01.06 – Selecting Talent at Menlo Innovations

The number one attribute to be a good Menlonian is good kindergarten skills. Do you play well with others? Do you share? Do you collaborate? Do you support your peer partner in our world? The only way we know how to test for that isn’t through standard interview questions or resume reviews, but experiential auditioning for the role. So when they come in and they interview, they’re actually paired with another candidate. We give them one piece of paper, one pencil, and one task to work on together for 20 minutes, while a Menlonian observes the pair working together. And we give them very explicit instructions. Your job is to get your pair partner a second interview. Your job is to support your pair partner.

If they’re struggling, help them out. If you have an answer, give it to him. Don’t grab the pencil out of their hand. Share the tools with one another, face each other, smile.

Show interest and engagement. Show some curiosity about the person you’re paired with. We give these very explicit instructions during the interview. I remember one time my daughter asked me, she say’s, Dad aren’t you worried that people could fake collaboration and that sort of thing? My business partner, James, says, if they can fake collaboration for 40 hours a week, that’s awesome. But she, my daughter was stunned when she realized that we were actually trying to get people to succeed during the interview. I think a lot of interview processes are really trying to disqualify people. We’re trying to give people a chance to win.

And if you set clear goals and expectations, I think you you have a chance, that somebody might wake up, and actually reinvent themselves right on the spot, and that’s okay with us too