GO Hire – Innovating VMware’s Hiring Practices

Have you ever felt like the world’s hiring and interview practices are stuck in the past? Boring job descriptions with a long list of “ideal characteristics” you need to have to apply. Or job interviews that feel more like a standardized test rather than an opportunity to show why you could be great for the job?  

Yeah, we’ve felt that too. This is why we went on a two-year journey to research and design an innovative approach for how we, here at VMware, attract and interview talent in a way that is radically different from the traditional hiring practices most companies use. This month, our Global Talent Acquisition teams formally adopted an outcome-based model for all our job descriptions and interview practices called GO Hire. GO is an acronym for Guided by Outcomes. Intrigued? Keep reading to learn more.

Job Descriptions:

In this new process, we write job descriptions and assess applicants using performance outcomes rather than ‘must have’ requirements. Attracting and assessing talent using performance outcomes or goals v’s ideal characteristics of the perfect candidate opens the door to new and creative ways of accomplishing the work. As the saying goes, “there is more than one way to accomplish the same goal” and we want to allow for as much creativity, originality, and diversity in how we meet our business goals as possible.  

If you are applying for an opportunity at VMware, you will notice that our job descriptions will look different. In addition to using a question-and-answer format, they will also not include a long list of must-have or preferred requirements. We like it that way because we want to hire someone who can bring original ideas and diverse perspectives, not hire repeat replicas of the “ideal candidate”. This means our interview model can’t be focused on seeing if you check the box on a list of qualifications. Rather, it allows you to showcase the best way to solve hypothetical problems our customers might face or how to design innovative software. Rather than a list of arbitrary “must-haves”, we share the performance outcomes (i.e. what needs to be accomplished by whoever comes into the role) as we recognize there isn’t just one way to get the work done.

Interview Process:

Throughout the interview process, we ask candidates to help us understand how they would best accomplish the work outlined in the job description using their diverse set of skills, ideas, strengths, and motivations. Our hiring teams will then gather data points during the interviews/work simulations about each candidate’s past accomplishments and problem-solving abilities to determine who is most likely to meet or exceed the performance expectations for the role. We have three types of interviews and were you to progress through our interview and selection process you may encounter all three types. 

Interview types:

• Discovery Interview 
•  EPIC₂ Strengths Interview 
•  Work Sample Simulation  

The Discovery Interview: 

This interview will be focused on a candidate’s most significant career achievements and ability to problem solve. We will use this interview to help uncover the unique skills and experience that a person will bring to the role, and to share the opportunities it might afford them to meet their career aspirations. 

The EPIC₂ Strengths Interview:

EPIC₂ is an acronym for our company’s core values Execution, Passion, Integrity, Customers, Community. The strengths-based question will align to these values to provide a framework for learning about how a candidate’s natural behaviors show up in common work scenarios such as executing on projects or working with customers.    

Workplace Simulation Sample (WSS):

The Work Sample Simulation (WSS) is an ‘at-home project’ where candidates are given a prompt to solve or prepare for in advance of a follow-up interview to present or discuss their work. The WSS is designed to allow candidates to demonstrate their work and thinking as it relates to the specific role they are interviewing for. Each WSS is prepared by the Hiring Manager. The recruiter will then share the prompt, instructions, and format for the assignment with the candidate.