The success of a company depends on who you surround yourself with.
If you hire the wrong candidates, you won’t be able to continue growing your vision and expanding the business.
The co-founder and CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg once said, “No one does it alone”.
“When you look at most big things that get done in the world, they’re not done by one person, so you’re going to need to build a team.”
So, what kind of person should you be looking out for when hiring a new employee?
To give you some inspiration on assessing candidates, I’ve assembled some valuable hiring advice from five of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world.
Daymond John – FUBU
As the founder, president and CEO of FUBU and investor on the ABC reality television series, Shark Tank, Daymond John knows a thing or two about making decisive business decisions.
Interestingly, he believes the key to success is in hiring candidates who are smarter than him.
“I like to bring in a team of people who I consider smarter than me in various different areas,” he said.
“If you create a culture where people feel they can thrive and think, sometimes your mentors can be the 20-year-old kid that knows social media better than anybody or any service you can eve hire,” Daymond John concluded.
It just goes to show that creating this innovative environment can remove any egotistical behaviour and focus the attention on the company’s progression.
Joe Gebbia – Airbnb
Since Airbnb was founded back in 2008, it’s revolutionised the travel and tourism industry.
According to a previous employee, the secret to Airbnb’s success is to hire candidates for entrepreneurial skills.
The founders, particularly Joe Gebbia, were involved in the hiring process for every employee up to around 500.
The business referred to their system as a search for “cereal entrepreneurs” – which was a reference to the Obama O’s and Cap’n McCain’s cereal boxes the founders sold during the 2008 US election.
The idea of Airbnb’s search for entrepreneurs is to find builders, not maintainers.
Joe Gebbia wanted to rapidly grow this idea and he realised the key was to bring in those who had a natural knack of doing it.
Steve Jobs/Steve Wozniak – Apple
We all know this famous duo.
Well, it turns out the masterminds behind our favourite tech gadgets take hiring very seriously too!
In the documentary, Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine, Jobs said: “I consider the most important job of someone like myself as recruiting.”
Like the other entrepreneurs in this list, he realises how vital his employees are in determining the success of Apple.
His proactive approach towards the recruitment process was a sentiment shared by his Apple buddy, Steve Wozniak.
He explained the importance of “building an environment that makes people feel they are surrounded by equally talented people and their work is bigger than they are. The feeling that the work will have tremendous influence and is part of a strong clear vision.”
To do this, they know they must hire the best.
That’s exactly why their recruitment process is so rigorous!
Sir Richard Branson – Virgin
Virgin Group’s legendary founder Sir Richard Branson has created an empire made up of over 200 companies.
From healthcare to hotels and even space travel, there aren’t many industries he hasn’t dabbled in.
When hiring people to join Virgin, he puts a big emphasis on personality.
He writes: “We look for people who are friendly and considerate, and who like working with others”.
“From our airlines to our call centres, and our office buildings to our gym floors, you will always see smiling people working together to get the job done. These personalities make our staff successful, and, in turn, our businesses successful. They also keep our company culture vibrant.”
However, Sir Richard Branson does mention that trying to get to know the real candidate requires the interviewer to “pull it out of them” – especially if they’re natural introverts.
If you need a hand doing this, then check out our previous blog: 11 Interview Questions That Will Reveal Your Candidate’s True Personality.
Mark Zuckerberg – Facebook
With around 1.47 billion daily active users and over 30,000 employees, Facebook manages a lot of people.
However, Mark Zuckerberg’s social media company isn’t regarded as one of the top companies to work at for no apparent reason.
When it comes to making a hiring decision, Mark Zuckerberg’s philosophy is to never hire someone you wouldn’t work for yourself.
“I always tell people that you should only hire people to be on your team if you would work for them,” he said.
On discussing his own high-ranking employees, like chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg and chief product officer Chris Cox, Zuckerberg concludes, “in an alternative universe, I would be honoured to work for any of these people.”
Is this an idea your company is willing to implement?
Enjoyed reading this?
If you loved learning about how other huge brands attract and assess candidates, then you should check out our previous posts:
- 4 Recruitment Ideas You Can Pinch From Apple
- 4 Recruitment Ideas You Can Pinch From Ikea
- 4 Recruitment Ideas You Can Pinch From NASA
- 4 Recruitment Ideas You Can Pinch From Disney
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