Steve Jobs used 'beer test' to interview people at Apple
Topics: Apple, Life, Steve Jobs, Food and Drink
Emily Brown
Featured Image Credit: Tony Avelar/AFP via Getty Images/Kenzo Triboillard/AFP via Getty Images
Topics: Apple, Life, Steve Jobs, Food and Drink
Would you have liked to grab a beer with Steve Jobs?
It might sound like one of those 'who would you invite to your dream dinner party?' scenarios, but it was a very real opportunity for some Apple employees prior to Jobs' death in 2011.
As the co-founder of a company as big as Apple, Jobs naturally would have wanted some reliable people on his staff, so he came up with a 'test' to help him figure out whether they were the right fit.
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We're not talking about some tough personality test or pop quiz, but the simple offer of going for a beer. Now, that's an interview stage I can get behind.
According to as.com, Jobs hoped to make the Apple interviewing experience a little different by preventing candidates from entering the room with answers to potential questions memorized, leaving them ready to deliver them as if they were reading off a script.
Instead, Jobs reportedly decided to keep things casual by taking candidates out for a walk and a beer, hoping to loosen them up and get them out of their heads.
The move, known as the 'beer test', aimed to take away the nerves that typically accompany job interviews, allowing candidates to be their true selves.
It all sounds like a pretty sweet deal, and there's no denying that grabbing a beer with Jobs would make for a good story, but candidates didn't get off too easy as Jobs did still have some questions for them.
When he got interviewees in the pub, he would reportedly ask them questions such as: “When was the last time you accomplished something?”
And a more simple and talkative: “What did you do last summer?”
While a lot of managers may have 'right' or 'wrong' answers in mind for these kinds of questions, Jobs was apparently just trying to get to know the individual better.
All in all, his goal in interviewing candidates was to find the very best of the best - the 'A-Players', as the Apple co-founder once put it.
Speaking about his employees prior to his death, Jobs said: "I found that when you get enough A-players together, when you go through the incredible job of finding these A-players, they really like working with each other.
"Because they’ve never had the chance to do it before."
Considering how big Apple continues to be today, it's safe to say Jobs' technique has helped him create a lasting legacy.