Steve Jobs used 'beer test' to interview people at Apple
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: Tony Avelar/AFP via Getty Images/Kenzo Triboillard/AFP via Getty Images
Late Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs used a 'beer test' to interview candidates for the tech giant.
When you think about a job interview, sweaty hands, a newly-bought suit and some tricky questions come to mind.
However, if you've ever had the privilege of being interviewed by Jobs for a role at Apple, you'll know that his way of doing things was a little different.
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As the majority of us can contest with, job interviews are very formal, so going through that process for such a major company is an even more daunting prospect.
Jobs was very much aware of this, so wanted to make a change.
As reported by as.com, Jobs wanted to ‘break’ the trend of interviewees showing up with a memorized list of answers in their head, like they were just reading off a script.
So, Jobs decided to drop the traditional job interview questions and keep it casual.
When meeting a new colleague for the first time you may be thinking about whether you 'would have a beer with this person' or if you'd talk to them 'in a relaxed way while taking a walk'.
Well, rather than just imagining that, Jobs apparently did just that as he took candidates out for a walk and a cheeky pint to see if they would may a good fit for Apple.
Essentially this was known as the 'beer test'.
Taking potential employees on a walk would help to loosen them up a bit, hopefully removing all of the nerves that would usually be present in a traditional job interview.
However, I think if I was sat in a pub having a pint with the Apple CEO I'd feel a little starstruck.
When Jobs got interviewees in the pub, he would reportedly ask them questions such as: “When was the last time you accomplished something?”
And a more simple and talkative: “What did you do last summer?”
We've heard from a lot of managers in the past that they tend to look for particular right and wrong answers when interviewing candidates for a job.
However, this was apparently not the case with Jobs as he was simply trying to get to know the individual better.
Jobs’ aim in interviewing candidates was to find the very best of the best, the 'A-Players' as the Apple co-founder once put it.
"I found that when you get enough A-players together, when you go through the incredible job of finding these A-players, they really like working with each other," he previously explained.
"Because they’ve never had the chance to do it before."