“Screening candidates at the top of the hiring funnel has become increasingly important for hiring teams,” said Sekhar Garisa. He is the CEO of foundit, formerly known as Monster.
CEO, foundit
In a conversation with CIO&Leader, Sekhar talked about the role of AI-enabled assessments in transforming the hiring process. But will an AI system about the true potential of a candidate? Or what about the possibility of cheating in a skill based test? He answers all in the interview, while talking about his platform Skillyst. Interview excerpts are below:
CIO&Leader: What inspired the creation of Skillyst, and why do you believe recruiters need an AI-enabled assessment platform?
Sekhar Garisa: Screening candidates at the top of the hiring funnel has become increasingly important for hiring teams. As organizations shift towards a skills-first hiring approach, Skillyst by foundit was created with this vision to champion skills-based recruitment.
The integration of AI into candidate assessments has transformed the evaluation process. Manual tasks, such as assessing communication skills or analyzing coding challenges, are now automated, providing deeper insights into a candidate’s job-relevant abilities. By leveraging AI, Skillyst offers recruiters a comprehensive understanding of a candidate’s potential, significantly reducing the need for initial manual screening.
CIO&Leader: How does Skillyst ensure transparency in the recruitment process and test results?
Sekhar Garisa: Transparency is at the heart of Skillyst’s operations. Our assessment platform is designed to eliminate bias by offering recruiters full visibility into candidates’ scores, the specific questions they answered, and detailed proctoring information. While we provide recommendations based on objective scores, the final decision always rests with recruiters and hiring managers, ensuring a fair and transparent process.
CIO&Leader: How does Skillyst’s AI technology help reduce the time spent in the hiring process, and what specific features enable time savings for recruiters?
Sekhar Garisa: We have leveraged AI in multiple ways to make hiring more efficient. For instance, communication skills are critical for most organizations. Recognizing this, Skillyst has developed an advanced assessment tool that uses AI and speech recognition technology to evaluate both spoken and written communication skills.
Our platform analyzes various aspects, including fluency, pronunciation, grammar, and coherence, giving recruiters a detailed view of a candidate’s communication abilities. This helps identify top candidates quickly, reducing the time spent on initial screenings and allowing recruiters to focus on meaningful evaluations.
CIO&Leader: How has Skillyst achieved an 80% reduction in the number of interviews required, and what impact does this have on recruiters and job seekers?
Sekhar Garisa: Skillyst’s deep-tech assessment suite has redefined the hiring process by providing a clear, comprehensive view of a candidate’s skills within minutes. Through a combination of skill tests, games, and behavioral science, Skillyst offers recruiters actionable insights that enable confident, data-driven decisions.
For recruiters, this means they can focus on the right talent, significantly reducing the need for multiple interviews and allowing for more meaningful discussions with a select few candidates—cutting the number of interviews by up to 80%. For job seekers, this ensures their skills are fairly evaluated, leading to a more transparent and positive experience.
CIO&Leader: How do you see Skillyst evolving within the assessment industry, and what are your expectations for the platform given its AI-driven core?
Sekhar Garisa: One of Skillyst’s key strengths is its customizability. We work closely with recruitment and hiring teams to identify specific bottlenecks in their processes. This approach allows us to develop tailored assessments, whether it’s a quick 10-minute test for field sales roles or a comprehensive evaluation for senior-level positions. Our goal is to make assessments an integral part of the hiring process across the board.
CIO&Leader: How does Skillist ensure the integrity and fairness of assessments, and how effective have these measures been in real-world applications?
Sekhar Garisa: To maintain the integrity of our assessments, Skillyst incorporates advanced proctoring features designed to prevent cheating and unethical practices. Our platform offers remote and live proctoring, flags suspicious behavior, and restricts actions such as copying and pasting within the test environment. Additionally, we utilize image and video proctoring to monitor candidate activity, ensuring a fair testing process.
These measures have proven effective in curbing unethical behavior, but we continuously evolve our proctoring features to stay ahead of emerging AI-driven cheating methods. We remain committed to expanding our skill library, enhancing proctoring capabilities, and developing AI-powered interview tools that will further boost recruiter productivity.