Would Mark Zuckerberg Apply For A Job Online?

I think we all know the answer to that question. Can any of the top global companies state without any doubt that their formal recruitment processes would have selected Mark Zuckerberg back in 2004 before he launched Facebook?

For someone so talented, it is a shame that the average large company would have probably screened him out with their automated selection tools and standard recruitment methods. It could be the résume that doesn't contain enough buzz words or the interview that goes wrong or the less-than-ideal test results of the aptitude test. There are as many ways for companies to prevent talent from entering their organizations as there are to select talent. Oftentimes this is a blessing in disguise because most large companies destroy an individual's creativity and innovation. Of course, they don't intend to do this but one has to realize that a company hires people for specific tasks and duties in order to produce consistent and reliable results. More often than not, companies want to hire more "doers" than "thinkers".

Do you think any company that would have hired Mark Zuckerberg 7 years ago would have allowed him to be as creative and innovative as he is? Probably not. Most large companies are still stuck in the old "seniority rules" model. Meaning that young employees will rarely have a major voice within the company - let alone the confidence of the senior leaders who make the business decisions. They will expect new employees to "pay their dues" and then after 5-10 years (assuming the new employees have played the corporate game successfully) they might be in a position to show some creativity and innovation. The only problem is that after playing the corporate game for so many years, employees tend to become good at doing the wrong thing righter. Those once creative employees are usually transformed into the average employees who seek to continue their mobility within the company by following the rules of the existing game versus breaking the rules altogether.

Let's all be thankful that Mark Zuckerberg decided to break the rules and become an Entrepreneur - not an Employee!