The Licorice Test and Other Unconventional Tips for Hiring These approaches will help you build a scrappy team who will argue, push and demand more of those around them.

By Mikkel Svane

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

I love salty Danish licorice. I grew up with the popular, tongue-numbing Nordic treat, and I continued to enjoy it when two friends and I started Zendesk from Copenhagen. Little did I know this acquired taste would serve a special role in our critical early hiring after we moved the company to San Francisco in 2009.

In our process of recruiting for an important position soon after our move, I offered one of the candies to each candidate when we met. One candidate took the tiniest bite of this already tiny hard piece of licorice and then said, "Oh, that's delicate," and saved the rest for later. She tried to be very polite, but it was obvious she thought it was the worst thing she had ever tasted.

We couldn't hire someone like that. People need to be honest. I needed her to say, "Good Lord, that is terrible!" Or something that would have revealed what she was really thinking. We needed people who possess a combination of being real without being mean and offending people. We needed people who were authentic.

When building a company from the ground up, hiring is one of the most critical and daunting decisions entrepreneurs face. The earliest employees work together almost like family and they lay the foundation of a new company's culture. Founders need to figure out their own "licorice test" to find candidates that match their values.

At Zendesk, my co-founders and I followed some uncommon approaches to finding candidates with the right traits. Salty licorice may be the most unusual, but we had quickly learned the importance of hiring for attitude and characteristics rather than only skill. We followed an unofficial and unconventional checklist that hopefully other entrepreneurs can adapt to their startups:

Hire athletes

We learned not to hire people who were too fixed on a specific role, because it changes so fast. We look for people who are multitalented athletes, who enjoy doing many disparate things and have the stamina to stick with it.

Look for travelers

We asked people, "Have you traveled?" We love people who have explored, have moved around, love adventure and are good at figuring stuff out. That shows curiosity and open-mindedness. And that was what we needed.

Bring on people who aren't offended by swearing

There's a lot of swearing when building a company -- and there's a lot worse that happens too. People who get ruffled by bad language will probably have trouble rolling with all of the other less than perfectly pristine moments.

Focus on attitude

Having people be humble -- never arrogant -- sets the standard for employees. You have to hire for attitude. All the other stuff people can learn. Attitude is something you can't learn.

Today, "hire for attitude, train the skills" has become a more popular Silicon Valley practice, and from our early year until today this mantra has been a key factor in helping build our team. It attracted people who could interact in a semi-crazy environment and have fun, and led to new hires who didn't come with lots of demands but shared our mentality that it was going to be a lot of hard work to make our business a success.

Hire for differences, not similarities

Try to have many cultures and backgrounds as possible, otherwise your company may become a posse of young white men in jeans and hoodies. But having diverse backgrounds creates a much better culture. There is a tendency to think that everyone needs some common ground but that's a myth. A diverse workforce enables the company to make sure no predominant group sets the tone; instead, the company finds its own common tone.

Any company, large or small, can benefit from pursuing potential candidates who possess the traits above. Focus on building a scrappy team who will argue, push and demand more of those around them. To build such a team might require an unconventional checklist of traits, but the end result will be worth it.

Mikkel Svane

Founder and CEO of Zendesk

Mikkel Svane is the CEO, chairman and founder of Zendesk, a global company with over 125,000 paid customers that builds software for the best customer experiences.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Celebrity Entrepreneurs

From Hollywood to Harvest — How Zooey Deschanel is on a Mission to Make Fresh Produce More Accessible

Along with her business partner and ex-husband, serial entrepreneur Jacob Pechenik, Deschanel founded Lettuce Grow. This hydroponic vertical garden system allows you to grow fruits, vegetables, herbs and edible flowers at home.

Business News

Your Old Apple AirPods Can Soon Act as an Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid, According to the FDA

The new software is compatible with the Apple AirPods Pro and accessible through iOS — for free and now FDA-authorized.

Business News

Elon Musk's xAI Claims Its New Grok 3 AI Is Better Than ChatGPT and DeepSeek: 'Seeing the Beginnings of Creativity'

xAI debuted the new AI on Monday, claiming it has 10 times the computational power of Grok 2.

Business Ideas

70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2025.

Business News

'Unprecedented in Our 53-Year History': Southwest Airlines Announces Its First Mass Layoffs Ever

The airline is eliminating 15% of its corporate workforce, including many in senior leadership positions.

Side Hustle

This 30-Year-Old's $6,000-a-Month Side Hustle Started Making Money 'Immediately' — But He's Not Quitting His Day Job

Derrick Mathy works in orthopedic surgical device sales and is on a mission to bring people together in real life.