Getting a job the apple it’s not easy—but according to CEO Tim Cook, people with four specific traits are much more likely to be found running.
Speaking in 2022 at Federico II University in Naples, Italy — where he received an honors degree in innovation and international management — Cook told students it was important for incoming workers to care about the world around them.
“We have a group of people in the company who really want to change the world, who want to enrich people’s lives, who want to leave the world better than they found it,” he said. “It’s that kind of feeling that drives people to do their best work and I’ve seen it happen time and time again, and the results are incredible.”
He then delved into the specific qualities Apple looks for in new hires, revealing that the tech giant prizes four qualities in particular.
Collaboration
An important skill anyone hoping to work at Apple needed was the ability to collaborate with colleagues, Cook told an audience in Naples at the October 2022 event.
“We believe that strong individual contributions are really key, but two strong people working together can do amazing work, and small teams can do incredible things,” he said.
“So we’re looking for the ability to collaborate with people—the basic feeling that if I share my idea with you, that idea will grow and become bigger and better.”
Reiterating that different perspectives help ideas flourish, Cook noted that collaborative processes were responsible for Apple’s ability to create new products.
“It’s not someone going into a corner or a closet and figuring something out for themselves, it’s a collaborative effort,” he said.
The creativity
Creativity is another trait Apple looks for in prospective employees, Cook added.
“We look for people who think differently, who can look at a problem and not get caught up in the dogma that that problem has always been seen as,” he told the students. “And so (we’re looking for) somebody who’s going to turn the problem around and look at it from different angles and use their creative juices to come up with solutions.”
Curiosity
“It’s a cliché, but there’s no such thing as a dumb question,” Cook said, adding that Apple valued curiosity and sought out people with an inquisitive nature.
“Curiosity is being curious enough about something to ask a lot of questions, whether you think they’re smart questions or dumb questions,” he said. “It’s amazing when someone starts asking questions like a child would, how it puts pressure on the person to think very deeply about the answers. And in this way, we look for that natural curiosity in people.”
Specialization
Finally, Cook stated that Apple wanted people with the right experience to join its workforce.
“If we’re doing something in industrial design, we need someone who knows industrial design and has skills that come from their college days or working days,” he said.
Cook suggested that people with those four traits were successful at Apple, so the company would continue to hire those who could bring those attributes to the table.
“Those are the things we look for in people, and it’s been a really good formula for us,” he said.
However, he noted that doing well at work was a two-way street, and that working at a job that left you unfulfilled was not a recipe for success.
“People need to work for a reason bigger than themselves,” he said. “So you want to have a vision of a company that is to serve the customer and improve their life in some way. You want to do it in an ethical way.’
Without these ingredients, he argued, no amount of money would be worth doing a job.
“There’s no gravitational pull from that; the gravitational pull is always: What are you doing for other people?” he said “And with a goal like that, it’s amazing what people will do from a work point of view.”
A version of this story originally published Fortune.com October 3, 2022.
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