Elon Musk has a unique approach to job interviews, which includes one key question designed to identify dishonesty. Are you prepared to answer it effectively?
When applying for a position at one of Musk’s companies, such as Tesla or SpaceX, expect to face stiff competition. If you’re contemplating exaggerating your qualifications in your resume or during the interview, you might want to reconsider.
In a 2017 interview with Auto Bild, Musk discussed what he values in potential employees. He tends to prioritize a specific question over a candidate’s educational background.
During interviews, Musk asks candidates to share the ‘story of their career.’ He says, “I really just ask: ‘What are some of the tougher problems [you’ve] dealt with and how [you] dealt with those?’
“And how they made decisions at key transition points,” he added.
But why does Musk place such significance on this question?
The technology mogul revealed that this question often gives him ‘a very good gut feeling about someone’ and can uncover whether or not the candidate is being truthful.
Musk explained: “What I’m really looking for is evidence of exceptional ability so that they’ve faced really difficult problems and overcome them.
“And of course, you want to make sure that if there was some significant accomplishment, were they really responsible or was somebody else more responsible.”
According to Musk, individuals who have genuinely tackled tough challenges tend to remember the details. “So you can ask them very detailed questions about it and they’ll know the answer, whereas the person who was not truly responsible for that accomplishment will not know the details,” he said.
This approach isn’t unique to Musk. Indeed has highlighted it as one of the ‘eight common problem-solving questions’ often asked in job interviews.
According to Indeed: “If the job you’re applying for requires you to think analytically or solve problems, your interviewer may ask some problem-solving questions. These questions can vary between industries and jobs, but some examples come up frequently.”
One of the questions on the employment site aligns with Musk’s approach: “Describe a time when you faced an unexpected challenge in your job?”
In addition to Musk’s advice against exaggerating accomplishments, Indeed suggests: “Explain what challenges you have and what you did to overcome them. You can answer this question using the STAR technique.
“The STAR technique includes explaining the situation, the task, what action you took and the result. Choose an example that has a positive outcome and talk about what you learned from the experience, linking this back to the job description if possible.”