Steve Jobs had unorthodox ways of doing his job or some aspect of his personal life, we know from anecdotes like his Mercedes without license plates or his methods for testing product prototype makers. And it seems, this also happened during their job interviews.
Several media reported on what was baptized as “the beer test”, a technique that despite its name does not imply anything strange. Jobs used it in his interviews to observe the reaction of candidates and decide if they could do their job effectively at Apple.
In addition to being a professional, you also have to be a person.
Normally (and even more so when it comes to high positions), candidates for a job interview pass through meeting rooms and offices in a very formal environment. It makes them nervous, tense, and Jobs argued that it should look for a formula to make them feel more relaxed and see them to your sauce.
So the co-founder of Apple has always asked the same question: the experience of the candidate or candidate does not matter, and his professional background does not matter. “Would I have a beer with this person?” Would you like to have a relaxed conversation with her while strolling?”
And that’s what happened: Jobs took the candidates out of offices and formalities to go for a walk or have a drink together. And it was in those moments when you could speak more frankly, more freely and more honestly. The reasons for hiring or not hiring the candidate were at that time. “There were no right or wrong answers,” Jobs said. It all depended on answers to such simple questions as what you did last summer, or when was the last time you accomplished something significant.
Today, these types of questions are more common, but back in the 90s, taking these walks and doing high profile interviews in a bar broke all protocol. It is a pity that more details about this cannot be known, Apple’s internal interviews are still closed in the most absolute secrecy.
Imagen | Matthias Diesel
