Steve Jobs had a “beer test” he used for job interviews

I've had a meal as a first interview for a couple jobs. (OK, I got accidentally stood up at one and the second was an informal chat "interview.")

It probably depends on the industry and company but, in general, alcohol in a lot of professional contexts is probably less, ahem, free-flowing than it once was. Dinner, cocktails, maybe the odd social hour but not in conjunction with an interview otherwise probably.

I’m skeptical of this story as well, or at least skeptical of its applicability, but even if true, this feels like more of that “Steve Jobs did it, and he was successful, so you should do it if you want to be successful like him!” type pablum. Steve Jobs was successful because he had an aesthetic sense for technology that put his peers to shame and was enough of a monomaniacal asshole to be able to deliver the products he wanted. If you are reading this article, you are not Steve Jobs, and would be better served by learning people skills, because you probably don’t have the talent to compensate for being as much of an asshole as Jobs was.

As to the advice itself - “do I want to have a beer with this person” is why our industry looks like a dude rodeo and has led to some of the most incompetent, myopic, nepotistic teams I’ve ever had the misfortune of working with. “Does this person bring skills, talents, and perspectives we currently lack” is a better question. “Does this person look at things in a different way to the rest of the team, so as to help us spot things we otherwise wouldn’t” is a very good one as well. But “would I have a beer with this person” is going to give you people who don’t challenge you and is going to lead you to wonder why your org can’t seem to hire anyone except mid-20s white dudes.

I always thought Jobs was something of a "foody" type. This story rings false.