Make sure they pass the vibe check - Recfest UK 2026

A CV is the one document where people are trusted to describe themselves, and it is also the one place they are most careful to leave things out. Not the boring things. The real ones. The cricket obsession, the makeup expertise, the 28 years of martial arts, the nails they already know will invite an assumption before they have said a word. We put a single question to people across the industry: what is something about you that would never show up on a CV? The answers were funnier, sharper and more honest than any competency framework, and they all pointed at the same quiet truth. People are holding back the best parts of themselves until they can tell whether an employer is safe enough to show them to.

What you'll learn
→ Why the most revealing thing about a candidate is usually the thing they deliberately keep off the page
→ How bias shapes what people feel able to disclose, from nails to makeup to culture to identity
→ What a "vibe check" is, and why candidates now run one on employers before they open up
→ Why personality, curiosity and how someone actually thinks are almost impossible to evidence on paper
→ The real career cost of never having a place to say what you are genuinely good at

FEATURING:
- Dami Ruth Anibaba (BIC) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/damianibaba/

- Amandi Mendis (Hilton) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandi-mendis-7a86aa330/

- Wes Stanford (Center Parks) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wes-stanford/

- Matthew Best (Willo) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-best-112a7821/?skipRedirect=true

- Kabeer Ghale (Devonshire) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kabeerghale/?skipRedirect=true

- Steve Ward (Branding Club) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/steveward-eb/

- Jade Olanrewaju (Songtradr) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jade-loren-olanrewaju-3a6a95b3/?skipRedirect=true

- Sanah Shah (SCS Railways) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanahshah/

- Molly Farnham (SCS Railways) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/molly-farnham-2a0057157/

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

LISTEN & FOLLOW:
https://looksgoodonpaper.buzzsprout.com/ and https://www.youtube.com/@looksgoodonpaperpodcast

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

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

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This episode of Looks Good on Paper explores what candidates leave off their CVs and why, covering hiring bias, candidate self-disclosure, the limits of CV-first screening, and how employers can build enough trust for people to show up as themselves. It is a practical listen for talent leaders, recruiters and hiring managers rethinking CV-first 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