Elon Musk says resumes alone hold little value for him. The Tesla CEO hires instead for exceptional ability — and prioritizes the interview conversation over the resume when it comes to important hiring decisions. 

In a new podcast episode hosted by Stripe co-founder John Collison and tech podcaster Dwarkesh Patel, Musk admitted to falling prey to the “pixie dust” effect — the assumption that someone from a big-name company like Google or Apple would automatically be great at Tesla, SpaceX, xAI or another one of his companies. 

Musk warns that an impressive resume can create this illusion. In his view, if the interview conversation with a candidate isn’t impressive within 20 minutes, you should “believe the conversation, not the paper.” This means title, employers and even a polished career narrative are secondary. Instead, Musk prioritizes how someone communicates in real-time over how they look on their resume. 

“Generally, what I tell people, I tell myself aspirationally, is, don’t look at the resume,” Musk said on the podcast. “Just believe your interaction.”

Musk looks for these standout traits

Musk additionally seeks out “evidence of exceptional ability” or concrete proof that a person has done something unusually difficult or impactful. He asks for one to three bullet points that demonstrate truly standout achievements. The examples can be “off the wall,” or very unusual, strange or unexpected. However, they must show something clearly great, such as building a complex project or solving a difficult technical problem. 

“If somebody can cite even one thing, but let’s say three things, where you go, ‘Wow, wow, wow,’ then that’s a good sign,” he said on the podcast. 

Beyond exceptional ability, Musk hires for traits like “trustworthiness,” “goodness of heart” and “drive.” He said he undervalued goodness of heart at one point, but has learned over time that it is important for new hires to be good people. 

He argues that if these foundational traits are strong, employees can add domain knowledge later.

What impresses Musk in practice

On the podcast, Musk emphasized his interest in what job candidates actually accomplished, how they did it and whether they can replicate that performance. At fast-moving companies like Tesla, Musk faces intense competition for top performers, with rivals like Apple at one point trying to poach his best people. 

So, at the end of the day, Musk looks for one thing — people who “get things done.” He’s willing to compensate well for it, too, with some Tesla jobs paying up to $318,000 per year in the AI chip engineering division. Meanwhile, xAI pays up to $208,000 per year for an AI video game tutor and up to $240,000 a year for recruiters tasked with finding top talent.

“If somebody gets things done, I love them, and if they don’t, I hate them,” Musk said on the podcast. “So it’s pretty straightforward.”

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