The multibillionaire, whose financial data company employees some 19,000 people in nearly 200 countries around the world, described his ideal employee to a group of small-business entrepreneurs at the 20th graduation of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program.
"I've alway said I would like to hire a person whose father was never there, whose mother was in a drug treatment program, and he had to go and work 3 shifts [a week] at McDonalds to take care of his siblings," Bloomberg said.
"That's the kind of person we want - somebody that, no matter how bad things are, looks on the bright side, takes the bull by the horns, puts in the sweat capital, and that's where the results are."
He also encouraged the graduating entrepreneurs not to hire friends or family unless absolutely necessary.
"We have a no nepotism policy at my company because you can't treat those people fairly," he said.
As for his advice to those on the job hunt, Bloomberg kept it simple.
"You have to network," he said.