What Eric Learned From His Failed Airbnb Interview

Marketing School - Digital Marketing and Online Marketing Tips

Eric Siu and Neil Patel

Business, Marketing, Careers

4.6 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 6 May 2023

⏱️ 6 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In episode #2446, Eric talks about what he learned from his failed Airbnb interview. During the interview, Eric was asked, “What’s the most important thing you would do for the website right now?” And his interviewer disagreed with the answer he gave. Today, Eric explains why he still, 11 years later, stands his ground on what he said during the interview and why he has no regrets about not getting the job! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:00] Today’s topic: What Eric Learned From His Failed Airbnb Interview [00:20] How Eric ended up interviewing with Airbnb. [01:02] The grilling that Eric received from Alex Shultz in the second stage of his Airbnb interview. [01:44] Eric’s answer to Alex’s question of, “What’s the most important thing you would do for the website right now?” and the answer that Alex Shultz was looking for. [02:37] How Eric feels about not getting the job at Airbnb. [02:55] Why Eric still feels good about the answer that he gave? [03:07] What it takes to do SEO successfully. [03:52] How Eric would have conducted the interview differently from the way Alex Shultz did. [04:45] Neil’s thoughts on the importance of standing your ground. [06:18] That’s it for today! Don’t forget to rate, review, and subscribe! Go to https://www.marketingschool.io to learn more! Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: Airbnb Alex Shultz Don’t forget to help us grow by subscribing and liking on YouTube! Leave Some Feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with Us: Single Grain << Eric’s ad agency NP Digital << Neil’s ad agency Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	All right, so we're going to talk about how I failed at my Airbnb interview and why the failure was actually a blessing in disguise and why it wasn't actually a failure in my humble opinion.
0:13.0	So Neil in this episode, this one's going to be easy for him.
0:15.7	He can actually interview me here.
0:17.8	And I want to share some backstory on this one.
0:20.1	So Neil had actually, this was a long time ago, he had asked me because he knew the, I believe it was the VP of marketing at Airbnb and they needed an CEO at the time.
0:30.6	So I was probably maybe 25 years old or so 26 years old and Neil's like hey
0:35.2	like you know there's this Airbnb company they're growing really quick you know might be
0:38.1	interesting for you to interview over there and at the time I was still working full-time
0:41.0	at a company and so I was like oh it looks really cool and I think they're
0:44.7	valued at maybe five billion at the time or a billion I might be off a little bit Neil do
0:49.6	remember what the valuation was I I don't. Okay so basically what had happened was I end up
0:56.4	talking to the VP of marketing and the interview goes really well and so the next
1:02.1	step of the interview was I had to talk to
1:04.7	someone at Facebook who was their advisor and lo and behold it is actually a guy that
1:10.0	still works there his name is Alex Schultz and I think for all intents and
1:14.4	purposes he's their CMO now and he interviews me. I get this this call from
1:19.4	Apollo Alto number in the morning and he just grills me right he's like not interested
1:25.3	he's just like you know here to grill me and that's it right and there's no
1:29.1	knock on the guy you know he's successful you know congrats to So I want to, I'll pause for a second.
1:34.3	You have any questions before I continue?
1:36.8	No, no, keep going.
1:38.3	I never heard this story, so I'm interested in myself.
	...

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