- Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn solely hires individuals with 5 qualities: those that “take the long view,” present and don’t inform, and convey enjoyable into the workplace. Gen Z “personality hires” bringing good vibes to work have one trait ticked off of the manager’s hiring guidelines.
Not each Gen Z is an AI wiz with superior abilities—many are set on being the corporate’s “chief vibes officer,” and bringing enjoyable again into the workplace. Their personalities may be the right match for one CEO, who’s laying out which qualities each new rent should have to work at his $16.7 billion firm.
“We’re looking for people who have fun working,” Luis von Ahn, CEO of Duolingo, tells Fortune. “That really matters [because] we want both our products and our company culture to be fun.”
The training app large has simply nailed down 5 traits that it appears for when selecting new staff—and so they’re not only a nice-to-have steerage. Von Ahn says they’re vital ideas that he set into stone a month in the past when revamping the corporate’s handbook. Writing down a transparent sense of path relating to hiring and tradition is important—particularly after Duolingo’s knockout 2024 success, with general income rising 29% year-over-year and subscription income skyrocketing 48% year-over-year.
“I’m very proud of our culture,” von Ahn says. “But as companies scale, culture gets diluted, because you just hire a lot more people. It’s hard to make sure that everybody is on the same wavelength.”
“The most important thing was trying to codify our culture as much as possible. The way we codified it is by writing down five principles. They are not aspirational—they are what actually happens.”
Staff with out these 5 key qualities needn’t apply
When you transfer sluggish and mull over the grunt work, von Ahn in all probability received’t be knocking at your door with a chance. However he’d moderately potential hires resolve for themselves in the event that they’re a very good tradition match earlier than throwing their hat into the ring.
“I’m hoping that [these requisites] will do self-selection for people who apply here,” von Ahn provides. “There are people who probably don’t like these principles, and I’m very happy for them not to apply here.”
Bringing constructive vibes to the workplace is only one of his 5 non-negotiables; the CEO spells out 4 different qualities each candidate should possess to get into the pearly gates of Duolingo.
“We try to look for people that satisfy all of these,” he says.
- Don’t do fast hacks to earn cash. Von Ahn says Duolingo desires to be a long-term firm—so he appears for individuals who “take the long view” too.
- Present, don’t inform. That is vital to Duolingo’s communication type; Von Ahn doesn’t need staff to “spend a long time talking about the effort of what they did,” and as an alternative present the outcomes. The proof is at all times within the pudding.
- Increase the bar. The CEO seeks staffers who at all times try for excellence—yearly, they’re bettering the craft and increasing into new arenas of studying.
- Ship it. Duolingo values employees who “act with urgency,” and attempt to put high quality merchandise in entrance of customers as quick as potential.
- Make it enjoyable. Von Ahn desires firm tradition to be as enjoyable as their merchandise, so he appears for workers who convey that very same pleasure and vitality to the job.
The corporate’s one ‘unofficial rule’ in hiring: no assholes
Apart from the candidate guidelines, Duolingo additionally espouses one unwritten guideline in hiring to maintain firm tradition wholesome and glad.
The tech world is stuffed with characters—and similar to most places of work, you’re positive to run into loud-mouths, gossips, snitches, and bullies. Von Ahn has a spidey sense for unsavory characters in hiring, and is glad to maintain a place unstaffed till he finds the suitable choose.
“We have an official rule: When you’re hiring, it’s because you have a hole in the organization that you’re trying to fill,” he says. “Our unofficial rule: it’s better to have a hole than an asshole.”
The chief govt says that the corporate, boasting almost 900 staffers, has finished a fairly good job at hunting down unlikeable individuals. Part of this has to do with the enterprise’ hiring technique—most junior staffers are employed from Duolingo’s internships proper out of school. He says managers can get a very good sense of potential hires through the three-month program. But it surely’s not solely younger staff who’re topic to the take a look at.
Von Ahn remembers a time the place being impolite has value somebody a job at Duolingo. The corporate had been in search of a chief monetary officer for a yr and a half with no luck. A stellar candidate with a formidable resume was into consideration—till they had been imply to a driver Duolingo had employed to take them to the airport. Phrase of their habits obtained again to the chief govt, and the applicant was dropped from the operating.
Regardless of von Ahn’s watchful eye, some unhealthy apples nonetheless handle to slide via the cracks. However they received’t final lengthy at Duolingo.
“It’s really hard not to hire assholes,” von Ahn says. “Given the culture, if we do have assholes here, they’re closeted. Because if you’re overtly an asshole, you’ll get fired pretty quickly.”
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
