Elite Edge – Week 48: 👀 The Invisible Interview: You’re Being Judged Before You Even Apply 🎯

🌎 From Me to You

This summer, I finally took time to reset — traveling through Chile, Argentina, Brazil, and Peru. The landscapes, the food, and most of all, the people left me in awe.

One of the highlights? Standing at the edge of Iguazú Falls — a reminder of how powerful it is to step outside the day-to-day and see things from a bigger perspective. (📸 sharing a shot from the falls below.)

Now, back with fresh perspective, let’s dive into this week’s edge.

The Edge

Most professionals think the interview starts when you sit down across the table. Wrong.

The real interview happens long before you walk in the room:

• Your digital footprint — every LinkedIn post, comment, podcast, and side project tells a story.

• Your reputation in the market — hiring managers call back channels before they call you.

• Your narrative control — if you don’t own your story, someone else will define it for you.

By the time you’re asked the first question, the decision-makers already have an impression — positive or negative. The “interview” is often just confirmation bias in action.

💡 Corporate truth: Your résumé gets you in the door. Your reputation decides whether the door stays open.

📚What I Read This Week…

A $15 Billion Hermès Mystery. A Sudden Death. And, Finally, Some Answers.
When you pull back the curtain on business, it’s not always strategy decks and glossy earnings calls — sometimes it’s betrayal, missing billions, and lives unraveling under the weight of power plays.

This WSJ piece covers the dramatic saga of Eric Freymond, longtime adviser to Hermès heir Nicolas Puech, who died by apparent suicide in July. At the center: roughly $15 billion worth of Hermès shares that vanished. Freymond recently suggested Puech himself was complicit in selling the stake to rival LVMH years ago; Puech denies it, saying he never authorized the sale of his “family shares.”

The fallout? Lawsuits, criminal charges, and a luxury world still trying to untangle who knew what — and where the money really went.

🔗 Read the full article

🎙️What I Listened to This Week… (Podcasts)

💼 Job Market News

Quiet layoffs continue across industries — but what’s more subtle is how hiring managers are now running “invisible interviews” behind the scenes: backchannel references, online searches, even how you interact on LinkedIn. Candidates who treat visibility as an afterthought are being left behind.

🎯 Career Strategy — Winning the Invisible Interview

Here’s how to flip the game in your favor:

1. Audit Your Digital Brand – Google yourself. Does your online presence tell the story you want a hiring manager to see?

2. Optimize Your LinkedIn About Section – This is your open love letter to recruiters and hiring managers. Skip the jargon. Lead with who you are, what you do best, and where you’re headed. Use keywords strategically so the algorithm works for you, not against you. The right About section doesn’t just tell your story — it gets you found.

3. Curate Social Proof – Recommendations, testimonials, podcasts, speaking clips — these are your credibility before you enter the room.

4. Backchannel on Purpose – Don’t just hope references work out. Prime allies who can advocate for you when asked off the record.

5. Signal Your Future, Not Just Your Past – Use posts and projects to position where you’re headed, not just what you’ve done.

The invisible interview is already happening. The only question is: are you managing it, or leaving it to chance?

⚡ Final Word

Every candidate is in two interviews:

1. The invisible one (reputation, digital footprint, backchannels).

2. The visible one (the actual meeting).

Most people prepare only for the second. The winners dominate the first.

You’ve got the Edge. Now sharpen it.

See you next week,
— Deepali Vyas
Your Elite Recruiter
Doing the research so you don’t have to.

🔗 Follow | Book a Session

📌 Here’s your reminder…

My next Career Game Plan LIVE sessions are coming up — and since so many of you requested more dates, I’ve opened up 3 August sessions as we round out the summer. ☀️

📅 Choose your spot:

• Sunday, Aug 24 @ 11:00am ET

• Saturday, Aug 30 @ 9:30am ET

• Sunday, Aug 31 @ 1:00pm ET

🎯 Whether you’re stuck, burnt out, or ready to pivot — this is your chance to build a Career Game Plan that actually works.

⚡ Last session sold out and the feedback was 🔥:
💬 “For the first time in months, I didn’t feel invisible.”
💬 “I walked away with clarity, confidence, and a game plan.”
💬 “The frameworks, the honesty, the energy — phenomenal.”

💡 Topic: The Mid-Year Reset – Reclaim Your Power, Position & Plan
🎙 Hosted by me, Deepali Vyas — your Elite Recruiter, with Dr. Shimoli Shah & Mo Chanmugham
🎁 Includes: Hot-seat coaching, live Q&A, and a brand-new toolkit drop
💵 $99 — because clarity isn’t free, but it’s cheaper than staying stuck.

👉 Save your seat now — space is limited.

🔥This Week’s Elite Job Drops 🔥

These openings are under the radar — not on LinkedIn, not on job boards.
I’m sharing them here first, to connect top talent with real, unposted opportunities 👇

🔥 Elite Resources

AI voice dictation that's actually intelligent

Typeless turns your raw, unfiltered voice into beautifully polished writing - in real time.

It works like magic, feels like cheating, and allows your thoughts to flow more freely than ever before.

Your voice is your strength. Typeless turns it into a superpower.

Download for Mac today

🚀 Massive — The AI-Powered Job Matching Tool That’s Basically Tinder for Your Career

Stop scrolling endless job boards. Massive brings the right roles to you.
✨ Tailored roles that fit your skills & goals
✨ Smart filters to cut through the noise
✨ Swipe to apply — fast, strategic, and actually fun

👉 Try Massive here — and start matching with your next career move today.

🔥 Forget Generic — Let’s Get Personal!!

• Book a 1:1 Consultation

• Learn more about the elite recruiter through Deepali’s socials