Elon Musk: Secrets Behind The Billionaire’s Recruitment

Being the founder of Tesla and SpaceX with such great vision, Elon Musk always counts on the best talents to actualize his missions.
The two companies have pretty bold ambitions, including to power the entire world and to bring humanity to Mars. To keep those goals on track, Elon Musk needs talented and loyal teams that have absolute faith in his vision.In order to build this team, the world’s richest entrepreneur has developed his own strategies in recruiting talents. Here are some that the billionaire implemented.

Source: Top Interview

Question interviewees himself

SpaceX is now a company of more than 5,000 people. With such a large number of employees, interviewing and selecting each candidate is a challenge for most employers, but not Elon Musk. The billionaire is said to have interviewed all the candidates himself up to 2017.
During the interviews, the best among the candidates will get to meet the management team. These people will be evaluated and gradually eliminated by the team, and the best out of them will have a direct interview with Musk. "The selected person will have to pass a lot of interviews," Elon Musk shared.

Ask interviewees about their solved problems

During the interview, Musk will ask candidates specific questions about problems they've dealt with in the past. These questions are asked to determine if they are really a solution-finder, rather than just a member of the problem-solving team.
"If someone can actually solve the problem they encounter," Musk said, "they'll be able to answer on multiple levels and understand the details. If not, they'll find in difficult answering.”
The deeper he digs, the better Musk understands the candidate, their strengths and weaknesses. In contrast, people who "pretend" or lie will only stop at a certain level, hardly grasping the detail. Therefore, Elon Musk will immediately recognize the unsuitable candidate thanks to the way they respond, often short and off track the questions. "Anyone ever struggled to solve a problem will never forget," the billionaire asserted.

Make interviewees solve the problems in the interview

Source: Office Chai

Candidates who have been interviewed by Elon Musk said they were asked about engineering and physics during the interview. These questions are used to assess a candidate's suitability and ability to quickly reflex when faced with unexpected problems. They often have many different answers and are mainly for the candidate to demonstrate analytical and thinking abilities.
These questions will vary depending on the position Elon Musk is looking for. "I'm not necessarily looking for someone with excellent analytical skills if their job is hardware assembly," Musk said.

Tell interviewees not to worry about degrees

A degree, especially a bachelor's, is one of the indispensable factors when applying for a job. However, Elon Musk does not consider this too important. In the interviews, Musk doesn't require his candidates to have a college degree - or even a high school diploma. He believes that many of the best people in the world have done great things without one. He also cited Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Google co-founder Larry Page as examples, all of whom didn't finish college.
However, not all non-graduates have the same abilities, as they need to clarify them to be selected by the fastidious billionaire.

Only look for the best

Source: The New York Times

Dolly Singh, Former SpaceX head of talent acquisition, shared that Musk once told her to find the best person on the planet for any given job, no matter the role. Even when SpaceX built a yogurt stand in its headquarters, Musk told her, "Go to Pinkberry yogurt shop and find me the best employee of the month." This clearly demonstrates the billionaire's vision of building a company of the best people to do the most extraordinary things.

Find the right mindset

Talent is especially important, but Musk also looks for candidates with a positive attitude. He also considers whether colleagues want to work with them - what's known as a strict "no loophole policy".
In work, talent does not determine everything. Sometimes our attitudes and ways of working and thinking help us go very far. "It's very important that you like the people you work with," says Elon Musk, "otherwise your job will be pretty miserable."
H/T: Trakstar Hire