CEO gives live feedback to candidates during interviews – and if they’re ‘offended’, they’re not suitable
For most candidates, feedback on how their interview went comes a few days after the interview, if at all. But one CEO decided that waiting was a waste of time. Instead, he began presenting his critiques to candidates on the spot (sometimes in front of a full panel) as part of the interview exam.
“I started giving direct feedback to candidates during the interview process,” Gagan Biyani (who goes by @gaganbiyani) revealed in a recent X post. “Often in public during our interviews or live at the end of my 1:1 with them. »
The CEO of Maven, an education platform and co-founder of another e-learning provider, Udemy, said it was the “most revealing part” of the interview and was often a deciding factor in whether or not they were offered the job.
“If this is their nightmare, [the] “The candidate freezes or even gets offended,” added Biyani, emphasizing from the outset that he “is not suitable” for the company. “If it’s exciting, they’re more likely to join.”
The California-based chef revealed that he generally reserves the test for candidates he wants to move forward with. But sometimes, Biyani admitted that he even gave the feedback test to candidates he liked who were not a perfect fit for the job.
And there’s no right or wrong answer in itself– he’s even happy when candidates abandon what they said moments earlier and pivot based on the criticism: “Regardless, we expect the candidate to take the feedback into account in real time and modify their answers from there.”
Mixed reactions to interview tactic: “If your company doesn’t care about psychological safety, take this test”
The interview tactic drew mixed reactions. Some said they “loved it” and that it was a great way to gauge a candidate’s ability to receive criticism and whether it could thrive through transparent communications. Many others weren’t so sure.
“Publicly criticizing someone in a high-stakes power imbalance situation like this is not a test of “coaching ability.” It’s a test of who is willing to suppress their nervous system’s response to humiliation, stress, and social threat in exchange for a job,” the top-liked response read. “Freezing, discomfort, or offense in this context is not fragility, it’s biology…And filtering people based on how they overcome that is not selection for resilience or a growth mindset. It’s selection for conformity under pressure.”
Others pointed out that a candidate’s reaction during a high-stakes interview might be very different from everyday life in their role, that some need time to sleep on feedback before responding, that it’s a “dehumanizing” approach that would raise eyebrows in HR and could ultimately lead to a loss of talent.
Career coach Kyle Elliott, EdD, echoed that “in 10 years of coaching over 1,000 clients, no one has ever reported facing this type of situation.”
While the feedback is completely normal, he said the fact that it is one-sided, based on a single interview without any prior reporting, with a job offer contingent on the response, makes this problematic and is unlikely to actually help test a candidate’s ability to do the job they have applied for. “It looks like an insensitive science experiment.”
“If your company doesn’t care about psychological safety, likes to embarrass people, and triggers traumatic reactions, I suppose you could take this test, Elliott added. “Otherwise, your interview process should reflect the candidate’s daily work environment to get the best possible talent.”
How to Handle Live Feedback During an Interview
Live commentary is rare, but as Lewis Maleh, CEO of global executive search agency Bentley Lewis, warned, it is growing in popularity.
“We’re seeing more companies experimenting with stress testing candidates in a variety of ways to gauge their performance under pressure,” he said. Fortune. “I’ve heard of some tech CEOs and startup founders doing similar things, especially in high-pressure roles where quick thinking and resilience are essential. But it’s definitely not common practice.”
Maleh sees the logic. “If you’re recruiting for a role where receiving feedback, adapting quickly and performing under pressure are essential, testing these skills in real time makes sense,” he said. But “it absolutely can be cruel depending on how it’s executed.” Public criticism can intimidate even the brightest candidates, potentially eliminating top talent who simply don’t thrive in this scenario.
Regardless, with tech companies often setting the tone for unconventional hiring and retention practices, similar tests could become more common in other industries.
Maleh’s advice to candidates? Practice receiving real-time feedback.
“Ask friends or mentors to critique your work or ideas on the spot and practice responding thoughtfully rather than defensively,” he added. “You can also use your favorite LLM chat (ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok) and ask it to ‘act like a very tough interviewer’ to practice for you.”
“Focus on remaining calm, asking clarifying questions, and showing that you can incorporate feedback quickly. »
But remember that interviews are a two-way street: “Remember, if a company’s interview process seems overly harsh or performative, that may also tell you more about its culture.”
