Headcount vs solving real business problems
07:00 – CEOs, hiring strategy, and the 80/20 rule
08:25 – Why hiring too far ahead backfires
09:25 – The hidden bias of company pedigree
13:55 – Can hiring work without CVs?
15:50 – Writing, communication, and AI-era skills
19:45 – The skills talent leaders need in 2026
21:40 – Final thoughts

Show Resources

• Willo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any time
• CV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessments
• Anita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

What happens when you remove CVs from the hiring process? In our season 2 supercut, our leaders debate bias, volume, video, AI, and what truly helps candidates stand out.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why CVs feel both essential and outdated for modern hiring teams
• How video, portfolios, and short‑form content change candidate evaluation
• Where AI‑guided screening is improving fairness and scalability
• What candidates really worry about when asked for extra materials (like Looms)
• The growing expectation that employers must modernize, too—not just candidates

🎬 Our Season 2 Supercut

This episode brings together a range of hiring leaders—from high‑volume talent teams reviewing 35,000+ monthly applications to people‑first organizations like Clio, Float, Remote and PurposeMed—each sharing real‑world experience on what breaks and what improves when you move beyond the traditional CV. Their perspectives highlight the evolving landscape of candidate experience, modern screening tools, and the push for more equitable, human‑centred hiring practices.

🎧 About the Show

Looks Good on Paper is a Willo-powered podcast where talent leaders and founders share real hiring insights to help teams build fairer, more thoughtful hiring processes.

👉 https://www.willo.video/

📺 Watch the full episode: https://youtu.be/-pQoGAfacxI

💬 Follow us on LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/willovideo/

⏱ Episode Chapters

00:02 — What if CVs disappeared tomorrow?

00:26 — Vanilla resumes & missed opportunities

00:43 — Bias, LinkedIn profiles & recruiter friction

01:08 — The cover‑letter love/hate divide

01:18 — CVs as structure vs. limitation

01:38 — What makes a candidate stand out today

01:55 — Beyond experience: solving ambiguity + panel comfort

02:30 — Candidate choice & PurposeMed’s AI‑guided screening

02:53 — Using AI to improve equity and conversation quality

03:14 — Looms, burden, and candidate trust

03:40 — A world without CVs: video as the new first impression

04:14 — Employers must evolve if candidates are expected to

04:34 — What CVs miss & layering deeper context

05:00 — Closing thoughts: modern hiring, modern tools

📌 We’ve got plenty more hot takes, so if you enjoyed this episode, follow/subscribe and leave a quick rating or review. Are you a talent leader and want to be on the show? Let us know!

Show Resources

• Willo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any time
• CV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessments
• Anita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host

Hiring rarely fails because teams don't care-it fails because decisions get rushed. In this episode, Tia Fomenoff (VP of People at PurposeMed) breaks down why reactive hiring, charisma bias, and burnout quietly undermine great teams-and how people leaders can plan ahead instead.

In this episode we’ll talk about

• Why waiting too long to hire turns roles into "emergencies"
• How reactive hiring leads to burnout and poor decision-making
• The hidden bias toward charismatic candidates-and how it shows up in interviews
• Why introverted candidates often outperform louder ones
• How PurposeMed is thinking about AI, automation, and human-first hiring for 2026

👤 Guest Bio

Tia Fomenoff is the VP of People at PurposeMed, where she's helping build an accessible, compassionate healthcare system for underserved communities through brands like Freddy, Freida, and Fourier. With a non-traditional path spanning nonprofit work, digital marketing, and scaling teams at Unbounce, Buffer, and Thinkific each from 20 employees over 500, Tia brings a people-first, practical approach to hiring, culture, and growth.

👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiafomenoff/

🎧 About the Show

Looks Good on Paper is a Willo-powered podcast where talent leaders and founders share real hiring insights to help teams build fairer, more thoughtful hiring processes.

👉 https://www.willo.video/

📺 Watch the full episode: https://youtu.be/-pQoGAfacxI

💬 Follow us on LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/willovideo/

⏱ Episode Chapters

00:00 - Welcome & intro to Tia Fomenoff

00:47 - From nonprofit work to tech & people leadership

02:48 - Why Tia joined PurposeMed

03:41 - The biggest hiring mistake: waiting too long

05:25 - Reactive hiring, burnout, and exhausted leaders

06:09 - Planning proactively with hiring managers

07:47 - Hidden bias: charisma vs substance

09:56 - How introverted candidates get overlooked

10:50 - Can you remove CVs from hiring?

11:25 - Application questions, cover letters, and effort

13:10 - Offering candidates choice in interviews

14:45 - Hiring trends for 2026: AI with intention

16:40 - Long-term sourcing and building pipelines early

17:10 - Wrap-up and what's next

📌 We’ve got plenty more hot takes, so if you enjoyed this episode, follow/subscribe and leave a quick rating or review. Are you a talent leader and want to be on the show? Let us know!

Show Resources

• Willo: willo.video - The most cost-effective way to screen candidates at scale. Interview candidates anywhere & at any time
• CV Free Toolkit: cvfree.me/join - Break up with the CV and get everything you need to modernize your hiring approach with skills-based assessments
• Anita Chauhan: linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan - Connect with the host