photo by kevindooley

Hiring is game of risk and resumes.

For me, its all about the interview.  The one on one, the unspoken signals, the gut instinct and the conviction that personal energy is the dealbreaker.

I read an interview with Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos and author of “Delivering Happiness” where he described his hiring philosophy.  Here is an excerpt:

Tony Hsieh: For us, the whole belief is that our culture should be our number one priority, and if we get the culture right then most of the other stuff — like great customer service, building a long term enduring brand — will just happen naturally on its own.

Every employee understands that part of their job description is actually to live and inspire the culture in others.  We have passed on a lot of smart and talented people that we know can make an immediate impact on our top or bottom line but if they are not a culture fit, we won’t hire them.

For candidates we do the same thing: We pick them up, give them a tour, and then they spend the day interviewing. But at the end of the interview process, our head of recruiting goes back to the shuttle driver and asks them how they were treated. If they were not treated well when they thought they were off the clock then we won’t hire them, it’s not even a question.

Something else I believe in I learned from someone I trust and respect very much.  My friend Jerry, who has recently retired from a long career in human resources, told me that at the end of the interview, you should ask yourself just one question.

And the question is…

Could you have dinner with this person?

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Hoong Yee

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Get more Wow!

If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:

Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good

Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit

Style Notes from me, your artspy

Hoong Yee

– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day

– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested

– Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @hylkrakauer)

– Put a link to the blog in your Facebook status update

Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.

Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?