How do you think you’d fare? is the key question Elon Musk asks in every job interview to identify a liar.
There will probably be fierce competition if you apply for a position with one of Musk’s companies, such as SpaceX or Tesla.
Furthermore, if you have considered embellishing your experience during the interview or on your application, please reconsider.
Elon Musk was questioned in a 2017 interview with Auto Bild about the abilities he seeks in workers.
However, the wealthiest man in the world usually focuses on a single question rather than a candidate’s educational accomplishments.
“I really just ask: ‘What are some of the tougher problems [you’ve] dealt with and how [you] dealt with those?’” the X owner said when he asked them to share the “story of their career.”
“And how they made decisions at key transition points,” he continued.
But why does Musk care so much about this one key question?
The billionaire in technology disclosed that asking a question “is usually enough” to give him “a very good gut feeling about someone” and can even tell him if he is being misled.
Musk continued, “What I’m really looking for is evidence of exceptional ability so that they’ve faced really difficult problems and overcome them.”
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“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.”
Musk said normally the person who’s ‘had to struggle with the problem they really understand it and they don’t forget’.
He made the decision: “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.”
Furthermore, Indeed has identified it as one of the “eight common problem-solving questions” that you can encounter during a job interview, so don’t just take Musk at face value.
The site notes, “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.”
In fact, Musk’s query is similar to one on the recruitment website: “Describe a time when you faced an unexpected challenge in your job?”
Alongside what Musk said about simply not lying by taking credit where it’s not due, Indeed advises: “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.”
