I choose candidates who talk about their failures too: IKEA India's HR head

Anna-Carin Månsson is the Country HR Manager for India. She has been with IKEA in different HR manager positions for about 23 years. Anna-Carin has spent the last four years in India setting up IKEA, with the first retail store launching in Hyderabad in 2018. She is passionate about people’s development and propagates gender equality, diversity, and inclusive work environments. In this interview with HBR Ascend, Anna-Carin talks about what she looks for when interviewing people to work at IKEA, the qualities of a good candidate, and what she values.

What do you look for when you’re interviewing someone?

I start by understanding why the applicant is interested in joining us (IKEA). I want to meet people who truly want to be part of creating a better every day for the people (who buy our products). IKEA is on that mission and we want all our co-workers to be on that mission with us.

We recruit by values, so obviously the interview will be a lot around the personal values the candidate has and how these comes out in typical behaviour in every-day life. I like to listen to the ‘real stuff’, like stories about how they have created togetherness and made things simpler.