Alexandra Jimenez
Walt Bettiger, the CEO of Charles Schwab, a financial and retirement advise company, takes an interesting twist on interviewing potential employees. He told the New York Times that he is concerned most about candidate’s character and the kind of person they are. He said, “What I am looking for is whether their view of the world really revolves around others or whether it revolves around them. And I will ask them about their greatest failures in their life and see whether they own them or whether they were somebody else's fault."
He invites the candidate for breakfast, arrives early to the restaurant and tells the manager to mess up the order for the candidate. He says, “"I do that because I want to see how the person responds, that will help me understand how they deal with adversity. Are they upset, are they frustrated, or are they understanding? Life is like that, and business is like that. It is just another way to get a look inside their heart rather than their head." The interviewer points out that “another response to a messed-up breakfast order that can be very telling is not saying anything at all… If you receive the wrong food and do not acknowledge it, this may tell the interviewer you are timid, pay little attention to detail, or are not willing to right a wrong — all messages that you do not want to send a potential employer.” I find this to be extremely interesting. He makes a point to seek out how these candidates will respond because their main focus is answering correctly during the interview. All that is in their heads is mentioning their experiences, what they can bring to the table and how they will be an asset to the company. Everyone bring their ‘A game’ to interviews and are in their best behaviors because you have to fake it till you make it honestly. As Bettiger says, it is another way to look inside their heart and not their head. To see if they are good people, and if they will be a great team member. It is not an ethical process but it is also not unethical because I believe it weeds out people who could just not be right for the company and could hurt the company’s image. I always believe there is more to people than their resume or their transcript. There is a whole life and story to everything and everyone and this is a simple way to truly see someone because you are catching them of guard. I love one on one interviews even if I am super nervous, which is always, I think that the employer gets to see me as me. I am a people person, and I can start a conversation with anyone about anything, and it is a skill that not everyone has and one that is hard to teach. For any company to function, there needs to be communication and people need to be able to respond accordingly, specially in a crisis. I agree with how he handles candidate interviews and I think more companies should do something similar.
13 Comments
Mikey
2/5/2017 12:00:01 am
Hi Alexandra,
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2/5/2017 04:31:01 pm
I found your post really interesting. I think it's a very ethical and creative way to see how people REALLY respond to a common situations like getting your order wrong. In fact, it is true that people, when in an interview, try to be in their best behavior and it can be really hard for the employer to see a persons true persona and genuine response. If someone responds angrily to a minor situation, then it is most likely that they will not respond to well in strenuous situations that they will most likely encounter at work. It really made me think about the way I react now and the way I "should" react or at least what I would want a future employer to view my personality and response as when a situation like this one.
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matt provo
2/6/2017 02:39:52 pm
Really interesting topic. I hadn't heard of an interview process like this before reading your post, I thought the messing up the order test was a great way to evaluate potential employees. In my opinion it is ethical to do a test like this. I really like the concept of the test, I can't think of many other practical ways for an employer to get the same information about someones character.
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Joseph Molina
2/7/2017 09:26:03 pm
As I was reading your post, I was reminded about the ABC tv show "What would you do". The main setup of the show is to see how people will react to certain situations and mostly revolve around ethical decisions. Both the tv show and your post, speak up about always being your true honest self even when no one is around.
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Adrienne
2/9/2017 06:44:32 pm
Alex,
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Christian Martinez
4/30/2017 02:38:30 pm
I think this was a really interesting read Alexandra. I agree that peoples character should be the number one attribute when it comes to employment. In my opinion, you can teach pretty much any employee the skills required to get a job done but doing it with people that fit the culture of a company will be much more enjoyable. Thanks for blogging about this.
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Sean O'Fallon
5/9/2017 08:57:44 am
Reading about different interviewing techniques is always interesting since we are at the point in our lives where it really matters. I'm glad people out there are trying to figure out who a person is during an interview instead of just seeing if they can do the job.
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5/16/2017 07:35:48 pm
Commonly when people go into an interview they will say or do whatever they the employer would want. I think even though he's trying to see their genuine response, it might not still be real because they may just act a specific way because their potential employer is there.
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Luigi
5/17/2017 06:18:36 pm
Great article, and some really valuable information here. I think he is setting up the situation to expose the true character of who he is interviewing and it is extremely effective. Wherever he learned this, someone taught him well!
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Shaikh Sultani
5/18/2017 10:58:56 pm
This blog made me laugh a little. What a creative way to interview people and put them in a more real world situation to see how they react to adversity, even with something as little as a wrong breakfast order. Its a good change of pace from just the interview at an office, and then knowing everything they need to know from just that one meeting at the office.
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5/19/2017 02:35:15 am
I think this is a good tactic. As an employer or even a coworker, it is necessary for you to see the true colors of your potential employee. It is not only about the skills and experience they have, its about their character and they way they carry themselves. Whether they are empathetic or compassionate to mere strangers says a lot about what type of person they are deep down. It is important to show character in interviews because that is what is most important at the end of the day.
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Cammron Keehley
5/20/2017 10:04:09 pm
Alex,
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Lesly Garcia
5/20/2017 11:08:14 pm
I think it's a very interesting way of interviewing people. However, I wonder how affective it is for learning about the other person. I think people act differently depending on the day and the scenario. I could image it would be easier for someone to go off if their day has been horrible than if its the first offense.
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AuthorHello! I'm 19 years old. i'm a 3rd year Communication Design major with an emphasis is visual design and a minor in Business Marketing. Archives
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