Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins has revealed that he dislikes interviewing internal candidates for promotions. He argues that the traditional interview process is ineffective for evaluating employees because they already know the company’s process. During a recent interview on TBPN (seen by Business Insider), Robbins said, “I think when we have two or three internal candidates for a promotion, the whole interview process is stupid. What are we going to learn about them when we sit down in a room for 30 minutes and ask them questions when we can watch them work?”Robbins noted that this frustration leads him to believe that “every day you’re working is an interview for your next job.” The company’s CEO, who joined Cisco in 1997 as an account manager, emphasised that simply striving to climb the corporate ladder is not enough. He said that it’s also not enough to strive to climb higher on the corporate ladder simply.“You also have to have people who care about making sure their peers are successful as well. The person who is solely focused on getting to the top as an individual, it’s probably not going to happen for them,” he added.

Cisco CEO’s advice on career growth: If you can’t look at the mirror and say…

Robbins said there’s a simple exercise that people should use while envisioning their promotion. “If your peer group would look at your promotion announcement and go, ‘that makes perfect sense,’ then you’ve done your job, right? And if you can’t look in the mirror and say, ‘OK, those people, would they be happy, would they believe it’s the right decision?’ And if they wouldn’t, you’re probably not quite where you ought to be.”When it comes to those aiming for the C-Suite, or maybe even his job, Robbins said you “can’t underestimate” the value of EQ.“The people who are wildly successful have this really incredible combination—in our industry—understand the technology, have high EQ, and really care about the mission of the team,” Robbins explained. As for himself, Robbins said he’s always had a way to compartmentalise things he can’t control. It’s why he said nothing is keeping him awake at night.“Look, I’ve gone home where I’ve had a really bad day, and I look at my wife, and say, ‘You want to hear the good news? I wasn’t diagnosed with cancer today. And somebody was, and I wasn’t. So if my worst day, if I’m not being diagnosed with cancer or some sort of terminal illness, tomorrow I’ll get up and fight another fight. You just gotta have perspective,”he highlighted.