Selecting Talent at Menlo Innovations

0:09 the number one attribute to be a good 0:11 menlonian is good kindergarten skills 0:13 do you play well with others do you 0:15 share do you collaborate do you 0:17 support your peer partner in our world 0:20 the only way we know how to test for 0:22 that 0:22 isn't through standard interview 0:24 questions or resume reviews but 0:26 experiential auditioning for the role so 0:29 when they come in and they interview 0:31 they're actually paired with another 0:32 candidate we give them one piece of 0:34 paper 0:35 one pencil and one task to work on 0:37 together for 20 minutes while a 0:39 menlonian observes the pair working 0:41 together 0:42 and we give them very explicit 0:44 instructions your job 0:45 is to get your peer partner a second 0:47 interview your job is to 0:50 support your peer partner if they're 0:52 struggling help them out 0:54 if you have an answer give it to them 0:56 don't grab the pencil out of their hand 0:59 share the tools with one another face 1:02 each other smile 1:05 show interest and engagement show some 1:08 curiosity about the person you're paired 1:10 with 1:10 we give these very explicit instructions 1:13 during the interview 1:14 i remember one time my daughter asked me 1:16 she says dad 1:18 aren't you worried that you know people 1:20 could 1:21 fake collaboration and that sort of 1:23 thing my business partner james says 1:25 if they can fake collaboration for 40 1:27 hours a week that's awesome 1:29 um but uh but she would my daughter was 1:33 stunned when she realized that we were 1:34 actually trying to get people to succeed 1:37 during the interview i think a lot of 1:39 interview processes are really trying to 1:41 disqualify people we're trying to 1:43 give people a chance to win and if you 1:46 set 1:46 clear goals and expectations i think you 1:49 you have a chance 1:50 that somebody might wake up and actually 1:52 reinvent themselves right on the spot 1:54 that's okay with us too