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- Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, has said that he asks himself the same question every time he's considering a new hire.
- That question is: Would I work for this person?
- Facebook executives have also said they want candidates who put the company's needs above their own.
Facebook cofounder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg built his company from scratch. Today, the company boasts a market cap of $481 billion and roughly 1.52 billion daily users.
One of the most important ways to create a successful organization is to hire the right people (Facebook currently employs nearly 36,000). Zuckerberg has spoken publicly about how he does just that. At the Mobile World Congress tech conference held in Barcelona in 2015, he shared what he looks for in an employee:
"I will only hire someone to work directly for me if I would work for that person," Zuckerberg said. "It's a pretty good test, and I think this rule has served me well."
Read more: 14 of the most important early Facebook employees — and where they are now
Other Facebook executives have since offered additional glimpses into Facebook's hiring strategy. Jay Parikh, vice president of engineering, said in a Harvard Business Review article that Facebook measures teamwork abilities in job candidates. So hiring managers ask, "Can you tell me about four people whose careers you have fundamentally improved?"
Parikh said this question is designed to weed out "empire builders, self-servers, and whiners." Parikh added that "successful candidates should clearly demonstrate that their priorities are company, team, and self — in that order."
At the 2015 conference, Zuckerberg provided some other tips on building a successful company.
"The most important thing is to keep your team as small as possible," he told the audience, according to CNN. And "the most important thing is to just have faith in yourself and trust yourself."
Zuckerberg went on: "When you're young you hear that you don't have the experience to do things, that there are people with more experience than you. I started Facebook when I was 19."
NOW WATCH: Zuckerberg: Why I Stayed Facebook CEO Even Though Many Thought I Should Quit
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