You may have heard about the coffee cup test for job candidates.
Former Xero MD Trent Innes once shared that during interviews, he’d pay attention to what candidates did with their coffee cup. Did they return it to the kitchen or leave it behind for someone else to deal with?
But that’s nothing compared to what Ron Kaplan, former CEO of Trex, did.
He had candidates drive his car.
Why?
In an interview with The New York Times, Kaplan said it helped him observe two things: how they reacted to driving in a strange city, and how well they could multitask.
“If, after 90 minutes with them, they're not well-defined, and I can't see the edges, I get uncomfortable,” Kaplan said.
“To be a good leader, you've got to be predictable. And to be predictable, you've got to know the person to a reasonable extent.”
In other words, he was looking for character.
Kaplan understood that job interviews tend to showcase an artificially polished version of a person. In behavioural science terms, candidates are operating from System Two – the reflective, deliberate, self-editing part of the brain.
But put them behind the wheel in an unfamiliar city? Vigilance slips. Their System One, the instinctive, habitual self, answers the questions because their System Two is busy driving the car.
Both leaders were trying to get beyond the polished façade. They knew standard interviews often fail to show how someone really behaves under pressure.
Because it’s what people do when no one’s watching, or when they think it doesn't “count” that we should be recruiting for. That's who you really end up working with.
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