It was way back in 2017 when Elon Musk sat down with Auto Bild and revealed one trait he values the most in a new hire. So, is it the academic credentials that matter the most to the billionaire? It turns out they don’t. Instead, he relies on a single question to cut through the noise.

“I really just ask: ‘What are some of the tougher problems [you’ve] dealt with and how [you] dealt with those?’” Musk explained and added he asks people to walk him through the “story of their career,” focusing specifically on how they handled those high-stakes forks in the road.

So, why obsess over one question?

Musk uses it to quickly gauge a candidate’s character and whether they are blowing smoke.

“What I’m really looking for is evidence of exceptional ability, meaning they’ve faced really difficult problems and overcome them,” he said.

He’s looking for the real “architects” of a project. “You want to make sure that if there was a significant achievement, they were the ones behind it—not someone else.”

Musk added that once you have been in the trench, you would never forget it. “You can ask them very detailed questions about it, and they’ll know the answer. But someone who wasn’t truly responsible won’t know the details,” he noted.

Indeed even includes Musk’s go-to question as one of the “eight common problem-solving questions” you will most certainly face in an interview. When seeking someone who is quick on their feet, you will most likely be asked: “Describe a time when you faced an unexpected challenge in your job.”

The gold standard for answering this is the STAR technique:

• Situation – Set the scene.
• Task – Define your role.
• Action – Show your work.
• Result – Prove the impact.

Picking a meaty, honest example is usually the deciding factor.

For Musk, his life’s story is about the impossible becoming reality, from the Hyperloop to Mars colonies. For him to construct this world, he needs innovators, not simply individuals who can take exams. This is reflected in his interviewing process.

The Tesla CEO (and owner of X) told UNILAD: “I really just ask: ‘What are some of the tougher problems [you’ve] dealt with, and how [did you] deal with those? And how they made decisions at key transition points.” He claims this simple prompt is his ultimate litmus test for trust and spotting a liar.

Musk added, “What I’m really looking for is evidence of exceptional ability so that they’ve faced really difficult problems and overcome them. And of course, you want to make sure that if there was some significant accomplishment, were they really responsible, or was somebody else more responsible.”

His logic is simple: if you’ve lived through a problem, the scars and the strategies stay with you. “So you can ask them very detailed questions about it and they’ll know the answer, whereas the person who was not truly responsible for that accomplishment will not know the details.”

Science actually backs him up. A study in the Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition looked into “Asymmetric Information Management” (AIM), a method designed to catch deception by pushing for verifiable details.

As researcher Cody Porter put it, “Small details are the lifeblood of forensic investigations and can provide investigators with facts to check and witnesses to question.”

From the data obtained from the experiment, honest individuals tend to add more and more specifics to their stories, whereas liars keep things vague. This difference is precisely what one would expect when trying to look beneath the polished surface.

If you want to land yourself a desk at Tesla or SpaceX, then here’s the gist of it: skip the fluff, get specific, and be ready to back up your story.

Please SHARE this article with your family and friends on Facebook.