There is one thing this Wall Street billionaire focuses on when he interviews young recruits
For the CEO and chairman of Blackstone, Steven Schwarzman, it's all about the eyes.
"I'm always very focused on their eyes, and whether they seem to be comfortable in a setting, how fast are they processing things, are they interesting? Would I like to see this person a second time? And do they have a gift or not?" Schwarzman said on Radiate, a podcast hosted by Betty Liu.
"Usually, people give themselves away with their eyes... as they say, the eyes are the windows of the soul," he said.
Schwarzman, who is the richest man in private equity and said to be worth about $11.6 billion, had a piece of advice for people hoping to get into finance.
Be yourself
"You should just be yourself, Imagine you're meeting somebody who actually just wants to know who you are."
"This isn't an adversarial proceeding, in terms of interviewing someone, it's a good thing for everybody and you should just relax and enjoy the experience," Schwarzman said.
Schwarzman also said his own interviews tend to be rather eccentric.
"I'm pretty undisciplined. I have no idea what I'm going to ask somebody before they come in a room," Schwarzman said. "If I've just finished a very interesting phone call before that, and I'm thinking about what's going on... I'll just throw it right on the table and ask (the interviewee) what they think about that... and see how their mind works."