Steve Jobs’ lessons to stand out in a job interview and avoid mistakes

Steve Jobsco-founder of Manzana, emphasized the importance of hiring the right talent in an interview published in the book ‘In the Company of Giants: Candid Conversations with the Visionaries of the Digital World’. In 1997, shortly after his return to Apple after the sale of his company NeXT, Jobs revealed that he spent 20% of his time recruiting, an activity that involved interviewing and supervising candidates.

Jobs stated: “I spend one day a week helping people hire,” highlighting that it is one of the most important things that can be done. With more than 20 years of experience in the tech industry at the time, he also shared what impressed him about candidates and what might hold them back.

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The hiring process, according to Jobs, was crucial because without the right people, it would be difficult to get products to market quickly and effectively, regardless of the visionary ideas of the leaders.

During the interview, Jobs revealed details about his approach to the selection process when facing candidates. he admitted intentionally challenging candidates during interviews, often criticizing their previous work. I would investigate and find out what they had worked on and say: “Wow, that turned out to be a dud. That product was ridiculous. Why did you work on it?”.

Expanding on this revelation, Jobs mentioned: “I shouldn’t say this in your book”. He explained that the worst thing a candidate could do during an interview was to agree with him and be too accommodating.. Jobs was looking for candidates who would stand up and defend against unfair attacks, rather than simply try to please him.

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By talking about his preferences to convince him of his worth, Jobs wanted candidates stand their ground and present their argumentseven under pressure, rather than simply agreeing with their opinions.

In the early days of Apple, Jobs and his colleagues at Cupertino hired quickly, looking for people who knew more than they did. He admitted: “We just wanted to hire a lot of people who were smarter than us”acknowledging that it was not difficult, since they themselves did not know much.

However, they ran into a problem: while they were hiring talented people, many lacked the ability to quickly adapt to changing needs. Jobs explained: “In a company that is just starting out and growing rapidly, the needs change every month as we learn more. People must be able to change and adapt, and see things from new perspectives.”.

Based on this initial experience, Jobs decided to invest more time in the hiring process, ensuring that new hires possessed the necessary adaptability and versatility.

Source: Elcomercio

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