CEO Asks Every Job Candidate If They Have An IPhone Or Android
CEO Asks Every Job Candidate If They Have An IPhone Or Android
https://www.yourtango.com/career/ceo-asks-every-job-candidate-have-iphone-android
Publish Date: 2026-04-21 11:25:00
Source Domain: www.yourtango.com
We’ve all heard about some pretty wild questions and sneaky tests that bosses use in their job interviews, but the question that Indeed CEO Chris Hyams asks might take the cake for being the most puzzling. He always asks candidates what kind of phone they have, even though he says there’s no right answer.
The job market has grown increasingly competitive in recent years, so it makes sense that hiring managers would be looking for more ways to differentiate between candidates.
The CEO asks every job candidate whether they have an iPhone or an Android phone.
In an interview with Fortune, Hyams clarified that he is not one of those people who judge people based on the kind of phone they have. Instead, he’s used the question in more than 3,000 interviews over 15 years to get a sense for how people think.
“I’m mostly curious about how people make decisions,” he said. “And it’s actually a long 15-minute series of back-and-forth on this, where I get to learn a little bit about the human being, and about how they make decisions.”
Tima Miroshnichenko | Pexels
Hyams’ goal with the question is to learn more about the person sitting across from him instead of determining what software they’re more familiar with. He explained that asking about owning an iPhone or Android sometimes prompts people to open up more about their interests.
“You can actually have a really interesting set of conversations around how important it is when you choose a product, that you can get stuck with that thing for a very, very long time,” he added. “I ask people what apps they use, and that’s a way to learn a little bit about them.”
Research shows there are some differences between iPhone and Android users.
In a 2016 study published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, researchers noted that the two systems are “very similar in functionality,” but the…
