BrewDog Who's the Boss?

The job interview.

Good morning, Beech's.

Yeah, I've come for an interview.

Arrive early.

Awkward questions...

Um....

Mmm!

Erm...

..cliched answers.

So I do a lot of networking.

I probably live on adrenaline quite a lot.

A bit of a hard taskmaster.

Time to rip up the rule book.

Ah!

Three very different companies

have agreed to take part in a pioneering experiment...

I want to try something new.

Hey, everyone.

..where the boss hands over recruitment

to their entire workforce.

I'm entrusting the power of this decision on you.

Bit frightened of the idea, really.

It's called collaborative hiring and what it is, is when

the whole workforce decides on a hire, rather than just the boss.

THEY LAUGH

Over a week, the applicants will do a series of workplace tasks...

Is this normal?

Just calm down.

..while company employees secretly assess them...

Just...aah!

That weren't supposed to happen!

Scary.

..and then vote on who they think should get the job.

So we know who you're going to vote for, don't we?

I would say probably the one who's best-looking!

SHE CACKLES

What could possibly go wrong?!

Yeah, leave him with me, yeah.

Hello?

I'd like to say their enthusiasm is there, but it's not quite.

Welcome to the brave new world of recruitment...

Wow.

..where the staff are firmly in the hiring line.

If this works well,

it could change the way traditional British companies hire people.

Tonight, there's trouble brewing north of the border...

I've sacked someone on their first day before.

..but job hunter Luci is combat-ready.

If you parachuted me into a war zone, I'd be able to sort it out.

A competitive salary.

Must be willing to travel.

Must be ambitious and...

We are ambitious and we blow shit up.

GARAGE ROCK GUITAR

What you're about to see may disturb you.

I'm James Watt, I am captain of BrewDog.

We make hardcore, artisanal craft beers for punks.

Based in Aberdeenshire,

the company was founded eight years ago by two men and their dog...

WOOF!

..selling beer from the back of a van.

It's now big business.

HORN BEEPS

Rapid growth means more staff.

Staff who sign up to the company charter...

..and who get their very specific culture.

I think everyone enjoys beer, beards, tattoos, beard oil,

moustache wax. Everything kind of comes with the territory.

Some of the girls have...not beards but tattoos. Erm...

-And that's what makes us

-BEEP

-awesome, is our culture.

-It's awesome.

-Awesome.

-Awesome, done.

Hey, everyone.

-ALL:

-Hi.

THEY LAUGH

Company co-founder James Watt has signed up

for a unique recruitment experiment

which puts the power to hire in the hands of his staff.

We're hiring for loads of positions at the moment.

One of them is area manager

for our bar division for London and the South East

and usually, these type of hires, I would make the decision,

but this time we want to do something

a little bit differently, so all you guys are going to make the decision

and you guys are going to hire this person.

THEY LAUGH

I would define collaborative hiring kind of like a try-before-you-buy,

erm, test, for both the candidate and for the team.

It's an extended assessment process, but at the end of it

both the candidate and the team get a real sense of whether

this is a match made in heaven

or whether it's better to call it quits.

So during the week all you guys are going to have a vote

and you're going to vote for the candidate

that you think should join our team.

And myself won't be able to overrule that decision,

so you guys better be good.

THEY LAUGH

Three applicants have been interviewed

and successfully shortlisted by a recruitment consultant.

They're preparing to make the long journey to Aberdeen,

unaware that they'll be assessed by the workforce.

So what are some of the things that we don't want

to have in the candidate for this position?

What would be an instant "no" in the ballot box?

A suit.

A suit?!

People who don't like beer.

So we don't want someone in a suit.

We don't want someone who doesn't like beer.

And we want someone that... looks good. Yeah, OK.

That's a job spec right there, to be honest!

The applicants arrive knowing they're taking part

in a week-long, immersive hiring process.

What they don't know is that throughout the week

the workforce will secretly assess them on the key skills for the job,

then, based on what they've seen, will vote on

who they think is right for the role.

I'm Russ. I live in Formby, which is in North Liverpool.

Russ Malone has been working as an area manager for over 20 years.

I feel like I'm made up of a lot more than

what I'm delivering at the moment and I'm looking for something

where I can apply my passion, my skills, my experiences.

I'm Luci O'Connor.

I'm from Tamworth in Staffordshire.

Luci has over 15 years' experience working in the hospitality

and food industry.

I'm very competitive.

I have to win.

I'm in it to win it.

Hiya.

What is going to be your secret weapon?

My presence.

If you parachuted me into a war zone, I'd be able to sort it out.

Cheers, thank you.

Hi, I'm Luci O'Connor. Nice to meet you.

-How are you doing?

-Yeah, fine, thanks. How are you?

-Yeah, you're candidate number two and candidate number one so...

-Good luck.

-Yeah, good luck. Yeah!

Absolutely, absolutely.

I'm Andy.

I live in Wokingham in Berkshire.

Andy Price has over 20 years' experience working in retail,

including multi-site management for national brands.

I fancy a challenge.

I'm up for a challenge and up for doing something just a little bit different.

-Sorry, yeah, I was miles away.

-HE LAUGHS

I'm fun, little bit boisterous, but ultimately

I understand what "great" looks like from a customer experience.

Candidate number three, how are you? I'm Russ.

I'm Andy. How are you doing?

Hello, Andy, very good. This is Luci.

They're a little bit older than what BrewDog tend to hire...

Yeah, how was your journey?

..cos it's quite a young company.

The average age here is probably late 20s.

-The three amigos, eh?

-SHE LAUGHS

The three amigos, yeah!

They're all wearing suits.

No-one wears a suit in BrewDog.

We're just all very casual.

So what you're doing across the collaborative hiring process is

you're moving beyond the CV, you're moving beyond first impressions.

You're trying to get, as you go through the process,

a real, deep look at the candidate's personality, their skills,

their talent, their ability to do the job.

The employees will watch and secretly assess the candidates

as they undertake a series of tasks designed by staff

which will test their skills to do the job on offer

and check their fit into the BrewDog family.

Not too bad, actually.

They go quite well, actually.

THEY LAUGH

Definitely designer here.

Marking an unusual start to what promises to be an unusual week,

Luci, Russ and Andy are thrown in at the deep end.

Task one is a fact-finding exercise.

Do the applicants have good communication skills?

Can they gather information under pressure?

Do they understand the product?

All key to the area-manager role.

-Hey, guys. How you doing?

-Hello.

So the task that we're going to be doing today

is looking at how you actually interact with people.

HR officer Rona Cook dishes out the first half

of the morning's challenge.

How much can they find out about the workforce

and how quickly can they do it?

So you've got half an hour to go out

and find the answers to the tasks on the cards.

-Feeling confident?

-No!

THEY LAUGH

-Tough. You're off anyway.

-OK.

Let's go!

Hi, guys, how are you?

To be perfectly honest, the score doesn't matter.

Not that bothered whether they manage to find the answer

to "How much beer do we have in our warehouse?"

-Do you know how much beer we've got in the warehouse?

-No.

The key thing for me with this test is that they need to be able

to get to know people really, really quickly.

Who would be able to tell me who has a German shepherd?

HORN BEEPS

Hi, guys.

The successful applicant will be leading a team of 100 people.

They will need to be friendly...

Hello!

..and approachable.

-Erm, Liam, nice to meet you.

-Hello, Liam. Russ.

But, as in the task here...

Ah-ha!

..they will need to be constantly drilling their staff

for the information they need.

-Does anyone here speak a different language?

-I speak French.

You're a star. Appreciate your help.

The added twist to this exercise is that the applicants

don't know that everyone here will have a say in the decision

on who ultimately gets the job.

Actually, I feel like Anneka Rice. This is great, this is.

Keeping it secret is really important,

because the candidate is unaware of who's making the decision.

So what they're doing is, they're being their real self

through all the tests, through all the experiment.

OK, erm, who speaks a different language?

What the workforce get to see is the real person.

Sorry.

-What's your name?

-Chrissie.

-What do you do?

-Reception.

-Ah.

With Luci, there was a slight lack of personal touch

to how she was talking to everyone in the area.

-Do you speak a different language?

-No, I don't.

-Oh, dear.

She was very direct and to the point.

Ha-ha, let's go see this gentleman here. Excuse me...

She was kind of scanning around

trying to find the next person to talk to.

Stop! Hello! Hello!

She's in it for winning it, this one.

SHE LAUGHS

What do you mean, "no"?!

I was only coming to say hello!

THEY LAUGH

Humour gets you a long way within BrewDog.

Andy's approach was fun...

HEARTY LAUGHTER

..he had a laugh with the team,

managed to get everyone involved in helping him with his answers.

So, yeah, good.

First impressions formed.

But here, it's all about the beer.

Oh, that tastes like a malty Scotch ale.

That was pretty quick.

How will the prospective area managers fare

in a blind taste test?

It is beer, innit?

I'm not getting it as a further-north...like a Scottish ale,

I'm sort of getting Manchestery, Yorkshirey-area, to be honest.

Not to worry, not to worry.

Tasting beer and being able to pick out flavours

is pretty important for everyone within BrewDog.

That was the pale ale. Very hoppy, very...very light.

Fantastic.

An area manager will need to be able to understand the product

pretty well and inspire that kind of knowledge in staff.

That's definitely the light, lagery one, that is.

Yeah.

That was the lager.

This is lager.

ROB LAUGHS

I'm getting something but...

SHE SNIFFS

..I'd go for the pale. I'd go for the pale ale on that.

And finally, the mystery beer.

Just tell us what you taste and what you think it is.

A lager spiked with a chemical that makes it taste really, really bad.

It has a very unusual aroma.

That tastes more like the milk stout, to be fair.

Don't taste anything different.

-No?

-No.

Nobody gets close.

So these candidates were chosen because of their generic skillset.

Not the work they've done in the past

or where they've worked or who they worked with.

Much more, do they have that sort of topline skill set?

Are they able to communicate well,

deal with teams,

manage down the chain of command?

Those things are transferrable and testable.

For a position at this level,

it would ordinarily fall to company co-founder James Watt

to hire the successful candidate.

Hey. How's it going? I'm James.

Hi, I'm good. How you doing, James?

-Good, I'm Andy.

-Yeah, nice to meet you. Take a seat.

-Thank you.

Luci, Andy and Russ think it's him they need to impress.

In fact, it's the watching workforce who are tasked with assessing

the performance of all three job applicants

in a series of challenges across the week.

-Hi, there.

-I'm James, how's it going?

I'm fine. Luci O'Connor, nice to meet you.

Hi, Luci, take a seat.

-Scary.

-HE SNIGGERS

Paying particular attention are the bar teams across London.

They will be deciding on their new boss.

Before you came up here today,

how passionate were you on a scale of one to ten about good beer?

Er, probably a nine.

Oh, about a ten on GOOD beer.

One to ten, probably about five.

At least he didn't lie.

I was just thinking that. At least he's honest.

At least he didn't...

OK. And what are some of your favourite beers?

I like trying different things.

-Erm... He knows nothing about beer.

-No.

So what's your favourite beer?

SHE HUFFS

Oh, God. I'm very experimental with beers and I...

-She looks like a wine drinker to me!

-THEY LAUGH

Cheeky Pinot Grigio!

THEY LAUGH

Based on what you know about this company so far,

how would you describe our company culture?

I think it's a terrific culture.

I think it's a culture based on passion

and people that want to do a good job.

They understand where they fit into it.

I don't think there's any spare wheels.

-I like him. He's my favourite so far.

-I like him, too.

I've worked in very corporate companies

and they're... it's all very serious.

I think here, it's serious, but in more of a laid-back way.

"Serious but in a more laid-back way." I like that.

I think from my experience

and the experiences I've had in my previous roles...

If she says "experience" one more time...

She did say "experience" a lot!

She must have said "experience" about nine times!

I think I'd fit in. Erm, I'm outgoing.

Very much a people's person.

He did seem eager.

He did seem eager. Yes.

He seems like a nice guy.

He seems like a, like, relatable guy.

It does things a little bit...

So far, James has followed the standard interview drill.

Now he's ready to throw in his customary curveballs,

testing the applicants' ability to think on their feet.

If you could high-five anyone, living or dead, who would it be?

Audrey Hepburn, actually!

BRITTLE LAUGHTER

If you could choose any two celebs to be your parents,

who would you choose?

Mmm...

NERVOUS LAUGH

Any two parents? Da-da-da-da-da-da...

SHE SIGHS

-Osbournes.

-Nice.

I'd probably go with Marilyn Monroe as my mother.

Right? Because she's got a bit of glamour,

-a bit of flair, bit of...

-MILF.

-Sorry?

-MILF!

-HE LAUGHS

There's an element there but I wouldn't want that from my mother.

No, no, no. Obviously. Sorry.

How would you empty a 747 full of jelly beans?

-Quite an interesting question. I've never had that before.

-SHE LAUGHS

I couldn't eat 'em.

THEY LAUGH

-If you elaborate a little bit further on that?

-No.

-OK.

-Would you fly with the doors open?

HE LAUGHS

Say, ask me again. Sorry. A 7...

How would you empty a 747, so a jumbo jet...

-Right.

-..filled with jellybeans, and your task was to empty it.

Right, OK.

Tip the nose up. Fly it as high as I can

and then open the doors and just have some fun.

JAMES LAUGHS

No, you've lost me there.

BRITTLE LAUGHTER

No, I don't know.

What do you think, Dan?

I'd say Andy.

-Andy?

-Yeah.

I'd say Russ is the most BrewDog.

HE LAUGHS

I think Luci's passion wasn't clear from that clip.

Maybe it was her nerves.

Russ seemed more passionate about the beer,

Andy seemed more passionate about the business.

Andy and Luci both were giving canned responses.

Giving good, generic responses

but, for some reason, Russ gave across a little bit more...

-More personal.

-Personal, yeah.

-Familiar, yeah.

-I just believed him more.

-Yeah.

There's maybe a little bit of potential there and

if all three of them are coming from non-beer backgrounds

hopefully they can bring a little bit of experience to the role

that we might not have just now.

Cool, thanks for your time.

Off you go, and let me get back to some work.

SHE LAUGHS

-Have a good day.

-OK, thanks a lot.

Day one draws to a close.

In their hotel, the three hopefuls are musing

on the ups and downs of the first day.

Oh!

None of them appear to have ordered a beer.

I've been sitting back thinking about it and I'm thinking...

I'm not sure whether this is...it's a psychological sort of...exercise.

The interview with James is the main talking point.

I felt out of control in that interview.

Out of control?

Not being in control's quite a good way of putting it.

I agree. I was the same.

They all felt on the back foot in front of the man

they still think holds their futures in his hand.

..cos it did come out from the left field.

A load of those questions were like,

if you had to swap your parents,

if you had to sit in a...you know, a plane full of jelly beans.

You know, it's, erm... it's things that...

-That'll be imprinted on my brain forever.

-Yeah, yeah!

A text comes through to the candidates from James,

outlining arrangements for the morning.

Tomorrow's another day.

Day two, and the collaborative hiring experiment

moves to the streets of Aberdeen.

Head of marketing Simon Shaw wants to test the applicants' "fit"

with the company.

The area manager will be an ambassador for the company

and all it stands for.

Here they come, all suited and booted.

Simon's task will test the key requirement of cultural fit.

The candidates' passion for - and understanding of -

this very specific culture.

So you've probably gathered by now that we're not conventional.

So, with that in mind, you're going to go round Aberdeen.

You're going to find three things that you think

are a kind of distillation and an encapsulation

of those BrewDog spirit and values

and then what you need to do is come back to HQ and explain it

to the captain and myself as to why...why you got those things.

And that's almost as important as the things themselves.

Cos if you can articulate why you got it

in a very, very positive way, that's as important as the thing itself.

Does that make sense?

Yep, thank you. Cheers, great, thank you. Thanks.

The candidates have two hours and £100...

Morning!

..to find three things that, for them, sum up

the culture of the company.

Excuse me, is the town centre that way?

Straight through? Thank you.

Companies that have a very strong culture,

it becomes central to the way in which they hire.

So more than just having the skillset,

someone really must fit in to the way of doing things

and the behaviours that typify that brand and that company.

Bagging herself an early trophy, "in it to win it" Luci

has decided to dive straight in to the morning's challenge.

It's a matter of life or death.

Or it's a matter of life or job.

Gentleman Russ takes a tactical time-out.

Right.

Andy is looking for a camping shop.

Excuse me, gents, is there a camping shop near here?

-Like a camping shop?

-Millets is...

-Millets just up here on...

-Just on your left...

You're lovely. Thank you very much, gents.

Simon's looking for a bit of... I think madness.

Madness but with a meaning behind it.

You may be on to something there, Luci.

Yesterday there was a ten-foot-by-six-foot board.

They all walked past it 100 times.

It had a very clear description of what we're about

and I'm hoping they've read that and I'm hoping that they're going to

interpret that rather than just go off randomly and buy a toy dog

and a bottle of beer - which would be hugely disappointing.

Everything in the company stems from their charter.

The culture revolves around the charter, which is how we go about

this mission to make other people passionate about great craft beer.

I live, work, sleep, think, dream all about beer.

We're uncompromising.

If we don't love something we won't do it.

We do like to take risks, yeah, definitely.

The company culture is pretty much

just one of being geeky about what you like

and I, for instance, am absolutely obsessed with Star Wars

and I think that's probably true

of about 30...30 to 50 per cent of the people that work here.

And my favourite value in the charter is "We blow shit up."

This is actually in the charter.

The candidates ignore the charter at their peril.

I didn't clock the ch...the charter.

I'm just, erm, I'm just refreshing myself on the charter,

but I can't remember the specifics and I certainly can't find it on the internet, which is surprising.

Right, I've got a screenshot of the BrewDog charter.

"We learn obsessively and we share everything."

OK... I need to find a bakery.

I know what I need now. I've... I've...

Who knows when inspiration will strike?

Do you know what? That is quite an apt picture, that is.

I see that as a guy getting frustrated

because he wants to get his hand through the jumper to get a BrewDog.

I'll go in there.

With time running out, all three need to be on target...

I am going to take one of those.

..and secure in their choices.

Ain't got a cl... Can you just tell... Does anyone know how to switch an iPhone on?

12.30 - bang on time, five minutes to get back. We're done.

Two hours are up.

The applicants have 90 seconds to present and explain their choices.

They need to relate them to the company charter

and they need to pitch with passion.

He's got crazy shit on.

THEY LAUGH

-Oh, my...

-Hello, guys.

-THEY LAUGH

This is the true you, is it? Or...

Only on a Saturday night. Or a Friday.

-LAUGHS

-Good luck.

How does that sound?

Wow!

-I didn't know you two were going to be here, either.

-THEY LAUGH

Luci, Russ and Andy still don't know that it's the 200 watching staff

who get to decide who is and who is not a fit with the company.

Why's he cross-dressing?

-OK, my first item's for you, James.

-Thank you.

To preserve the illusion that he is still the man to impress,

James takes a front-row seat next to Simon.

Oh, that's good.

And this particular item that you've got there, James, reminded me

of how yourself and Martin started off.

You know, it's a handcrafted tool, it's crafted local

and you can't find that anywhere else, so it's unique.

Very much like your own product.

-LAUGHS

-That's quite good.

Now, Simon, every time you have a beer

that really means something to you, that you enjoy, you keep the bottle cap

and you put it in there and it's a memory about that experience

-that you've had about that beer.

-Great.

So it's very much about experience.

Now, the third thing,

this is the one that actually is a personal favourite of mine.

Now, it's a green tea.

You've got a green tea there that's actually good for you

and it's made out of really good-quality ingredients.

So, starting with Russell, I thought

his three items were really, really pretty good.

He seemed...seemed to get it.

Emphasis on quality, handcrafted, that's ideal. Yeah.

I was impressed with Russell.

Right then, gents.

OK, so I looked at three things on your charter

and the first one that I looked at, erm, was "You bleed craft ale."

And it's your true north, so I bought you a compass.

This will always keep you on track

and it will always keep you on your true north.

I then looked at "you're geeks" - because you're geeks,

you're obsessively learning and you're always sharing.

So I brought you a cookie, which you can share,

and on the cookie is a formula.

E plus R equals O minus I.

That's "an event plus a reaction equals the outcome,

-"minus any interference".

-Oh.

-OK, so...

-You thought of that, yeah.

..that's some learning that you can...you can share.

I don't know what the cookie was, so tell me, I didn't hear what it was!

-LAUGHS

-I think he'd made some kind of sum on it.

And finally, I looked at...

you blow shit up.

When you blow shit up you've got to take risks.

I took a risk.

There it is, yeah. Yeah, you did.

And if you do get the job how many days of the week

will you turn up like this?

-How many days do you want me to?

-THEY LAUGH

-TOGETHER:

-None.

-All of them.

-THEY LAUGH

Will Luci's 15 years in hospitality

and food give her the edge over the boys?

Let's go, Luci.

Right, OK.

So my first, first item was a book about crazy animals.

And it's a pop-up book

so you can sort of see that there's different sort of animals in it.

I think...

I've only done that because you do...you do crazy things, sort of

push the boundaries, but I think you get your point across.

And, erm, I could actually quite see a marketing opportunity with guys

sitting there with, erm, zebra heads on

and, you know, doing a...drinking...

-Yeah, should have put one on.

-..er, a BrewDog.

This one is my second sort of idea.

Again, sort of a bit off the wall, trying to

sort of get into the sort of psyche of you guys and everything.

And I looked at this,

some things are better with a...you know, a BrewDog.

Snappy.

Catchy.

Yeah?

OK, so that's really what I was trying to...

I was trying to get there.

Yesterday, I took your message,

James, in terms of where you want to be,

what your strategy is in the next five years,

but I wanted to sort of show that I did listen and I get the point

about you being global and bringing everybody along the journey.

I did want it to illuminate, but it didn't.

No, that wasn't impressive.

I liked the zebra thing, but I like zebras.

-I wasn't sure about it. It all seemed a bit tame, to be honest.

-Yeah.

Luci may have lost ground but she's not downhearted.

Maybe I didn't tick all your boxes, but hopefully

I sort of got somewhere, but I can build on somewhere.

This collaborative hiring experiment requires the boss to step back

and allow his workforce to assess the applicants across a whole week.

James is finding that frustrating.

I would say I'm particularly hands-on. I like to control things.

I've got difficulty letting too many things go.

What's the... what's the ETA on these bad boys?

It will be interesting to see how, er, James deals with having

this decision taken out of his hands.

His influence is definitely present across all aspects of the company.

Obviously, he's a guy who... who knows his own mind.

And he's very... I think he's very quick to judge.

He's very quick to know if somebody's right.

I've sacked someone on their first day before.

-Because...?

-Because they... Yeah, because it was just no.

Collaborative hiring is about looking beyond the CV,

but less than two days into the experiment

James is finding that difficult.

Despite Russ's experience as a business development manager

for a large brewery chain,

and all three applicants having extensive

multi-site management backgrounds,

James believes - on paper - that none of the applicants have

the expertise of area management he requires for the role on offer.

I want to put a couple of questions to the person

that shortlisted these people,

cos I want to understand his reasons for choosing these candidates.

I didn't think he's done a very good job.

I want to speak to him and find out why he thought these people, A, could do the job and would be

a good fit within the company, and I want to see what he has to say.

Let's find out.

PHONE RINGS

Hi, there, Matt Buckland speaking. How can I help?

Hey, it's, er, James Watt here. How are you doing?

-I'm good, James, how are you?

-Not too bad...

He's phoned Matt Buckland, one of the recruitment experts

responsible for shortlisting Andy, Luci and Russ.

..area manager.

We felt all of the candidates put forward didn't have the basic skills

they needed to do the job within this company.

So, James, what would your perfect candidate be?

My perfect candidate would have had experience as being

an area manager in a hospitality company.

My perfect candidate would have a little bit of knowledge about beer

and be passionate about what we do.

With the exception of a few highlights from Russ,

none of those boxes were really ticked.

Is that before they did the... the testing?

Erm, that was based on looking at their CVs

and watching them doing challenges.

OK, so the CV is kind of a blunt-force instrument, erm,

and will never really get beyond the skin of someone.

I think there's more worth to be had in taking someone on

and moulding them than in trying to buy the perfect thing and

then finding out later that you've inherited a lot of bad practices.

If we take on someone here that's not the finished article

and try and mould them, we don't have time to do that,

and one of my constant issues with people that work

in recruitment - they don't listen to who their client is.

So I'm giving you particularly direct and honest feedback

and you're not really answering the questions.

And you're trying to tell me I'm wrong about my own business,

which I don't think I am.

-Oh, no, I don't think that at all...

-That's basically what you're saying.

The three people that were put forward don't have the skills or

experience to do the job that we need them to do.

So you can accept that opinion or you can continue arguing

the other way.

Wow.

In theory, James was open.

I think that there was a lot of prejudgement.

So before it got to the stage of voting and actually being able

to see what these candidates could do, erm, his mind was made up.

If James has made up his mind that none of the candidates

are right for the role,

what does that mean for the staff

taking part in the collaborative hiring experiment?

What does it mean for the candidates?

While he works out what to do next,

Russ, Andy and Luci are still going all out

for the area-manager position.

It's still the workforce deciding their fate.

Will it STILL be the workforce when this next task is over?

..requires the candidates to persuade

some of the villagers that live down the road from the brewery

to switch from their usual tipple to a bottle of craft beer.

OK, I need to work out which one's what.

-OK...

-Great, OK.

The candidates have been armed with the tools

to convert the unbelievers.

Six different varieties of artisan ales to appeal

to a variety of palates.

Evening, how are you? Hiya...

Candidates have to persuade the locals to switch

from their beverage of choice to a bottle of craft beer.

They have one room and one hour in which to do it.

# I said, come on down and have a sip of beer

# I said, hey, bartender... #

OK, the first beer I'd like to introduce you to

is a USA-styled ale.

OK?

So if you smell this, you'll notice there's a very floral note on it.

BrewDog's Russell Clarke is on hand to monitor the next 60 minutes.

The rest of the staff get to assess the candidates from afar.

This ale, this is more for your bitter drinkers.

What you'll get is it's a well-balanced, smooth beer.

The key skills under the microscope here are beer knowledge...

..a bit of toffee there, a little bit of caramel coming through.

..powers of persuasion, and going the extra mile for the customer.

What do you like to drink?

-Gin and tonic.

-Oh, I've got a couple for you, certainly.

As we've come to expect, Russ is gently professional.

Vodka Irn Bru.

-Vodka Irn Bru... I'd like you to leave now, cos there's nothing...

-THEY LAUGH

-You're white wine?

-White wine.

-Yeah.

He's trying to find out people's preferences.

Great tactic to have, but he still hasn't put any beer in their hands.

We'd like a bit more speed.

Have a little swig on those.

Andy goes in all guns blazing.

You'll notice an aftertaste of pineapple.

You like that?

He's obviously great at speaking to people,

which, you know, is really essential.

You like that?

It's like the worst kind of medicine any doctor could give you.

It's bad.

It's just not...it's... it's not your cup of tea?

-Not at all.

-THEY LAUGH

It may be a barrel of laughs on the task,

but back at BrewDog HQ it's a more sombre mood.

We haven't seen their CVs,

but I would imagine Andy and Luci's are quite salesy?

James has called in team members from marketing and HR

to discuss his concerns about the experience of the candidates.

Quite, quite salesy. So the key thing for me is,

looking at their CVs,

no-one has been hospitality area manager before.

Mm, exactly, exactly. Exactly.

-So we'd be taking a hell of a gamble.

-Yeah.

Have any of them ever been a senior bar manager in a massive unit, or...

No. Russ has done some property work in Punch.

Luci has done some sales work.

So what are we going to do?

What are our options?

Lager, lager, lager.

Oblivious to the controversy,

all three applicants are beginning to look like craft-beer enthusiasts.

It does make you appreciate it more. I would have to agree.

Can you taste maybe a little touch of the tropics in there?

Exactly, yeah.

Showing passion and knowledge.

Isn't that...? Isn't it? It really is, it's got that nice feeling.

Right, so try... try that one. Go for it.

-Oh, that's nice, I like that.

-Do you like that?

-Yeah.

I am happy, because I'm dealing with the public, I'm dealing with people.

It's where I...I work really well.

So my adrenaline has gone back up again now.

So, yeah, I'm in a good place.

-Take a Jammie Jodg...a Jammie Dodger and a bottle. Off you go.

-SHE LAUGHS

Just because they're not suitable for this job,

in managing 120 people straight off the bat, I still think there's

good qualities, and they've tried hard, and we've got a few days

to see how they can adapt, so at the moment we've got 50 or 60 vacancies.

So there's maybe a different vacancy we can flip this on

to keep the candidates, keep the process, keep the voting,

but just a vacancy that's more suited to their skillset.

Like you say, we do flex and change constantly

-so it would totally make sense.

-Yep.

And if they can't adapt to this quickly then they're not fit

-to be in the business anyway.

-Yeah.

OK, Russ, you're going to have to stop. Your time is up now.

So just raise your hands if you are a convert to craft beer.

Fantastic, so what have we got?

When time is called on the task,

there's already a healthy percentage of converts.

But whether Luci, Andy and Russ will be willing converts

to a different job to the one they think they're competing for

remains to be seen.

APPLAUSE

Day three of the collaborative hiring week at BrewDog.

There's just one more task left for the candidates to do,

but James has an announcement to make to the workforce.

Hey, Bethany.

If you can have everyone downstairs in five minutes

and we'll see how we can fix this mess.

200 staff have been monitoring and assessing the three candidates.

At the end of the week, the plan is to cast their vote to decide

who will be the new area manager for the South East.

James has decided to change all that.

Exactly halfway through the week,

and the applicants for area manager have been tested

on their transferable skill set, as enshrined in the BrewDog charter.

Learning obsessively.

Sharing evangelically.

Being uncompromising.

And taking risks.

Hello.

-STAFF:

-Hi.

But James has decided not to take a risk on hiring any of them

as area manager.

I think the key thing for me before we even ascertain

how good a fit these people are,

none of them has been a hospitality-industry area manager,

which is what we want them to do.

So what I think we should do... Cos I think we kill the area manager

cos no-one's done that, no-one's got the skills.

We keep the process, we keep the candidates

but the job now becomes the property manager as opposed to area manager.

From his iron pulpit, James explains the plan to change the job

the applicants are competing for.

There is another role in the company - still in the South East -

looking after the BrewDog properties there.

So we still need to decide who's the best fit.

We still go through the process and we're still getting the vote.

It's just a different job that we're voting for.

When are you telling them?

-Er, I'm going to tell them today, so I'm expecting tears...

-THEY LAUGH

People... People shouting at me, cups of coffee thrown in my face.

-Just a normal day.

-THEY LAUGH

'..cups of coffee thrown in my face. Just a normal day.'

THEY LAUGH

That's not funny.

This is a game changer.

The democratic collaborative hiring process has been hijacked.

James has wrestled back control and nobody seems very surprised.

Is it the weirdest thing that's happened to you today?

Is it... No, probably not. SHE LAUGHS

Probably way weirder things.

Yeah, like how James came out of his office

and said, "Please hide the cat. "There's importers coming in."

Yeah. SHE LAUGHS

-Then, you know...

-Yeah, that's...

I think once you've started a collaborative hiring process

it doesn't make sense then to revert to those old systems of hierarchy

and just impose a decision.

Erm, I think you really risk not just choosing the wrong candidate

but also alienating some of the workforce.

You've given them that trust and then, "Actually this is all wrong,

"it's all broken, I'm going to take it back."

Can this company ever be wholly democratic?

-I might need to think about that for a bit.

-That's fine, of course.

Well, it's not a democracy.

Erm, you know, it's an entrepreneurial business

so it's not...not a democracy.

Someone has to make these tough decisions

and sometimes they're not collaborative.

I think any good democracy also has to have a leader,

because otherwise it could be ultimately chaos.

The candidates have been called to HQ.

They still think that they're taking part in a week-long immersive

hiring process to find a new area manager.

For them, nothing has changed...

yet.

You don't know what's next.

I don't.

But from each moment there's... there's no "What's next?"

I'm just heading over to Dogtap for half an hour.

James is on his way to tell the candidates that the plan is

to change the job on offer to something

he feels they'd be more suited to,

but could this change mean the collaborative hiring experiment

gets de-railed?

I'm not quite sure how they're going to take it.

Maybe a little bit surprised, but hopefully they'll see that this

is a better opportunity for them within this company.

I hope... Otherwise they might just go home,

and in some cases that might not be a bad thing.

-Hey, how's it going?

-Hiya. You all right?

-Yeah, good.

-Good.

-Hello.

-Nice to see you again.

-Hi, James.

-Hello, how's it going?

-Yep, good, good.

So we've got a little announcement to make

but we'll start off with a couple of questions.

So, Andy, have you ever been a hospitality area manager before?

-No.

-Have you ever worked in hospitality before?

-No.

-Luci, have you ever been a hospitality area manager before?

-No.

-Have you ever worked in hospitality before?

-Yeah, I've worked with hotels and pub chains, so...

-In the hotels and pubs?

No, I actually managed a food-service side of it into them.

And have you ever been a hospitality area manager before?

Yeah, about six years ago.

So, erm, yeah.

They have all been shortlisted by recruitment experts

for their appropriate transferable skills.

Russ had got direct experience in hospitality management,

Luci has a background in hospitality

and Andy has extensive multi-site experience.

But James will only consider someone who is already doing

the job of hospitality area manager.

It's the thoughts of our team that it's just too

big of a gamble for us to try and put someone in that job

that's not doing that at a very high level at the moment.

Still, we're really keen to keep this process going

so we've actually changed the job spec.

We're hiring for 50 jobs at the moment and looking at you guys' CVs,

spending a bit of time with you, I think we've got a job that's

more suited to what you guys have got in terms of your background.

So this is the new position and this is the new job spec.

Cool.

So the job that we want to change it to is

the bars senior property manager.

So that person will be looking after acquisition,

new concept development, business development

and still working with the same teams.

The candidates are unsure. Is this just another game?

If it is, Luci's not playing any more.

No, I know that's not me.

And I'm being honest about that. So...

Yeah, yeah, no.

Within seconds of James' announcement,

the collaborative hiring experiment becomes a two-horse race.

I'm going to give you guys some time to maybe have a beer, have a chat about it, have a think about it.

If you can get back to me tonight or tomorrow morning

-and let me know what you think.

-OK.

-Yep, sound.

-Thank you!

All good, let's go to the bar.

The shepherd said to the sheep, "Let's get the flock out of here."

It's gone tits up!

The goal posts have been moved.

He's looked at the skill set around the room,

what's transferrable and what isn't, and as he's looked at

what's transferrable and what isn't he's come up with a job role.

I get that, it's not to say I can't do it.

No, it's definitely not for me.

Absolutely not. No.

And I wouldn't be doing BrewDog business justice

if I did say I could do it.

You know it's difficult because your first emotion is rejection

and that might not be the case at all.

James is the type of guy that'd say, "I don't like any of these candidates,

"call it a day, let's go." But he hasn't said that.

For me the jury's out whether I'd fit into the BrewDog culture.

Cos it is a two-way street.

It's about finding the right employee,

but the employee finding the right employer as well.

These three candidates' CVs were certainly viable

and were credible in terms of being put up for this task.

I think what we can see here is that James hadn't really bought into

the three candidates and perhaps hadn't bought into the collaborative

hiring process as much at the beginning as he should have done.

At the hotel, the candidates retire.

They're all contemplating their futures, after James revealed

that he felt they were not up to the job they were competing for.

He's... He's absolutely, absolutely missed the point on it.

Cos he's tried to match a job based on our experience and our CVs,

you know, which is fine, I get that.

But there's nowhere on my CV that actually says what I want to do.

It tells you what I've done.

So, you know, I've been a lifeguard, I've been a tyre-and-exhauster.

I loved it. But I don't want to do it now.

So this is about what I want to do now.

It's an interesting curveball and I've got a CV that suits it.

It... It's almost written like my CV,

concept development, new ideas.

I did say to myself, you know, is this really for me?

Am I a BrewDog person?

I do, you know, have to ask that question,

because he never got to know me.

And if you can turn that round,

I never really got to know him.

I get that he's a really clever entrepreneurial guy,

but is he a people person?

Monday, I had an open view.

Tuesday there was probably two or three things that I saw or I heard

and my antenna started twitching.

I said, "Actually, I don't like that."

And then with the curveball that James put in around the job change

my decision was clear-cut and easy.

By the end of the evening,

Andy and Luci have both decided that the new role is not for them.

They send a text to James.

Unless either of the other two change their mind overnight,

Russ, by default, will be the company's new property manager

for the South East.

Well, I guess if the other two candidates do drop out then tomorrow

will be a discussion with me and either James or somebody else

in BrewDog regarding the opportunity that was presented today.

Dawn on day four.

The applicants are on their way to HQ.

Still unaware that their every move has been monitored by the workforce.

At BrewDog, James sends an e-mail round announcing that Andy

and Luci have rejected the revised job spec and will leave today.

So basically it's Russ or no-one then.

So...

So, what, has Russ won?

Yay? Or is it...

So what does that mean? I don't know.

Can the collaborative hiring process continue?

Will the whole workforce still get to have their say?

It would be nice if we could still have a say in it

and, you know, vote, having seen everything,

if Russ is still right for that role.

If we don't have the vote then so be it, I mean,

stuff happens all the time round here that we...we don't always

have control of, so it wouldn't be the first time and it won't be

the last, but a little disappointed if we don't get to vote, yeah.

James wants to give feedback to the candidates and reveal to them

that the whole workforce has been assessing them across the week.

-Hey, how's it going?

-Morning. I'm good.

First into the captain's quarters is Andy.

I'm sad you don't have your Lady Gaga outfit on today.

Not today.

So yesterday you decided that you didn't want to pursue

-the alternate job.

-Yep, there's no point trying to kid yourself.

It's about being true and honest. I know what my skill sets are.

I actually know where I want to go and what I want to do

and that doesn't tick any of the boxes.

It's just a pity it didn't quite align here but I'd love to thank you

for the time that you've spent here.

James, no worries. Appreciate that.

-Thank you.

-Cheers. Bye.

Now it's Luci's turn to face the enigmatic James for the last time.

So you know you've been taking part in a series of assessments.

What you don't know is that 200 members of my team here have

been watching video feed and seeing how you got on.

Right, OK.

On that basis, I actually don't know what...what the feedback is.

What they were looking at. I don't... I don't... I don't know.

So the reason the tasks were designed as they were,

we want to hire people who believe what we believe.

-We want to hire people who get the passion, who get the culture.

-Yeah.

That is the kind of starting point for us

and that's why the tasks focused on those things initially.

If I'm honest, the one question that will stick in my head

till probably I-I leave this earth

is that 77...jellybeans out of the 77. I thought...

-747.

-I thought, "Do you know what,

"why the hell have you asked me that question?"

So that question was designed to see, as a little thought experiment,

how flexible, how nimble,

how quickly someone can adapt when they get a little bit fazed.

-Right, OK.

-Which is key to working in this company.

I get that, but you actually don't know what I'm like under pressure.

I'm under pressure because I'm in food service.

If that product doesn't get on the plate,

then that person can't eat it.

So if the fish doesn't come in out the sea,

I'm in that position whereby I've got to react quickly,

I've got to...make a decision.

That's my "under pressure".

And if this job was about putting fishes on plates

I'm sure you'd be perfect, but the challenges and questions were

designed to see how you could cope with different types of pressure

that doesn't relate to fishes.

Well, we're going to be on an agree-to-disagree... position on that.

I've got one final thing for you.

This is a very special bottle of beer.

You know it's good cos it doesn't have a label on it.

The most special beers don't have labels.

-You know what I'm going to call that?

-What?

-James.

-That's the first sensible thing you've said today.

Oh, thank you very much.

-Take care. Bye.

-Bye.

-Bye.

Two down,

and I think that means Russ is the last man standing.

Russ waits in reception.

The job - the NEW job - seems to be his for the taking.

I don't want to get a job by default.

I want to be successful wherever I want to go

and I want to make sure that my fit is exactly what they're looking for.

-Hey, how's it going?

-Very good, thank you, James.

-Good to see you again.

-Good to see you again.

-Have a seat.

-Thank you.

So have you had any thoughts on the change in job?

Erm, yeah... No, it's certainly something I would

definitely consider and I definitely will consider it.

I'd be, yeah, really keen on...

on thinking that one through a lot more.

OK, so before you make your decision

and before we chat about it a bit more I've got something to show you.

All right, OK. That sounds interesting.

Yeah. Another surprise. Yeah, a big one.

Head down to the warehouse now.

James wants to present Russ to the staff.

This is the warehouse.

Does the process finally have a happy ending?

Or will there be a sting in the tail?

Thank you, here we have most of our team.

So over the last few days, as you know, you've been

taking part in a series of challenges and assessments.

What you don't know is that video footage has been

-seen by all of our team.

-Oh!

200-plus people...

ALL LAUGH

..who've been assessing the performance of yourself,

Andy and Luci.

Oh, right, OK. That's a big deal. That's quite a big deal.

I had no idea, no idea at all.

So if this had gone to a vote, which it was supposed to,

who would you guys have voted for?

-ALL:

-Russ.

Oh, well, thanks for that. Yeah.

So, unanimous winner...

Erm, so we'd like to formally offer you the property-manager job.

Right, thank you very much for that, James.

I feel like I should go down on one hand and knee.

LAUGHTER

Gimme your hand.

APPLAUSE

I came in this process to have an experience,

to have a challenge, to see if BrewDog were exactly as advertised.

Thanks.

To find out a little bit more about them

and hopefully to share more about me with themselves

and it'd be nice to see if there was a good fit there.

Great. Thank you.

-Did you accept it?

-No, I told him to stick it!

THEY LAUGH

Russ grew a beard, but he declined the job at BrewDog

and decided to stay with his current employer.

Luci is still searching for something that will spark

her professional passions.

Andy's back in the land of retail

and awaiting the outcome of two regional-manager job interviews.

James got a great review for his first book

and went on to fill the vacancy of area manager

for the South East...his own way.