Stop hiring unicorns

Hiring podcast for people leaders: Natasha Lakhani, SVP People and Talent at Super.com, on defining the role, hiring for judgment, and fair assessment.

Natasha Lakhani’s profile reads as a clean line: Wattpad, Dyson, more than seven years at Weight Watchers Canada, and now Super.com. In this episode of Looks Good on Paper she tells the story the profile leaves out. She started in finance at Bose, did an MBA at Queen’s, and was told by a coach that she was a jack of all trades, master of nothing. That feedback pushed her to go deep, and she moved between companies because the mission and the challenge mattered to her.

She also explains why companies keep making the same hiring mistake. They go looking for a unicorn without deciding what they need. For Natasha, the competencies that matter most are critical thinking and judgment, and judgment is what AI can’t take away. Her fix is to talk to the stakeholders the hire will serve before you write the job description.

Then the three rapid-fire questions. On hidden bias, she explains the difference between “moving fast” and “moving fast with intention.” On removing the CV, she says you’d need a strong rubric and you’d ask candidates to show their work in the AI tool of their choice. She closes with the thing that will never show up on her CV: she’s a mom of four.

What you’ll learn
→ Why a non-linear career is a strength
→ How to define a role before you hire
→ Why judgment and critical thinking beat a long requirements list
→ How rubrics and “show me” assessments make hiring fairer
→ How Super.com is building an AI fluency model

Looks Good on Paper is hosted by Anita Chauhan and powered by Willo. Season 4 is about people being more than a CV: everything the document leaves out, on both sides of the hiring table.

Chapters
00:00 Intro
01:06 The path her CV doesn’t show
06:02 Q1: The hiring mistake companies keep making
09:48 Q2: The hidden bias in progressive hiring
12:58 Q3: What if CVs disappeared tomorrow?
16:21 Building an AI fluency model at Super.com
18:20 Wildcard: what wouldn’t show up on a CV
19:39 Wrap

GUEST
Natasha Lakhani: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natashalakhani/

YOUR HOST
Anita Chauhan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan/

LISTEN AND FOLLOW
YouTube: https://youtu.be/yZSpz7X4puw
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/looks-good-on-paper/id1625835562
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dbfz6y0tMq3crViHQD66H
All episodes: looksgoodonpaper.willo.video

POWERED BY WILLO
https://www.willo.video/looks-good-on-paper

CONNECT WITH US
Willo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/10170893/

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Looks Good on Paper is a hiring podcast from Willo. In this episode, Natasha Lakhani, SVP People and Talent at Super.com, covers how to define a role before you hire, why judgment and critical thinking matter more than a unicorn CV, how structured rubrics make hiring fairer, and how Super.com is building an AI fluency model.

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