Steve Jobs had a 'beer test' he would use for interviewing people at Apple

The late Apple CEO Steve Jobs was said to have had a ‘beer test’ he would use before hiring new employees.

Usually, a job interview requires you to be pretty formal and we can only imagine how daunting it would be to go through the application process for such a major company.

That’s something Jobs was aware of.

As reported by as.com, the inventor wanted to ‘break’ the trend of interviewees showing up with a memorised list of answers, giving basically scripted responses.

So, Jobs would drop all the formalities and keep it rather casual.

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Instead of just considering if he ‘would have a beer with this person’ or if he’d talked to them ‘in a relaxed way while taking a walk’, he simply did just that.

Yep, Jobs would apparently take his potential candidates to go for a stroll and have a cheeky drink together in order to decide whether or not to hire them.

Taking them on this walk would help to loosen them up a bit, getting them to chat a bit more honestly – that’s if they weren’t too starstruck about having a beer with the literal CEO of Apple.

Jobs would reportedly ask them questions such as “When was the last time you accomplished something?” to a simple, “What did you do last summer?”

Almost sounds like a school homework assignment.

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He didn’t exactly look for any right or wrong answers, he was just looking to get to know the candidate better.

After all, it’s fine having a colleague who knows everything they’re doing. But if they’re an absolute nightmare to work alongside it’s not worth it. We can all admit to relating to that.

Jobs’ aim in interviewing candidates was to find the very best of the best, the ‘A-Players’ as he regarded those of the highest class of their game.

He previously explained: “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.

“Because they’ve never had the chance to do it before.”

And he obviously did a good job of it – that’s pretty clear, as I type on my MacBook and listen to my iPhone through my AirPods.

Topics: Apple, Food And Drink, Technology, Jobs

Jess Battison

Jess is an Entertainment Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include keeping up with the Twitter girlies, waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021 and has previously worked at MyLondon.

@jessbattison_