What’s even more amazing about Zappos is their culture. It begins and ends with customer service. I mean real service. Sad that a focus on the customer is so unique.
But the real magic of the organization, according to CEO Tony Hsieh (pronounced “shay”) is in the hiring. When interviewing at Zappos you might be asked,
“What’s your theme song?” or “How weird are you?”
By asking these questions, Zappos finds out if you’re flexible, creative, funny and interesting. So would you want to work in a place where these were the interview questions? I would.
I’ve often said I’m a little too weird for the normal people but too normal for the weird people. So add this (maybe) to the list of interview questions to prepare. What’s your favorite interview question?
Photo credit: Miss Communications.com
Diana
November 13, 2011Well, weirdness is relative. Weird is only weird where it does not belong. If normal is where weird belongs, then normal becomes weird. (At least this is how Mike Warnke explained it – but he’s a little weird.)
Deborah
November 13, 2011Hi Diana, I agree. Look at places where daily creativity is a requirement, like Disney. Weird is in the eye of the beholder. The idea here is to make sure that each of us is ready to answer any such question as part of an interview AND understand whether this type of question makes us want to work at this place more or less. It would make me want to work there more… for others, with, perhaps, a low ‘weirdness’ tolerance – it may scare them off. Interesting stuff and thanks for your comment!