I bought in the big guns for this gentleman here.
You know, the interview is all about
a pitching process,
of course you're not pitching a product,
you're pitching yourself.
We thought it would be logical to bring in
a person who listens to pitches all day long,
please welcome from ABC's hit Shark Tank,
our good friend Daymond John.
(audience applauds)
Hi, Daymond.
Pitching a person is a whole lot
like pitching a product, is it not, in general?
We're pitching every day of our lives.
That's right.
I'm pitching, still.
You're pitching when you're trying
to get into the bathroom before
your husband or wife in the mornings.
(Rachael laughs)
We're always pitching.
So we actually put cameras inside
one of your interviews,
with your permission of course,
and Daymond, you've reviewed this material, correct?
I have.
Listen, we can all do better,
so I'm here to hopefully help you,
I even need to improve my pitching,
but we're gonna look at all three.
Okay, let's roll the first clip.
Today I'm going on another interview,
we'll see how it goes.
What excites you the most about working with Hinge?
What do you think would be,
like, why Hinge?
Why here?
I mean, I would like to say,
hey I wanna work for Apple,
I wanna work for Google,
but those jobs are extremely reserved for
you know, the best in the world,
but in order to kind of get out there
I'm open across the board
to meet new companies, right?
I think at Hinge I would be able to--
(everyone laughs)
Can you repeat the question, sorry?
Okay.
I'm gonna tick a lock.
So I know you're nervous, obviously,
but anybody that is offering you a job,
you should not make them feel like
the second and third tier,
that you would rather be at Google
or someplace else--
Right.
Rather than there.
You also said that those are for very special people,
you're supposed to be special,
that's why they're hiring you.
Got it.
So you should be talking good about yourself
as well as the employer.
Let's check out another one.
So tell me about,
what you think was maybe the low point
of that job or a low point for you?
The low point.
The one thing, the one wall I kept on reaching
at that job was the lack of ability to
get innovative things done.
So every single time I was just like,
okay, you guys should really take this direction
and execute this problem,
there would be a whole bunch of excuses
of why they couldn't.
Why I didn't have this,
we don't have enough of this,
we never have enough of this.
I would always come to the table with those ideas,
pushing the standard of what they could accomplish,
but they couldn't see further from,
oh but this month we didn't have enough in sales
so we can't go to,
you know, we can't do anything.
And it was that wall, these challenges,
that kind of halted me and really
made me reevaluate, how can I really contribute
to this company?
All right.
So you don't want to talk negatively
about anybody you previously were with.
Because the employer there thinks
you're gonna do the same when you're with them.
And also, when they're,
being asked a question, you don't want to ramble as well,
and it's very,
you're scared, right?
So here's what you do.
Take a pause.
Stop, repeat the question and then answer it.
Got it.
Because you don't want,
and you wanna be under two minutes.
In the answers.
So if someone asked you what was the low point,
and sometimes they ask it in a different way,
why did you leave, that kind of thing?
You could have said, you know what?
I just wanted to challenge myself,
it was a great place to be,
but I just figured I would like to challenge myself
a little further.
Use positive words, not walls and negativity.
Use accelerate, challenge, excited.
Got it.
Things of that nature.
All right, Let's go to the next one.
Roll it.
And how much time do you guys spend with each other
as a team outside of actually doing work at Hinge?
Well, I don't get invited to many parties.
(everyone laughs)
For whatever reason.
But I feel like these guys,
I mean, you've lived with two other
Hinge people--
Yeah.
for quite a while.
So that's really cool, but hopefully
none of the people you live with get fired
because that would suck.
Oh, no, no.
(everyone laughs)
All right, so I think I know where you were going
with that, you were trying to find out
how well do people enjoy working there,
that they even go and celebrate afterwards.
But what's most important in companies today is culture.
You should ask what's the culture of the company
and then they'll be able to tell you
what's going on within the company.
Also don't use words like fire and suck.
(everyone laughs)
Always speak in positives,
I'm just trying to put 'em in a nutshell.
Always speak in positives. Always speak in positives.
Right.
Never make them feel like they're your second choice.
They're your top pick,
and you're the one they should want
more than anybody, right?
Ask about culture within the company,
then you'll understand what they stand for.
Right?
And then also answer questions very sharp,
under two minutes, you can always take a beat
and repeat it.
You're supposed to communicate like your face is built.
Listen like you have two ears
and talk like you have one mouth.
Right.
Listen twice as much as you speak.
Got it, got it.
I love that one.
Listen twice, speak once.