Pizza Hut to Hold Quick Interviews at SXSW

Yesterday I posted a blog about the South by Southwest festival. Well while doing some catching up on the events of the festival last night I can across something I thought was really cool.

Aside from the musical performances, film premieres, tech shows, and forums, this year a company will be holding a job interview at the festival. While normally this would cause too many people to raise an eyebrow (unless you were headed to Austin today) but the reason it sparked my interest was the style of interview that this company will be holding.

Pizza Hut will be holding 140 second interviews for the position of digital media manager. The interviews are being held at the festival this afternoon and potential applicants will have 140 seconds to position themselves as the next employee of the pizza company.

The reason for 140 seconds you ask? (I know I did when I first heard about it.) It is a nod to Twitter and the 140 characters you have to convey your message. I think it is somewhat fitting for someone who is going to work in the area of digital media. And 140 seconds is quite a bit of time when you think about it. I remember in college working on elevator pitches that were shorter than that.

It makes me wonder if this could be the new direction for job interviews. It makes sense for large companies to do this. It allows them to see more people in a shorter time period and weed out those who are not right for the position quicker. I don’t know that I would hire someone just off of a 140 second interview, but I do think it is a good starting place!