How Steve Jobs hired top talent for Apple

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs had the reputation of being a tough taskmaster in pursuit of excellence. It is no surprise that impressing him was difficult.

He understood how important it was to have a sharp eye to spot talent. Because, it is the people who make or break an organisation.

In a famous interview alongside Bill Gates, he said being passionate about your work and choosing the right people for your organisation were the essentials of success.

So how did Jobs hire people himself?

In an interview with Forbes magazine, he had said: "When I hire somebody really senior, competence is the ante. They have to be really smart."

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But there is something else that jobs looked for in candidates to fill top positions: Will they love Apple and do what's best for it?

"if they fall in love with Apple, everything else will take care of itself," he told the magazine. "They'll want to do what's best for Apple, not what's best for them, what's best for Steve, or anybody else."

He said in the end, hiring decisions were made based on gut feeling because you cannot know a candidate enough through a one-hour interview.

"How do I feel about this person? What are they like when they're challenged?" Jobs said.

His view echoed his 2005 interview alongside Gates where he said one has to often make hiring decisions without knowing people too well.

Jobs told Forbes there was one question he asked everyone. "Why are you here?'

"The answers themselves are not what you're looking for. It's the meta-data," Jobs continued.

Jobs told the magazine he had hired over 5,000 people during his career, acknowledging how difficult the process was.

"It's just finding the needles in the haystack," he said.