Elon Musk Hiring Method : Decoding the Genius Behind His Talent Acquisition Strategy

Who is Elon Musk?

Elon musk is currently one of the wealthiest businessmen and investors. He is the founder of SpaceX and the CEO of Tesla, Inc. He has also held top positions in several other companies. In October 2022, he bought the popular social media platform Twitter for about $44 billion. More than 125000 employees currently working in all of Elon Musk's companies. The recruitment process of these companies is very different in nature. After going through several steps, Elon himself interview the final selected candidates. But there is no advertisement or circular given for any kind of recruitment. So how does Elon hire people in his companies? What kind of qualities must require for a candidate if he wants to work with Elon?

Hiring Strategies

While hiring candidates, any organization gives high priority to skill, talent, and experience. But Elon Musk takes a different strategy to hire candidates for his company. During the interview, Elon does not focus on whether the candidate is answering the questions correctly or solving the problem. He observes how the candidate faces his questions and how he or she solves the problem. Elon hires people who possess A-type personalities. Certain characteristics and abilities distinguish these people, which are-

• Competitive 
• Accept challenges
• Leadership skills
• Dominant
• Strong willingness
• Focused
• Independent
• Impatient
• Risk takers
• Passionate
• Aggressiveness
• Stressed
• Determined

Only the People who are worth these qualities and also possess the tenacity to win, aggressive attitude to succeed, and hostile attitude toward competitors get the opportunity to work in Elon's company.

Interview Process

The hiring process is undoubtedly exhausting and there is no circular or advertisement. The special recruitment and talent hunt team selects good, brilliant, and talented people from various occasions like robot exhibitions, events, seminars, car shows, race competitions, etc. The team keeps an eye on people who like to discover things from childhood, who have multiple skills with vast talents, and who specialize in a particular subject by reading numerous academic journals. Basically, picking the best from the best is the main key task for this talent-hunting team of Elon Musk. An invitation letter is sent to those candidates who have been shortlisted. 

This first interview will not be held in the office but in a restaurant. The interview starts very generally. Gradually the interview gets tougher and a problem is given to solve. Those who can solve that problem go through to the next phase. In this phase, they are asked to write a brief article on why they want to work for the company. Elon Musk reads the article himself and selects articles of those candidates who are appreciable. The final interview with Elon himself completes within 15 minutes. At first, Elon looks a bit ambivalent toward the candidate. In two minutes he looks into the candidate's eyes and asks strange tactical questions. But whatever the answer, his eyes are on the candidate looking for how the candidate facing the challenges, and how the candidate is trying to solve the problem. Mostly Elon looks at the effort. So if you are an A-type person it's possible you can also work in Elon Musk establishments.