Mark Zuckerberg: I Would Only Hire Someone to Work For Me If I Would Work For Them

When it comes to onboarding new employees with whom he’ll work directly, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg bears in mind a single guiding principle that he says has never steered him wrong.

“I will only hire someone to work directly for me if I would work for that person,” Zuckerberg told an audience gathered in Barcelona yesterday for the fourth installment of ‘Q&A with Mark,’ an ongoing series of town hall-style discussions.

While employers generally have more work to do than staffers to get it done, Zuckerberg says business owners should resist the urge to settle for lesser candidates in the name of manpower. “Over the long term,” he said, “you’re only going to be better if you get someone really good.”

Sherly Sandberg is the perfect example of the kind of employee that, in an alternate universe, Zuckerberg says he would be happy to serve. Rather than mentors outside of the company, he said, the most influential figures in his life are the colleagues he sees on a day-to-day basis. “Sheryl would be at the top of that list,” he noted, adding that she is largely responsible for the fact that 2 million businesses advertise on Facebook today.

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