Most candidates arrive at interviews armed with well-rehearsed answers, carefully drilled weaknesses, and a list of researched questions to impress. But Steve Jobs reportedly had a much less conventional way of deciding who would be hired: the “beer test.”
Instead of trying to trick candidates into a trick question or grilling them about the latest iPhone, the late co-founder of the $4.3 trillion tech giant wanted to know something much simpler: Would he really want to have a beer with that person?
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According to several reports, Jobs even took candidates for an informal interview during a walk precisely to test whether he could get along with them outside the office. The so-called “beer test” wasn’t really about alcohol. The idea was to find out if the candidate could shed the corporate persona long enough to have a real conversation — and be pleasant to be around.
As AS USA reported, Jobs asked potential hires questions like: “What did you do last summer?” to start the conversation. There were no right or wrong answers, but it probably wasn’t a good sign if the conversation was awkward, tiring, or practically nonexistent.
That’s because, at the end of it all, Jobs asked himself: “Would I have a beer with this person? Would I talk to them in a relaxed way while we walk?” If the answer was no, that said something that a resume could never show.
Jobs already told Fortune that hiring ultimately depends on instinct
Jobs’s “beer test” may sound unserious compared to the now-popular Myers-Briggs assessments and 90-minute tastings. But Apple’s co-founder insisted his recruiting strategy was far from superficial.
In a 2008 interview with Fortune, the late tech billionaire said that finding the best people for a job is like “looking for needles in a haystack… I take it very seriously.”
At that time — just three years before his death — Jobs said he had interviewed more than 5,000 candidates and that competence alone was not enough to impress him. Still, there was a limit to what he could uncover in a standard hour-long interview.
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“So in the end it all comes down to your gut,” he said. “How do I feel about this person? How does they react when challenged?”
Executives from Chanel, Amazon and Twilio highlight the importance of personality
Jobs is far from the only business leader to reinvent the traditional interview format.
As Fortune has previously reported, Gary Shapiro, former CEO of the Consumer Technology Association, has his own litmus test: He asks candidates when they can start. If they respond “immediately” while they are still employed, he considers this a red flag because it shows a willingness to leave their current boss without warning.
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Other CEOs have used similarly strange tests to assess personality. Some observe how you treat the receptionist when you walk in or whether you wash your coffee cup after the interview. Others invite candidates to dinner.
There are still those who go further and ask the waiter to deliberately get the candidate’s order wrong. The objective is the same: to discover how people really behave when the formal environment disappears.
After all, the way someone treats a waiter who brings the wrong order often reveals more about their character than any prepared response.
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Even Chanel, a luxury brand with 115 years of history and associated with tradition and exclusivity, is looking beyond credentials to understand who candidates really are.
Claire Isnard, recently retired as the company’s chief people officer, told Fortune that “the first thing we look for is personalities” — above even skills or talent. And people with “inflated egos” don’t get hired.
In the end, being the nicest person in the room can get you further than being the smartest.
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Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has said that “an embarrassingly large part of your success, especially in your 20s, has to do with attitude” — because positive people gain advocates and mentors more quickly.
In other words, be someone whose company others truly enjoy, and you just might land that gig.
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