\n<\/p>\n
At United Airlines, qualifications matter \u2014 but so does cultural fit. CEO Scott Kirby uses an unconventional hiring process to gauge candidates\u2019 interpersonal skills, not just their r\u00e9sum\u00e9s.<\/p>\n
In a new podcast interview<\/a> with McKinsey chief Bob Sternfels, released earlier this month, Kirby elaborated on his new way to determine if job candidates are a good fit for the airline.<\/p>\n First, he asked the head of flight operations to pick out a dozen \u201cwell-liked\u201d pilots. Then, when candidates visit for interviews, the pilots accompany them throughout the day \u2014 giving a tour of the facility, joining them for lunch and guiding them to their scheduled meetings. The idea is to recreate what it actually feels like to spend multiple days on traveling together and see who naturally meshes with the team.<\/p>\n \u201cI told this group of pilots, \u2018Your job is just to assess: Is this interviewee someone I would like to take a four-day trip with? And if you say no, then they\u2019re out. You get a veto vote,’\u201d Kirby said. \u201cThe idea is to pick people who care about others, who you want to hang out with, who you want to be with.\u201d<\/p>\n United\u2019s enormous hiring funnel is part of what makes this approach possible. Kirby said that United receives 75,000 applications in a matter of hours for a job, and the airline ends up hiring around 3,000 candidates \u2014\u00a0a 4% acceptance rate. At that volume, the company can afford to be highly selective, using subjective filters like \u201cwould I want to fly with this person for four days?\u201d without worrying about running out of qualified candidates.<\/p>\n \u201cSo for us, the question is: How do you find people who have the right mentality and customer service attitude?\u201d Kirby said. \u201cWe can train them to do the jobs, but how do you build a process to pick the right people and keep them excited?\u201d<\/p>\n A United spokesperson told Business Insider<\/a> that the pilot\u2011veto tactic is just one piece of a much broader recruitment system that still adheres to \u201cstringent criteria\u201d set by the company and regulators. The popularity test doesn\u2019t replace safety, proficiency, or regulatory requirements, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n As of December 2025, United reported about 113,200 employees<\/a> in its financial statements, after several years of growing its workforce.\u00a0<\/p>\n Former Charles Schwab CEO Walt Bettinger, who retired<\/a> in 2024, told The New York Times<\/a> in 2018 that he would arrange for a breakfast meeting with a job candidate, then secretively tell the staff to mess up their order.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI do that because I want to see how the person responds,\u201d Bettinger told the Times. \u201cThat will help me understand how they deal with adversity. Are they upset, are they frustrated or are they understanding? Life is like that, and business is like that. It\u2019s just another way to get a look inside their heart rather than their head.\u201d<\/p>\n More recently, Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn told The Burnouts podcast<\/a> in February that he pays taxi drivers extra to give their honest assessment of a candidate before they even step into the interview room. How a candidate treats the driver can make or break an offer.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOur belief is if they\u2019re going to be mean to the driver, they\u2019re probably going to be mean to other people, particularly people under them,\u201d von Ahn said on the podcast.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n At United Airlines, qualifications matter \u2014 but so does cultural fit. CEO Scott Kirby uses an unconventional hiring process to gauge candidates\u2019 interpersonal skills, not just their r\u00e9sum\u00e9s.<\/p>\nUnited is highly selective<\/h2>\n
Other CEOs with unique hiring tests<\/h2>\n
Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n
\n