Jim Miller, VP of People & Talent at Ashby, joins Anita to unpack what’s really broken in modern hiring—from over-indexing on referrals to misusing AI in recruiting. If you’re a founder, talent leader, or recruiter, this one’s a playbook episode.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• Why over-relying on employee referrals can quietly damage quality of hire, talent density, and culture
• How Ashby designs job postings and closing dates to review 100% of applicants fairly
• A practical framework for protecting hiring manager time and raising the hiring bar
• Why resumes aren’t going away anytime soon—and what a “choose your own adventure” application flow could look like
• How intentional AI deployment will reshape hiring volumes and productivity by 2026

Guest Bio: Jim Miller, VP People & Talent at Ashby

Jim Miller leads the People and Talent team at Ashby, a modern recruiting platform built for high-growth teams. With 25+ years in talent acquisition, Jim has hired software engineers in London agencies, built Google’s early engineering org in London, led global inbound recruiting for 4–5 million applications a year, and even co-designed Google’s in-house ATS in just 30 days. After leading TA at FullStory and becoming an Ashby customer, he pitched himself into his current role—where he now helps teams scale hiring with both rigor and empathy.

About Willo / Looks Good on Paper

Looks Good on Paper is a snackable podcast for people leaders, recruiters, and founders, powered by Willo—the async video interview platform that helps teams hire more thoughtfully at scale.

📌 Chapters

00:17 – Welcome to Looks Good on Paper & intro to Jim Miller
00:47 – Jim’s journey: agencies, Google, FullStory, and pitching himself into Ashby
02:10 – The biggest hiring mistake: over-relying on employee referrals
04:13 – How Ashby treats referrals, inbound, and sourcing as one unified pipeline
05:54 – The hidden bias: only reviewing a slice of your applicant pool
07:38 – Using deadlines and data to review 100% of candidates (without burning out teams)
08:53 – Protecting hiring manager time while improving quality of hire
09:54 – Could we remove CVs completely? Legal, risk, and workload realities
12:11 – “Choose your own adventure” applications and helping candidates find the right role
13:58 – Jim’s 2026 prediction: intentional AI, productivity, and fewer hires
16:18 – Parkinson’s Law, Pomodoro, and making AI efficiency real for teams
16:51 – Wrap-up, Ashby resources, and where to learn more

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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