Courtesy of Dani Reiss
"We really need people that have that entrepreneurial spirit," says Dani Reiss, pictured.
- Canada Goose CEO Dani Reiss looks for job candidates who are adaptable, and who thrive in an environment of constant change.
- In a job interview, he'll warn candidates that Canada Goose is a "crazy place to work."
- He wants candidates who will be able to forge their own career path and who are excited by constant change.
- Other executives and hiring managers agree on the importance of adaptability.
When Dani Reiss interviews people, he warns them: "This place is a crazy place to work."
Their reaction has a big influence on whether they'll get hired.
Reiss is the CEO of luxury outerwear maker Canada Goose, and he told Business Insider that he's always on the lookout for candidates' adaptability.
Reiss tells job candidates explicitly, "Your job is going to be different in 12 months. I can't tell you today what that job will be, but I can tell you that it's not going to be the same as it is today."
He added, "We really need people that have that entrepreneurial spirit and a relentless energy to them, and passion."
Canada Goose started out as a small family-owned business (Reiss' grandfather founded the organization) and went public last year. Today, it's a $2.7 billion company. So it's especially important for job candidates to be prepared for rapid growth and change.
Yet Reiss isn't the only executive to prize flexibility in employees. Jennifer Shappley, senior director of talent acquisition at LinkedIn, writes that 69% of hiring managers agree that adaptability is the most important soft skill in job candidates.
Meanwhile, Jennifer Dulski, head of groups and community at Facebook, wrote in a 2013 LinkedIn blog post that "people who are comfortable with change in general tend to be more successful."
Dulski advises managers to ask questions such as, "Can you tell me about a time when your company or team went through a major change and how you handled that?" to evaluate a candidate's ability to manage change.
Reiss said it's not necessarily a bad thing that some people thrive amid constant change while others don't. But at Canada Goose, "we try and look for people who are over-committed, and who are excited by a wild ride and journey," he said. "At a place like Canada Goose, you have to make your own career path."