Jobs and the Future of Work

Why this CEO doesn't care about your CV

British Prime Minister Tony Blair (L) shakes hands with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder at the Gleneagles Hotel for the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland July 7, 2005. Aid, debt relief and climate change will top the agenda when leaders of the G8 - the Group of Seven industrialised nations plus Russia - meet for three days in Gleneagles. UNICS REUTERS/Jim Young  CRB - RTRGQCN

Ishbia says that his company has a rather unusual way of vetting attitude and work ethic. Image: REUTERS/Jim Young CRB - RTRGQCN

Aine Cain
Careers Intern, Business Insider

For United Shore CEO Mat Ishbia, it's not about what you know.

Ishbia says that specific skills, such as salesmanship, graphic design, or programming, can be taught. Those don't guarantee whether or not a candidate will succeed at the Troy, Michigan-based financial services business.

"I don't care about your résumé," Ishbia says. "I don't care about what school you went to. I don't care about what you did at your last company."

So, what does matter to Ishbia? Two things: work ethic and attitude.

"It doesn't matter if you went to Harvard or you went to a community college or you didn't go to college," he told Business Insider. "What I care about is your work ethic and attitude. That's what's going to dictate your success at our company and your success in life, in our opinion."

Ishbia says that his company has a rather unusual way of vetting attitude and work ethic.

United Shore has its own on-site, mortgage-themed escape room (a game that requires participants to gather hidden clues and solve puzzles and brainteasers in order to "escape" a locked room). Prospective employees interviewing for some positions — he doesn't like to say which — must "escape" the room before they receive a job offer.

This particular escape room's not all fun and games, according to Ishbia. Hidden among eight or so candidates is a "mole" — a United Shore recruiter.

He says that a person's work style and personality will usually shine through as they work piecing together the puzzles and clues. The whole exercise is meant to give recruiters a sense of what candidates will truly fit in with the company's culture, which prizes drive and teamwork.

"Some people take the bull by the horns and actually do things, some collaborate well and work well together, and others kind of just do their own thing and aren't team players," Ishbia says."That recruiter is really able to measure leadership."

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