Breaking into the notoriously competitive world of luxury and fashion has always been somewhat of a mystery. But if you don’t have a big ego or short-term motives, you’re already one step ahead—that’s at least according to Chanel’s chief people officer.
The 115-year-old luxury fashion house may be synonymous with heritage and exclusivity. But in her first-ever sit-down interview, Chanel’s CPO and COO Claire Isnard says the brand is far less interested in where candidates come from than who they are.
“When we look for talent, the first thing that we look for is personalities. You know, values,” Isnard exclusively tells Fortune.
“The first thing that we look for is personality and the fit for the culture. Are they going to be a good fit with our high standards of excellence, integrity, collaboration, and long-term?”
“If people have big egos and want to work solo or are mercenaries doing things only for the short-term, they’re not going to fit,” Isnard says.
The second thing she’s looking out for is a learning mindset. Skills, she says, come last. “But the other two are absolutely necessary.”
And unlike many of its competitors, Isnard stresses that Chanel doesn’t handpick talent from “one or two” elite schools. Instead, the company intentionally recruits from a broad range of backgrounds to ensure a diverse mix of perspectives and personalities at HQ.
How Chanel tests for personality
Isnard doesn’t rely on sneaky coffee cup tests or trick questions to assess character. Instead, she listens closely to how candidates tell their own story.
“I always ask, what is your story? What has shaped you, what has helped you to become the person that you are today?” she says.
From there, she’s looking for authenticity—especially around how you’ve dealt with any setbacks.
“You hear so much. You can already see if the person has learned from the failure, if people are vulnerable enough to tell you that they had a difficult moment or not.”
And if they give surface-level responses, she’s not afraid to probe deeper: “You can ask them also to describe who they are, what people think of them, and how the feedback they have received has been.”
Isnard says the way candidates tell their story reveals a lot about them: whether they can admit their faults, handle life’s inevitable ups and downs, and bounce back after.
Everybody wants to work at Chanel—Isnard’s words. So another big telltale sign that they’re a good egg (and not just wanting to add the glossy brand name to their LinkedIn profile) is whether they ask any questions. She says that’s a sure-tale sign that the candidate is actually interested in the job at hand, beyond the brand.
“There is almost an emotional attachment to this brand. That’s why you need to go deeper.”
The CEOs of Duolingo and Eventbrite are fans of personality tests too
Job-seekers already have to jump through flaming hoops to land a gig, navigating dinner tests and a mountain of ‘ghost’ postings. Now they’re increasingly being handed personality tests.
As performance personality testing company Hogan Assessments told Fortune, personality tests aren’t new, but they’re currently trending as bosses double down on quality over quantity when it comes to talent. And it could actually be a good thing for young workers.
The CEO of Sweet Loren’s gives every new hire a personality test—and they don’t get the job if they’re too corporate, giving a perhaps unintended boost to Gen Z, who happen to be more entrepreneurial than previous generations. Meanwhile, Eventbrite’s CEO, Julia Hartz, told Fortune she is analyzing workers’ personalities to help reduce bias.
The shift comes as millions of Gen Zers find themselves unemployed. With more than 1.2 million applications submitted for fewer than 17,000 open graduate roles in the U.K. alone last year, personality tests could level the playing field in assessing workers, rather than it being about who went to the most prestigious school or has the snazziest experience under their belt.
And some firms really are just hiring for vibes: “We’re looking for people who have fun working,” Luis von Ahn, CEO of Duolingo, said of the company’s hiring plans.
That’ll be music to Gen Z’s ears, many of whom are set on being the company’s “chief vibes officer” and bringing the joy back into the office amid gloomy RTO mandates, constant layoffs, and increased workloads.
