Jeff Bezos always asked this one bizarre question in interviews and getting it wrong could mean you wouldn't be hired
Topics: Jeff Bezos, Amazon, Business
Niamh Shackleton
Featured Image Credit: Getty Images/Michael M. Santiago
Topics: Jeff Bezos, Amazon, Business
A former Amazon employee has revealed an interview question that was once used by Jeff Bezos.
If anyone knows how to create a business, it's Bezos. The tech mogul now has a staggering net worth of over $200 billion dollars and has come on leaps and bounds from a time when people laughed at him when Amazon wasn't making any profit.
To build a successful business you need good employees, and it's evident that Bezos must have hired some stellar staff over the years with Amazon's mind-blowing success in mind.
While Bezos won't have done all the hiring himself, he has been known to do some of it and reportedly has some favourite questions that he likes to ask interviewees; one being a brainteaser for candidates to work out.
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Bezos' former assistant said that when she was going for the job, he asked her to estimate the number of panes of glass in the city of Seattle.
Dan Rose, who worked for Amazon between 1999 to 2006, shared another favorite of Bezos' as well.
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Tweeting in 2020, Rose wrote: "When I worked at Amazon 1999-2006, Jeff Bezos’ favorite interview question was 'are you a lucky person?'
"What a great way to filter for optimists and people who manifest success."
He proceeded to share answers that he believed would be right or wrong.
"If you’re a successful, optimistic, humble leader the right answer starts this way: 'Yes, I’m the luckiest person on Earth. I’ve worked hard to get to this point in my career, but a lot of things also had to go right and I’ve taken full advantage of my luck,'" Rose advised.
When I worked at Amazon 1999-2006, Jeff Bezos’ favorite interview question was “are you a lucky person?” What a great way to filter for optimists and people who manifest success.
— Dan Rose (@DanRose999) February 29, 2020
Optimistic people are supposedly 'a good proxy for leadership potential'.
He noted that humility is also important, adding that 'it’s easy to filter out false humility ("humble brags") in follow-up question'.
"This isn’t the only question, it’s a conversation starter and opens to door to exposing someone’s personality beyond their resume," Rose added.
The first wrong answer example Rose gave was: "No, I’ve never felt lucky but I’ve been able to overcome all the bad things that always happen to me."
"No, I’ve never needed luck because I am better/smarter/stronger than everyone else," he gave as a second example.
What would you have answered? Comment below.