Coherence bias and the four-question screening call, with Chrissy Oni of Stagwell Global

Structured interviews, coherence bias and hiring beyond the CV. Most hiring processes are built to find people who interview well. Chrissy Oni, Talent Acquisition Director, Europe at Stagwell Global, has spent her career learning that this is not the same as finding people who will do the job well. She started as an estate agent, moved into agency recruitment, and went on to operations leadership at Assembly Global before taking on talent strategy and hiring across Stagwell’s media, commerce and communications brands in Europe. In this episode, Chrissy explains why so many mishires trace back to the interview itself. Companies invest in the process and in who the candidate meets, but rarely design the conversation to test for what the role will actually demand. Three months later, the feedback is always the same: they were great in the interview. Her fix starts well before anyone sits down with a candidate. Chrissy won’t work on a role until the hiring manager has given her a proper brief, and she coaches interviewers on what to ask, what not to ask, and how to score against an objective scale rather than a gut feeling about whether they’d enjoy a drink with someone. She also unpacks coherence bias: the tendency to trust candidates who speak smoothly and confidently, and to stop probing once an early impression is confirmed. Quieter candidates lose out, even when their skills are a better fit. Finally, Chrissy shares the four questions she asks in every screening call, why she treats the CV as a reference point, and how she turns the answers into a summary that gets hiring managers genuinely engaged before the interview. What you’ll learn → Why great interviews so often lead to mishires → How a proper hiring manager brief changes the whole process → What coherence bias is and how to interrupt it → The four-question screening structure Chrissy uses every time → How to write candidate summaries hiring managers actually read 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. GUEST Chrissy Oni: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissyoni/ YOUR HOST Anita Chauhan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitachauhan/ LISTEN AND FOLLOW YouTube: https://youtu.be/a-nT-e0oQPk 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/ If you enjoyed this episode, share it with someone who hires and follow the show for new conversations. In this episode of Looks Good on Paper, Chrissy Oni of Stagwell Global explains why candidates who interview well can still be mishires, how coherence bias favours confident communicators, and the structured four-question screening call she uses to assess talent beyond the CV. Episode Summary: Chrissy Oni of Stagwell Global on why great interviews make bad hires, coherence bias, and the four questions she asks in every screening call. 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