Amazon has changed the life and consumption pattern of the planet and this, more than because of the business itself, has been because of its ideology. Nicholas Lovejoy, the fifth person to be hired by Amazon in 1995, said that for a long time, Jeff Bezos personally conducted interviews with applicants to join the firm. “One of his mottos was that every time we hired someone, he or she should raise the bar for the next hire,” he recounted in a 1999 interview with Wired.
Bezos stepped down as Amazon CEO in July 2021, after 27 years in office, with an estimated personal worth of $151.9 billion, according to Forbes magazine. The businessman, by ceasing to participate in the interviews, left very clear guidelines to ensure that he maintains high standards when hiring personnel, sharing the three questions that helped him choose the right people for his company.
1- Would you admire this person?
“If you think of the people you have admired throughout your life, they are probably those from whom you have learned something or who you have taken as an example. For myself, I have always tried very hard to only work with people I admired, and I encourage those who work here to be just as demanding of their peers. Life is too short to do it any other way,” Bezos wrote to his shareholders.
2- Will this person raise the average level of effectiveness of the group he enters?
One of Jeff Bezos's concerns at the time was Amazon's growth and scalability. "The bar has to go up”, he said. “At that point, any of us should be able to look and say, 'The bar has gone up a lot, I'm so glad I came in here at the time”. The company's philosophy is that hiring an employee is seen in the long term: “This is a core value that has been at Amazon since its inception”.
3- In what dimension could this person be a superstar?
In a 2018 interview, Jeff Bezos gave a curious example of an employee who was a champion in a national spelling bee: “There is a person here who is a national spelling champion. I suspect that doesn't help her much in her day-to-day activities, but it does make everyone's job more fun since you can occasionally throw her a quick challenge: 'Spell onomatopoeia! You want people like that because they promote innovative thinking,” he said.
Definitely, Amazon seeks to incorporate profiles into its workforce with skills that allow it to achieve different objectives, but that can always evolve and give much more, not only in its field but also in other areas. The success of the company is seen in results, almost 30 years after its launch, it has managed to penetrate almost all markets in the world, and increase its staff with highly trained people and with the concern of perpetual learning, managing to evolve their positions and Professions.
This company, which began selling books in the United States in 1995 with 11 employees, currently has a global workforce of 1.52 million people.
One of Bezos's lessons is that people shouldn't be afraid to dream big — and aim for the moon! Having a project and working on it is the basis of happiness and motivation. Seek to work on your skills and get that project that you would like to work on that will help you change the world.