So I haven’t been very active on here in a while, this is for a few reasons including working on some other business ventures, a lack of interesting things to blog about that would be useful to others, and I usually write posts about things that truly inspire or resonate with me, and therefore I like to share and blog about them as if I have found some inspiration or value from it, then its likely that others will also find value in this.
I was began watching a movie today whilst doing some bits of work, the movie was called ‘The circle’, if you haven’t seen it, its quite interesting in many ways, whether you agree or disagree with the themes of the film its definitely eye opening! Anyway this reminded me of another film and then led to me randomly searching about what it takes to work at Google. So I came across an article called ‘Want to work for Google? Answer these five questions.’ The article is about what the personnel boss, Laszlo Bock want or looks for in an employee. I’ve read articles like this before, many are often generic and say the same things, but not this one!
So the 5 questions are as follows:
1-Do you have an IQ higher than 130?
2-What shall we have for dinner this evening?
3-Why did you choose the last five articles you read?
4-Are you incompetent and lazy?
5-Do you have a track record of doing something really well?
You might wonder, as I did when reading the questions, why they are relevant, or how to best answer as if you were in a job interview, or when you try to say what you think the employer wants to hear, then I read the descriptions of the purpose of the question, and surprisingly what Laszlo was looking for was not what I would expect.
Here’s what Laszlo Bock looks for:
If you answered yes to your IQ being higher than 130, this is the worst possible answer. Instead what is wanted is ‘intellectual humility’, without which Laszlo claims people can’t learn. Those that have been clever all of their lives often believe that everything good that happens is due to the fact that they are clever or a genius, and therefore, everything bad that happens, is down to someone being an idiot! Taking IQ tests and remembering the score, suggests exactly the wrong combination of self-aggrandisement (arrogance) and insecurity.
So number two, my answer to this would probably be to turn the question back to the one asking. However apparently this isn’t great! If you say ‘I don’t mind’ or ‘I’m easy’ or ‘what would you like?’ this is never going to solve the problem! The question was asking your opinion so give it. This is the kind of ‘emergent leadership’ that the company wants; the willingness to take charge when required, and not take charge when not.
Would you answer with ‘I don’t know’? Laszlo Bock’s first criterion was a type of intelligence that he refers to as ‘learning ability’, to describe this better it’s ‘to process on the fly… to pull together disparate bits of information’. It doesn’t bode well for Google’s structured behavioral interviews if you go to pieces when a simple question like this is fired at your face.
Now this fourth question is one I believe in an interview no one would ever say yes to! Actually, being honest, if you are incompetent and lazy, is good, this is because the company wants to hire people who feel ownership of the company’s projects but also enough humility to only do what they usefully can. If you’re incompetent, you will only ruin things you get involved with, so never volunteering is therefore the right call. Clever and active is another successful combination.
If you do have a track record of being good at everything, then that’s actually not desirable. When faced with a problem the expert will say: ‘I’ve seen this 100 times before; here’s what you do.’ A clever novice will usually solve the problem, and while sometimes they fail this is more compensated for by the valuable occasions when they solve it in new ways. People are better at things, in short, if they don’t know what they’re doing.
So the point of this post, well there’s a few! Firstly I found it really interesting to hear the opinions of Laszlo Bock, it was refreshing to hear somewhat unexpected responses to the questions you may be asked at an interview. Secondly, it really resonated with me, and made a few things clear:
1-Not knowing something often leads to failure at first, but also the ability to find new ways to do something.
2-It talks about being lazy and incompetent, but if you instead interpret this as only getting involved in things you are passionate about, and not half heartedly doing jobs that are unfulfilling, this can be a really powerful message, you will take pride and put effort into the things you actually are passionate about, and anything that doesn’t interest you, you keep away from so as not to do a half-hearted job of it!
3-Be confident, it is always good to have confidence, confidence in yourself and actions, but don’t let this become arrogance!
So as I said at the beginning of my post, I only really like to post about things that truly resonate or inspire me, and that I want to share! If you are thinking oh no I didn’t answer these questions as Laszlo would have looked for, then it’s ok! That doesn’t mean now that you know this you can’t adapt. Next time someone asks you what you want to eat, just say what you want!
All of this information was sourced from the guardian. The full article link is below To read the full article go to >>> https://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2014/feb/24/work-for-google-five-questions-laszlo-bock
Thanks for reading; I aim to become a lot more active again in the coming weeks!
~Journal of a Trader