Founder's Story – Episode 298

Title: The Hiring Disaster: Why 50% of Your Employees Will Quit (And How to Fix It)
Guest: Manouj Gupta, Founder of ACHNET
Host: (Dan) – IBH Media
Date: January 13, 2026

Episode Overview

In this episode, host Dan speaks with Manouj Gupta, founder of ACHNET, about the persistent challenges in hiring, why traditional methods result in high turnover, and how AI-powered hiring platforms can revolutionize talent evaluation. They explore the biases baked into legacy processes, the inefficiencies of resume-focused screening, and the future role of AI agents in enabling more accurate, faster, and fairer hiring decisions.

Gupta shares the vision and journey behind building ACHNET, explains the mechanics of their AI agent "Jupiter," and discusses how companies can leverage tech for both speed and quality without losing human oversight. The conversation includes practical tips for both hiring managers and candidates in the evolving world of work.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Core Problem with Hiring

• Fragmented Evaluation:

  • “For years I've seen companies invest heavily in sourcing, branding, and pipelining. But when it comes to actually evaluating people, the process had not evolved.” (Manouj Gupta – 01:45)
  • Traditional hiring relies too much on resumes, inconsistent interviews, and gut instinct, leading to a mismatch between candidates and roles.

• Need for Unified Assessment:

  • “The gap... wasn't about hiring faster or slower. It was about the absence of a unified, objective way to understand a candidate end to end.” (Gupta – 02:40)
  • Current systems lack a comprehensive, data-driven approach at the point of decision-making.

2. Leveraging AI Agents for Better Hiring

• ACHNET’s Approach:

  • ACHNET, via its proprietary AI agent "Jupiter," offers a platform where:
    • The hiring manager clearly defines the role.
    • The AI reviews resumes for context, conducts interviews (using an avatar interface), and administers technical assessments if required.
    • All results are aggregated and scored, producing a ranking and comprehensive report for the manager's review.
  • “The agent... interviews the candidate and then it assesses the person, whether that person is fitting into the role.” (Gupta – 05:47)

• Human vs. AI in the Hiring Loop:

  • AI standardizes and accelerates screening but the final decision is left to human managers.
  • “AI is not biased. Everybody who comes onto the platform is being put on the same level, no matter what... the final decision is to be taken by the hiring managers themselves.” (Gupta – 08:10)

3. Addressing Concerns Over “Losing the Human Touch”

• AI as a Tool, not a Replacement:
  • Gupta emphasizes that AI enables fairer, more objective initial assessments, but doesn’t replace the crucial human judgment in final hiring.
  • “We want hiring managers still to look at the decisions coming out from the AI agent... it is more of a tool for them to select the candidates rather than blindly accepting whatever AI is saying.” (08:27)

4. Scalability and Fairness of AI Screening

• Dealing with Volume:

  • AI enables organizations to evaluate thousands of resumes rapidly—removing screening bottlenecks and talent being overlooked by time-strapped recruiters.
  • “If I get 500 resumes... with the AI agent... all be evaluated probably in a day or two... It’s a level playing field and everybody can be evaluated properly.” (Gupta – 11:15)

• Finding Hidden Talent:

  • AI-driven platforms surface candidates that would have otherwise been overlooked.
  • “You can find more talent, talent that you may not have found before...” (Dan – 13:26)

5. Convincing Companies to Adopt AI Hiring Tools

• Demonstrating Value Through Data:

  • Gupta reports that once clients see the demo and reports, buy-in is high.
  • ACHNET ran over 150,000 interviews pre-launch to robustly train its system.
  • “Our AI is very well trained in how to evaluate people within the different industries.” (Gupta – 15:15)

• AI Surfaces Critical Interview Questions:

  • Often, AI surfaces key evaluation questions that managers might miss due to time pressure.
  • “Sometimes we don’t even think about the questions, we miss out on the questions which are very relevant because we are against time...” (Gupta quoting customers – 16:40)

6. Human Resource Mindset Shifts Needed for 2026 and Beyond

• From Speed vs. Quality to Speed AND Quality:

  • “The biggest shift leaders need to make is mental, not technology... For decades we have equated thoroughness with time. More interviews meant better decisions. That assumption no longer holds in 2026. Quality will come from clarity, not duration.” (Gupta – 19:07, 19:18)
  • Leaders should focus on defining what success looks like up front, and let AI systems reliably assess against those criteria.

• Unified Decision-Making:

  • Multiple stakeholders must base their decisions on a single, consistent source of assessment data.
  • “Hiring decisions can no longer sit across five stakeholders with no single source of truth. Leaders need a unified view that allows them to decide.” (Gupta – 20:30)

7. The Future of Work: What’s Next?

• End-to-End Automation is Imminent:
  • By 2029, most manual processes in hiring will be “touchless”—far less human intervention until the very final stages.
  • “Hiring managers will be self served... you just input that data, and after that everything will be all touch free or touchless... They will get you the best candidates available based on the clarity you have provided.” (Gupta – 22:32)
• Fewer People, Better Fit:
  • Less administrative “minutia,” more people hired for roles truly matching their strengths.

8. Advice for Candidates in the AI Era

• Don't Game the System—Be Genuine:
  • Gupta’s advice for job seekers: don’t fill resumes with buzzwords or fluff to appeal to AI.
  • “What is more important is... one should be honest what they are good at and try to sell themselves for what they can do better... put the responsibilities and what are the success stories... a bit of data around those.” (Gupta – 26:10)
  • Success in AI hiring comes from clarity and authenticity, not tricking an algorithm.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “The biggest shift leaders need to make is mental, not technology.”
  (Gupta – 19:07)

• “Quality will come from clarity, not duration.”
  (Gupta – 19:18)

• “If I get 500 resumes... with the AI agent... all be evaluated probably in a day or two and the reports can be generated.”
  (Gupta – 11:15)

• “AI is not biased. Everybody who comes onto the platform is being put on the same level, no matter what.”
  (Gupta – 08:10)

• “What is more important is that [candidates] put the responsibilities and what are the success stories which are behind them and put some data around the success stories.”
  (Gupta – 26:44)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:43] – Why Gupta Founded ACHNET: Spotting the contradiction in data-driven vs. “gut feeling” hiring
• [04:48] – How ACHNET’s AI agent “Jupiter” standardizes, interviews, and scores candidates
• [08:07] – Addressing fears about AI removing the human touch from hiring
• [11:09] – AI rapidly screening large candidate pools and leveling the playing field
• [15:04] – Convincing companies to adopt AI; demo feedback and the importance of data
• [19:07] – The mindset shift leaders need (Speed ≠ quality; the real metric is clarity)
• [22:30] – The future: fully-automated, touchless hiring processes
• [25:35] – Candidate tips: Honesty and evidence beat AI “gaming”

Summary Takeaways

• Hiring is broken not because of speed but because of fragmented, non-objective evaluation.
• AI enables scale, fairness, and efficiency, but must remain a decision-support tool—not a decider.
• The future will bring radically more automated, “touchless” hiring—but human judgment, clarity, and honesty remain keys to success, both for employers and job seekers.