Khyati Sundaram is the CEO of Applied, a platform which de-biases hiring to create a level playing field for all job seekers. After starting her career in finance, Khyati soon turned to the world of start-ups, using her expertise in behavioural and data science to promote tech for good. Her mission at Applied is to build a fairer and more transparent future for hiring.

Talk me through the inspiration behind Applied and the problem you’re working to solve?

Applied is very much inspired by experiences like my own. After shutting down my first startup, I truly struggled to find a new role. Despite the fact that I’d already run my own startup, gained an MBA and spent years working in finance, I was told time after time that my experience didn’t ‘fit’. All the transferable skills I’d gained through those experiences were completely overlooked. Instead of getting to showcase my ability to do the job, I was being judged on everything from my name and gender, to my less-than-standard career path. The biases I faced are everywhere. They are often unconscious, but they are holding back talented people in our workforce. My pathway into Applied was only possible because I was tested for the skills I bring. This isn’t possible yet for most people. That’s what Applied was created to solve. 

The only way we can be sure that bias and discrimination doesn’t creep into our hiring processes, is to use platforms that anonymise applications, pool different opinions, and use empirical data to assess candidates based on their skills, rather than what they look like on paper or what hiring managers have in common with them. 

We want to ensure that the right person for the job gets the job.

What were you doing before joining Applied and how have those transferable skills impacted your business?

I’ve worked as an economist, in finance, and launched a sustainable supply chain startup. My CV is a varied one, and my less than typical career trajectory is undoubtedly what’s put off employers in the past. But with those different roles come a whole host of transferable skills, and I’ve called upon them more times than I can count whilst I’ve been at Applied.

I first joined Applied as Head of Product. In that role, my experience of tech for good from my last startup - a sustainable AI based startup - definitely influenced the product I’ve helped shape here. When I took over as CEO last March, the pandemic was just kicking off in the UK, so it’s been a full-on first 18 months in the job. Each day is different, as are the skills I draw from one to the next!

How is Applied shaking up the traditional hiring processes? Has it reduced ethnic bias in your opinion?

The data speaks for itself. 60% of people hired through our platform would be missed by traditional hiring processes. In addition, the number of successful candidates who self-identify as black or of an ethnic minority increases by up to four-times compared to the UK workforce when our platform is involved. 

Debiased hiring is a gamechanger. Not only for candidates who come up against barriers, but for employers too. When people are given the opportunities they deserve, companies can tap into a valuable source of talent.

What’s your role within Applied?

Since taking over as CEO, my role and responsibilities have changed considerably (and I often have to remind myself to let go of the ‘product hat’ I once wore). My focus is on growing the business, and will remain so until debiased hiring processes become the go-to method for companies everywhere. 

We already work with companies across the UK, US, Australia and Europe. We’ve also got staff working across multiple different continents, so part of my role is creating a business where each of them feels included and able to do their job to the best of their ability.

We’re also always thinking of how we can improve and refine our product. The world of work is ever shifting and we need to make sure the Applied platform reflects that. 

How has Applied changed since its early stages?

As a startup, we continue to learn and iterate constantly. The north star for Applied is matching for skills and helping people into jobs that otherwise wouldn’t be possible. That vision is what we carry as we evolve the business and product. 

Our very first product was anonymising CVs. At that time, Applied was a project under the Behavioural Insights unit with a 3 member founding team. This team soon realised that, even after anonymising CVs, the remaining information still creates noise rather than offering the predictive signals we need to know whether a person has the right skills for a particular job. 

Since then the product has come a long way. We’re on a  journey - building a hiring decisions platform - where we not only anonymise but mitigate many other biases that may creep into a hiring decision. At the touch of a button, we can provide really granular data upon which great decisions can be taken, devoid of human biases.

What are your top tips to hire and develop tech talent?

Developers, engineers and analysts are clever people. Largely speaking, they can have their pick of companies to work for. So before you can start looking for the best talent out there, you must first cast your gaze inwards. Ask yourself whether you’re able to offer them a supportive working environment, the tools they’ll need in order to do their jobs to the best of their ability, and the training and development opportunities which will enable them to thrive. 

Attracting the best talent doesn’t stop there. Job adverts with gendered language drastically reduce the number of female applicants, so it’s important to strip job specs and company websites of any wording which could deter female talent, or position you as anything other than inclusive. 

When it comes to actually hiring tech talent, my ultimate tip will come as no surprise. Swathes of research proves that debiased, anonymised and skills based hiring is an incredibly accurate predictor of performance. A person’s name, age and ethnicity are all irrelevant to their ability to code or create brilliant UX designs. Remove opportunities for bias to creep in and you’ll find that an organically diverse, hugely talented workforce can be created. 

Tell me about the technological build behind Applied. How does this speak to the strategic direction of your business?

The product is based on two simple pillars: testing for skills and debiasing all decisions along the funnel. Most of the tech stack for both these pillars is in Vue which is highly developer friendly and flexible. This helps adapt to the needs of changing scale well. We also use elastic search which is an open source analytics solution that enables us to run complex analytics in the product. 

Utilising tech to create a positive impact in our society is an amazing achievement. How do you feel others can use tech in the same way?

Tech can be a huge power for good. The number of talented people we’ve helped hire into roles who would otherwise have been overlooked is a testament to this. But ultimately, any tech, AI or not, mimics its maker. It’s all too easy for unconscious bias to be built straight back into the tools we produce, and make existing issues a whole lot worse.

In order to create tech which has a positive impact on society, it’s essential for companies to turn the spotlight on their own cultures, ways of working and internal structures. No company can be perfect. But when it comes to unconscious bias, as long as you recognise that it exists in us all, you can start to create tech which will help overcome it and enable humans to make better decisions. 

How often do you check in on the KPI’s within your company?

Progress on our company wide KPIs, such as the number of people hired into the workforce and our employee happiness, is tracked monthly and shared with the wider teams. 

We create outcomes and objectives related to company goals every quarter, and work with teams across the company to bring those outcomes to life.

Any advice for young entrepreneurs wanting to build a business with purpose at its core?

Go for it! If you’re passionate about something, it can be the ideal fuel to power your start-up journey. Building a business is all consuming, so if you’re not invested in the impact or the outcomes, you’ll quickly lose steam. Commit early to certain principles and red lines that you won’t cross; they can help keep you on track as things scale and other considerations risk weakening your tech-for-good foundation. 

What’s next for Applied?

The next twelve months are about developing scale in the UK, after which we’d go for a fundraising round, mainly targeted for growth in the US.

We’re currently working on building a more seamless user experience for all hiring teams, and making sure the product experience is a delightful one. We’re also doubling down on our community of 10k experts to create more and more educational content. This means teams can learn about the first steps they can take to make their hiring processes fairer, without needing to subscribe to our wider services.