The hiring process is broken. Most people who have sat on either side of the interview table already know this. Companies post jobs, receive hundreds of applications, filter them through algorithms that miss great candidates, and still end up making hiring decisions based on credentials that may have nothing to do with actual job performance. Meanwhile, talented professionals, especially women in STEM, keep getting screened out before a human ever reads their name.
In Episode 068 of the Lunch with Leaders podcast, Adaeze Iloeje-Udeogalanya sits down with Mahir Laul, founder and CEO of Velric, an AI-driven hiring intelligence platform, to dig into what is actually broken in modern hiring and what a better system looks like. This conversation is practical, honest, and full of insight that any job seeker or hiring manager can act on immediately.
Listen to Episode 068: Beyond Resumes: How AI Is Transforming Hiring with Velric’s CEO
What Is Actually Broken in Traditional Hiring
Traditional hiring starts with a resume, and that is already the problem. Resumes tell a story about where someone went to school and where they have worked before. They say very little about what that person can actually do in the specific role being filled.
Mahir built Velric precisely because he saw this gap clearly. Companies make expensive hiring mistakes not because they lack information, but because they use the wrong information. A prestigious university on a resume does not guarantee strong critical thinking. A non-linear career path does not indicate poor capability. Yet traditional hiring systems reward the former and penalise the latter constantly.
Velric addresses this by shifting the focus to job-specific, merit-based assessments. Instead of filtering candidates by background, the platform evaluates them on proof of skills and critical thinking relevant to the actual role. The result is a hiring process that finds people who can genuinely do the work rather than people who simply look good on paper.
For women in STEM who have navigated non-traditional paths, career gaps, or industries where they were systematically underestimated, this shift matters enormously. As explored in Million Dollar Mistakes: The Hidden Math Behind Career Stagnation, the financial cost of being undervalued and overlooked compounds over an entire career. Better hiring systems directly address one of the root causes of that compounding loss.
AI Is Shifting Jobs, Not Eliminating Them
One of the most clarifying moments in this episode comes when Mahir addresses the fear that AI will simply eliminate jobs. His position is direct: AI shifts jobs rather than eliminates them. The concern is valid, but the conclusion most people draw from it is not.
Every major technological shift in history changed what work looked like. It did not eliminate work entirely. The same pattern holds with AI. What changes is which skills create value and which tasks no longer require human labour. Consequently, the professionals who thrive are not the ones who resist AI but the ones who understand it, use it effectively, and focus their energy on the kinds of value creation that AI cannot replicate.
For women in STEM, this framing is important. Rather than approaching AI with anxiety, approach it with the same problem-solving mindset that drew you to STEM in the first place. Identify where AI creates leverage in your work and where your human judgment, creativity, and relational intelligence remain irreplaceable. That intersection is where your value concentrates.
Hear Mahir explain why AI shifts rather than eliminates jobs: Listen to Episode 068
The Degree Debate: Skills vs. Credentials
Mahir makes a clear argument on the question of degrees versus skills: adaptability, practical capability, and micro-credentialing are increasingly more valuable than traditional degrees for most roles.
This does not mean degrees are worthless. For some fields and some roles, formal credentials remain relevant. However, the assumption that a degree automatically signals job readiness is losing its validity fast. Employers who hire based purely on educational pedigree consistently miss talented candidates who built their skills through non-traditional paths.
Micro-credentials, including certifications from AWS, Google, IBM, Coursera, and other recognised platforms, demonstrate specific, current, verifiable skills. They signal something a traditional degree often cannot: that the person holding them actively updates their knowledge in response to a changing industry.
For women in STEM navigating hiring processes that historically undervalued their contributions, this shift in emphasis opens real doors. Demonstrated skills travel further than a credential from a decade ago. Building a portfolio of verifiable, current capabilities and presenting them clearly in job applications and interviews creates a competitive advantage that a traditional resume format rarely captures.
What Is Wrong With Most Job Applications Today
Mahir raises a concern about how job seekers currently approach applications, and it connects directly to what AI has made easier in the wrong direction. Many professionals now rely on AI tools to mass-generate and mass-submit applications across dozens or hundreds of roles simultaneously. The volume feels productive. In reality, it almost never works.
Recruiters and hiring managers can identify a generic, AI-generated application quickly. When every application looks and sounds the same, none of them stand out. The effort that went into generating volume produces almost zero return because the signal of genuine interest and specific fit never comes through.
The alternative Mahir advocates is both simpler and harder: be authentic and be specific. Research each company and role carefully. Write an application that demonstrates you understand the company’s specific challenges and explains why your specific background equips you to address them. That level of specificity signals seriousness in a way that a polished but generic application never can.
This approach requires more time per application. It also produces significantly better results. Quality over quantity is not just a platitude in this context. It is the strategy that actually gets responses.
The Power of Direct Outreach
One of the most practical pieces of advice in this episode is Mahir’s recommendation for proactive cold outreach. Rather than submitting applications and waiting, he encourages job seekers to reach out directly to recruiters and hiring managers, even without a prior connection.
He is honest about the response rate. Most outreach will not receive a reply. However, the small percentage that does respond often leads to conversations that a standard application never would have generated. The math works in favour of the person willing to initiate, even when the hit rate feels discouraging.
The key to effective cold outreach is personalisation. Reference something specific about the company or the person you are contacting. Explain clearly what you are looking for and why you believe there is a genuine fit. Keep the message concise and direct. Following up with a call after sending a message significantly increases the chance of a response.
For women in STEM who have spent careers waiting to be noticed for excellent work, this approach requires a genuine mindset shift. As explored in Carlotta Berry, PhD: From Robotics to Representation, visibility requires active creation rather than passive waiting. Cold outreach is one of the most direct expressions of that principle in the job search context.
Adaptability Is the Core Career Skill
Throughout the episode, Mahir returns repeatedly to one theme: adaptability. Not a specific technical skill, not a particular credential, but the fundamental capacity to learn, adjust, and create value as conditions change.
This matters because the skills that make someone highly employable today will not remain static. Industries evolve. Tools change. Roles that did not exist five years ago now represent significant employment categories. Professionals who build the habit of continuous learning position themselves to stay relevant across multiple cycles of change rather than becoming obsolete after one.
Mahir also discusses the value of flexibility in how professionals think about their careers and income. Multiple revenue streams, openness to non-linear paths, and willingness to work across different contexts all increase resilience in an AI-disrupted job market. Rigidity, whether about role titles, compensation structures, or ways of working, creates vulnerability in an environment that rewards those who can adapt quickly.
For women in STEM managing complex lives that often include caregiving, geographic constraints, and navigating organisations that do not always support their full participation, flexibility is often not a preference but a necessity. Building careers that account for that complexity and planning multiple pathways through it is not a compromise. It is smart strategy.
What Velric Is Building
Velric represents a direct attempt to build a fairer hiring system from the ground up. By grounding hiring decisions in job-specific assessments of skill and critical thinking rather than resume credentials and institutional backgrounds, Velric aims to surface talent that traditional processes consistently miss.
For hiring managers, this means better quality hires and reduced turnover, because candidates who demonstrate genuine capability in the role are more likely to perform well and stay. For candidates, particularly those from non-traditional backgrounds or underrepresented groups, it means a genuinely fairer shot at opportunities that credential-first processes historically closed to them.
Mahir also organises networking and hiring events through Velric, creating real-world connection opportunities for candidates and employers. These events provide something that online applications cannot replicate: direct human connection, the kind that leads to advocacy, sponsorship, and the informal conversations where real career decisions often get made.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Velric and what does it do?
Velric is an AI-driven hiring intelligence platform founded by Mahir Laul. It helps organisations hire based on job-specific, merit-based skill assessments rather than resume credentials, ensuring hiring decisions reflect actual capability rather than educational or institutional background.
How is AI changing the hiring process?
AI streamlines certain parts of the hiring process but can also introduce bias when it filters candidates based on credential patterns rather than actual ability. Velric addresses this by grounding AI-assisted decisions in demonstrated skill and critical thinking rather than background proxies.
How can job seekers stand out in an AI-driven hiring environment?
Avoid mass AI-generated applications. Personalise each application specifically to the role and company. Reach out directly to recruiters and hiring managers with targeted, authentic messages. Follow up proactively. Demonstrate genuine interest and specific fit rather than generic availability.
Are degrees still valuable for career advancement?
For some roles and fields, formal credentials remain relevant. However, Mahir argues that skills, adaptability, and micro-credentialing are increasingly more important than traditional degrees for most roles. Current, verifiable skills demonstrated through certifications and portfolios often carry more weight with modern employers than a degree earned years ago.
What is the most important career skill in an AI-disrupted job market?
Adaptability. The ability to learn continuously, adjust to changing conditions, and create value in new contexts consistently outperforms any single static skill set over the length of a career.
Conclusion
The hiring system that most people navigated to build their careers is changing faster than most organisations have adjusted to. Resumes are losing relevance. Credentials are yielding ground to demonstrated skills. Mass applications are producing diminishing returns. And AI is reshaping what every step of the process looks like for both candidates and employers.
What stays constant through all of this is the fundamental human element. Authentic connection, genuine capability, continuous learning, and the willingness to reach out directly rather than waiting passively for opportunities to appear: these remain the differentiators between professionals who advance and professionals who stagnate.
The rules are changing. Learn them, adapt to them, and use them to your advantage before your competitors do.
Listen to the full conversation with Mahir Laul: Episode 068 — Beyond Resumes: How AI Is Transforming Hiring
