Page 36 - The Apple Experience

magnetic personality just as much as proficiency. How to look

for intelligence but give just as much weight to kindness. How
to find people who want a career, not a job. And we’ve learned

that when we hire the right people, we can lead rather than

manage. We can give each person their own piece of the
garden to transform.

On the subject of best customer service—Apple rocks! Polite, efficient, bend over

backward helpful. —Micah J.

It’s Better to Be Nice than Smart

Candidates who have gone through Apple’s rigorous interview process

recommend that it’s important to have a smile on your face and be friendly all

the time. Be nice to everyone: employees, fellow job candidates, as well as the
hiring managers. Everything is graded.

You are probably not surprised to know that restaurants, hotels, and other

companies in the hospitality industry hire for attitude, but you might be

surprised to learn just how much personality matters. A Cornell University

study found that hospitality managers would rather hire employees with an

“agreeable nature” than ones who rank higher on the “intelligent” scale.
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When it comes to customer service, it’s better to be nice than smart.
The best way to build a special workplace is to hire for attitude and train

for skills, according to the Harvard Business Review. The research cited two

companies that have built a unique and highly effective corporate culture by

focusing on the type of people they hire. Arkadi Kuhlmann, founder and

CEO of ING Direct, is quoted in the article. He is credited for inventing a

completely new approach to banking by making it a point not to hire people

in the banking industry. Kuhlmann noted that to truly reenergize an industry