Not long ago, Geben was just me and two other people working from my dining room. At that point, it was quite easy to be on the same page in terms of company identity. After all, we were literally sitting at the same table! But that sort of unity of vision became harder to hold onto as the company grew. Because company culture has always been critical to me, I needed a way to communicate what I call “The Geben Way” to potential new hires in order to ensure I was bringing on team members who could thrive in our environment.
The Geben Way and our house rules have become critical to our hiring process. When we interview, we focus on a set of core competencies we believe an individual must possess in order to be successful at Geben, such as results-driven, collaborative, initiative, etc.
We also avoid asking hypothetical interview questions, instead focusing on allowing for elaboration on past experience. (“Tell us about a time you were working toward a deadline, and a major obstacle appeared. How did you react, and what was the result?”) Stories of real-world success in unexpected situations indicate we’re hiring someone who can function in a fast-paced, results-oriented, highly collaborative space such as ours.
When we identify a candidate who has demonstrated a previous ability to embrace the crazy, we know we’re hiring someone who, instead of caving under pressure, can and will seize opportunities, show genuine gratitude for these opportunities, and ultimately thrive in our unique and wonderful work world.
Over the next several weeks on the blog, I’ll dive more thoroughly into each one of our house rules to share exactly what defines The Geben Way.