A CEO is taking a controversial approach to hiring by giving candidates blunt, real-time feedback during interviews. He then registers their reaction as a pass-fail signal for the role.

Gagan Biyani, CEO of education platform Maven and cofounder of the online learning platform Udemy, said in recent identical posts on X and LinkedIn that he now shares “direct feedback” with candidates during interviews, sometimes in front of a panel and other times in a one-on-one setting.

He called the feedback section “the most telling part of a candidate’s interview” because if the candidate freezes up or gets offended, he can tell that they aren’t a good fit. On the other hand, if they lean in and find the feedback exciting, their reaction boosts their chances of an offer.

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“Anyone else do this? I’m wondering if I’m insane or brilliant,” Biyani wrote in the post.

Started to give candidates direct feedback during the interview process. Often in public during our panel interviews or live at the end of my 1:1 with them.

It is often the most telling part of a candidate’s interview tbh.

If this is their nightmare, candidate freezes up or…

— Gagan Biyani ? (@gaganbiyani) December 6, 2025

Biyani noted that he reserves feedback for candidates he likes, mostly for people with whom he is likely to move forward in the interview process. Sometimes he gives feedback to candidates he “really liked” but who weren’t the right fit for that position.

He wants to see if candidates can absorb comments and change course on the spot.

“No matter what, we expect the candidate to take the feedback in real-time and change their answers from then on out,” Biyani wrote in the post.

The interview technique has garnered mixed reactions on social media. One professional on LinkedIn commented that Biyani’s approach was “how you find resilient, adaptable team members.”

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Many others disagreed with Biyani’s tactic. The most-liked comment under his LinkedIn post argued that real-time feedback in interviews does not really measure coachability, but rather which candidates are “willing to suppress their nervous system response to humiliation, stress and social threat in exchange for a job.”

Career coach Kyle Elliott told Fortune on Tuesday that Biyani’s approach reads like an “insensitive science experiment,” emphasizing that the feedback is one-sided, lacks previous rapport and directly affects if someone gets the job.

“If your company doesn’t care about psychological safety [and] likes to put people on the spot… I suppose you could run this test,” Elliott told the outlet.

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