The question Elon Musk asks in each job interview to spot a liar
Ellie Kemp
Featured Image Credit: Samuel Corum/Getty Images/Maria Korneeva/Getty Images
Elon Musk has revealed the crucial question he asks in every job interview to test people's honesty.
Job interviews are daunting enough, let alone having the richest man in the world to impress.
Tech entrepreneur Musk has built up an eye-watering $259.9 billion net worth after founding major companies including PayPal, Tesla and SpaceX.
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It's safe to say he knows a thing or two about running a business, and will have interviewed thousands of candidates over the years.
Some bosses pull secret stunts in a bid to catch people out, from the now-famous coffee cup test to the lesser-known 'salt and pepper' test.
Now, Musk has revealed the tactic he uses to best assess his talent.
In an interview with Auto Bild in 2017, Musk was asked what skills he wants candidates to have.
However, instead of focusing on an applicant's college qualifications or degrees, Musk reveals he typically just focuses in on one question.
While asking them for the 'story of their career,' the X owner reveals: "I really just ask: 'What are some of the tougher problems [you've] dealt with and how [did you] dealt with those?'"
"And how they made decisions at key transition points," he adds.
But why is this one main question so important to Musk?
Well, the current world's richest man explains the one question 'is usually enough' to give him 'a very good gut feeling about someone' and can even reveal whether or not he's being lied to as well.
Musk continues: "What I'm really looking for is evidence of exceptional ability so that they've faced really difficult problems and overcome them.
"And of course, you want to make sure that if there was some significant accomplishment, were they really responsible or was somebody else more responsible."
But how can he tell?
Musk says normally the person who's 'had to struggle with the problem they really understand it and they don't forget'.
He resolves: "So you can ask them very detailed questions about it and they'll know the answer, whereas the person who was not truly responsible for that accomplishment will not know the details."
Elsewhere, former TripAdvisor CEO Steve Kaufer asks a similar set of questions to his candidates.
Speaking on The Logan Bartlett Show, he detailed what he asks that catches people 'off guard.' After questioning talent about the hardest project they've worked on, he follows it up with: "How would you refine your most successful project?"
Kaufer explains that most people 'pause' and he can tell they've 'never thought about it.'
That's some food for thought ahead of your next job interview.