Bupa CEO replaces short interviews with six-hour assessment including lunch test
Bupa CEO Iñaki Ereño says one-hour interviews are insufficient, so he uses three two-hour meetings to evaluate candidates, including a restaurant lunch where he observes how they treat waiters and whether they order wine. He sees ordering wine as a sign of confidence and initiative, which he values in leaders. Ereño says this system has significantly reduced his hiring mistakes.
Bupa's operational scale makes senior hiring errors particularly costly, given its presence across 190 countries and workforce exceeding 100,000 people. Ereño's three-stage evaluation moves from a two-hour résumé examination to a restaurant setting where he observes interpersonal behavior, then concludes with a personal session exploring candidates' motivations and expectations for the company.
Ereño joins a growing list of executives favoring unconventional assessment methods. Twilio's CEO watches for self-centered language during dinner interviews, while Steve Jobs conducted informal walks to gauge compatibility. Steven Bartlett once hired someone with no experience based on how she treated a security guard, suggesting social observation is becoming a broader trend in executive recruitment.
This hiring approach could influence how executives across industries evaluate leadership candidates, potentially shifting focus from technical credentials to behavioral signals. Candidates may feel pressure to perform in social settings, and the wine-ordering criterion could be seen as culturally biased, potentially disadvantaging those from backgrounds where such behavior is uncommon. The method's