Let me ask you a question: Do you go out with a job candidate when you interview them? Should you do it? Walt Bettinger is the one who does it.
Bettinger, the CEO of Charles Schwab Corporation is very busy. When it comes to interviewing job candidates, it is easy to think that Bettinger, like many others, prefers to do it at work to make things more productive. It isn’t like that. He takes his candidates to breakfast and puts them in a trap.
Bettinger arrives early at the restaurant and gives a tip to the waiter who made a mistake. When the food arrives, Bettinger inspects it closely to make sure it is what he requested.
“Are they frustrated, upset or understanding?” He told The New York Times that life is like this and that business is also like that in 2016. It’s another way to look inside your heart and not your head.
Sometimes things don’t go according to plan. Sometimes projects go wrong. Materials aren’t delivered. People violate their promises. Bettinger says, “We all will make mistakes.” “The real question is how are we going to recover from making mistakes, and how are we going to treat others when they make them?”
It is difficult for me to hire employees as a business owner. Maybe I am focusing too much on the wrong things. You should not only focus on the qualifications and experience of a candidate – although they are important – but also the personality of the individual. It is possible to teach someone how to do a job. You can’t teach this.
Charles Schwab Corporation is the same as your business. All of us serve our clients, and the attitudes of the people who work for us directly reflect our values. Are you willing to have someone act like a jerk towards a waiter at a restaurant to represent your company? Are you sure that is the kind of person you want to be on your team?
When I consider hiring someone new, I will do the Walt Bettinger thing: Take him to breakfast first and then play the “wrong ordering” game. I will also watch their reactions to the waiter. Breakfast may not be the most important meal of my day for nutrition. For my company, it can be the most important meal.
