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Jeff Bezos revealed the three key questions he asked before hiring Amazon employees
Home>Celebrity>News
Published 13:42 3 Sep 2024 GMT+1

Jeff Bezos revealed the three key questions he asked before hiring Amazon employees

You might be surprised at what you need to bring to the table to get a role with the company

Gerrard Kaonga

Gerrard Kaonga

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Featured Image Credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images / Alex Wong/Getty Images

Topics: Celebrity, Jeff Bezos, Business, Amazon

Gerrard Kaonga
Gerrard Kaonga

Gerrard is a Journalist at UNILAD and has dived headfirst into covering everything from breaking global stories to trending entertainment news. He has a bachelors in English Literature from Brunel University and has written across a number of different national and international publications. Most notably the Financial Times, Daily Express, Evening Standard and Newsweek.

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When you are searching for a job, interviews can certainly be a double-edged sword.

You might be a perfect fit the role on paper and absolutely bomb the interview with bad jokes, stuttering and going completely blank when asked simple questions.

But on the flipside, you can absolutely ace them, making the interviewee laugh and build a rapport with them, clearly showcasing you are the perfect person for the role.

Regardless of what situation you're in, sometimes you never hear anything back anyway - life be like that sometimes.

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But I imagine the pressure of landing an interview at one of the biggest companies in the world, namely Amazon, can prove particularly stressful.

Bezos has previously outlined the questions hiring directors should consider before offering a job to someone(Karwai Tang/WireImage)
Bezos has previously outlined the questions hiring directors should consider before offering a job to someone(Karwai Tang/WireImage)

Jeff Bezos, the second richest man in the world and founder of Amazon, likely has some significant swing when it comes to hiring. So, if you can pass his tests or meet his criteria, you are probably in a better shot at the role.

Back in 1998, the billionaire outlined to his shareholders what kind of people he wanted working for him and said: “Setting the bar high in our approach to hiring has been, and will continue to be, the single most important element of Amazon's success."

He outlined three key questions he would ask himself, and hiring directors should ask themselves, before hiring a candidate.

So what were they?

"Will you admire this person?"

Let’s be honest, we are working for money, otherwise a lot more of us would volunteer now, wouldn’t we?

But at the end of the day, it's important - and refreshing - to work for more than money and find people who take pride in how they conduct themselves at work and the attitude they bring to every situation.

Back in the 90s, Bezos had a clear understanding of the kind of people he needed to make his company a success(Chris Carroll/Corbis via Getty Images)
Back in the 90s, Bezos had a clear understanding of the kind of people he needed to make his company a success(Chris Carroll/Corbis via Getty Images)

Writing in the shareholder letter, Bezos said: "If you think about the people you've admired in your life they are probably people you've been able to learn from or take an example from.

"For myself, I've always tried hard to work only with people I admire, and I encourage folks here to be just as demanding. Life is definitely too short to do otherwise.”

"Will this person raise the average level of effectiveness of the group they're entering?"

Bezos said he wanted the bar to continuously go up, allowing for growth in his company and improvements consistently.

So, rather than going for a middle-of-the-road all-rounder, it could be good to get in someone who brings out the best in people by showcasing their own brilliance.

Bezos wrote: “We want to fight entropy. The bar has to continuously go up. I ask people to visualize the company five years from now.

“At that point, each of us should look around and say, 'The standards are so high now -- boy, I'm glad I got in when I did!'"

Amazon has grown to one of the most successful companies in the world(Chris Carroll/Corbis via Getty Images)
Amazon has grown to one of the most successful companies in the world(Chris Carroll/Corbis via Getty Images)

"Along what dimension might this person be a superstar?"

This kind of speaks in favor of people willing to showcase their personality and stand out from the crowd.

The Amazon founder argued that these unique individuals can improve the overall workplace in unsuspected ways and help turn an odd collection of people into the ultimate team.

He wrote: “Many people have unique skills, interests, and perspectives that enrich the work environment for all of us.

"It's often something that's not even related to their jobs. One person here is a National Spelling Bee champion (1978, I believe). I suspect it doesn't help her in her everyday work, but it does make working here more fun if you can occasionally snag her in the hall with a quick challenge.”

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