CEO Admits To Using A Sneaky Tactic To Find Out What Job Applicants Were Really Like Before The Interview
Jacob Lund | ShutterstockIn an interview, a CEO unknowingly highlighted the importance of putting your best self forward when you're looking for a job, even before showing up for the interview.
The job hunt is a notably challenging experience. From making sure your resume is pitch-perfect to preparing for an in-person interview, ensuring you have everything in order can be stressful. The truth is, you never know who’s involved in the hiring process, and those making the decisions will be sneaky in finding out your true nature.
A CEO said he uses a car service to find out what job applicants are really like.
Tooey Courtemanche is the CEO of Procure, a company that provides construction management software. He founded the company in 2002 and grew it to $515 million in revenue in 2021.
Courtemanche recently had a conversation with Logan Bartlett on his podcast, covering stories from the perspective of tech insiders. He admitted to using one particular tactic to learn about the true personalities of candidates applying to his company.
“When we had a candidate come into LAX to come up to Santa Barbara to interview for a job, the car service that would pick them up is actually a friend of mine,” Courtemanche revealed. “So he would drive them up, and he would overhear their conversations, and he would tell me how they treated him as the driver.”
“And so, long before that candidate actually got here, I knew all about what they were really like and if they were really living our values or if they weren’t,” he concluded. “We tried every tactic in the book to make sure we didn’t get it wrong.”
The CEO’s technique received some criticism from people who believed it to be vaguely unethical.
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You can tell a lot about someone by how they treat people in service positions, and Courtemanche uses that element of human behavior to his advantage. “Social hierarchy has a big role in whether individuals are rude to others,” Dr. Daniel Redhead, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, told The Guardian.
He went on to say, “These asymmetries in power can lead certain people to act more dominantly – behaving more rudely or selfishly, and being manipulative – because they believe that this clear hierarchical structure legitimizes such behavior and do not believe that they will face any repercussions for their actions.”
So, why wouldn't Courtemanche or any other hiring manager want to use a tactic that tests a candidate's core moral character? Some commented that the sneaky tactic showed a lack of ethical boundaries. As one person said, “Makes you wonder how else he is ‘watching’ his employees.”
Yet others noted the importance of being kind to those around you, especially during a job search. “I’ve told college kids about to start the job hunt [to] be very, very nice to the administrators [and] receptionists,” one person shared. “They have way more influence than you think.”
Another person vouched for the CEO and his tactic, saying, “I work for this company. He is incredible and cares about culture and getting it right. This isn’t sneaky, it’s getting a glimpse into someone’s character and values.”
The CEO’s emphasis on values is unique because most corporate environments tend to focus on output and economics rather than people.
The employees are the heartbeat of any company. That means their values bleed into their work and decisions. It's not just about ensuring a safe and happy workplace, either. It's about setting a standard for how businesses should practice.
It’s important for both employees and employers to maintain an empathetic workplace culture.
Courtemanche clearly cares about kindness just as much as he cares about running a profitable business. By hiring employees whose default is to be kind to those around them, it would appear that Courtemanche prioritizes people in the workplace.
Alexandra Blogier, MFA, is a writer who covers psychology, social issues, relationships, self-help topics, and human interest stories.
