Caribou Financial, Inc.

In three and a half years, we’ve nearly quadrupled Caribou’s engineering team. The biggest factor in getting that right wasn’t a better coding assessment or a faster process. It was learning to hire for authenticity over polish. As we scaled, one lesson has held true: the candidates who interview best in the traditional sense are not always the ones who would thrive here. This common trait carries over to every department, not just engineering.

We Hire for Polish, Then Wonder Why It Doesn't Last

The modern tech interview has become a rehearsed performance on both sides. Candidates study question banks, memorize frameworks for behavioral answers, and increasingly lean on AI tools to script what they say. Hiring teams ask predictable questions and reward the most fluent answers.

The result is an interview that measures preparation, not character. A candidate who says "I haven't worked with that, but here's how I'd figure it out" often scores lower in a traditional interview than one who bluffs with confidence. Yet the authentic candidate is the one I want on a production incident at 4 a.m.

Authenticity Starts with Who You Serve

For us, authenticity is more than candor. It is a real connection to the people on the other side of the work. As a fintech company specializing in car refinancing, Caribou's mission is to help drivers save money on one of their largest monthly obligations -- their car payment. That mission shapes who we hire. We look for people who genuinely care about the customers we serve, and who can show it without a script. A lower monthly car payment is not abstract. It shows up as groceries in the pantry, a full tank of gas, diapers, or a summer trip.

“The candidates who interview best in the traditional sense are not always the ones who would thrive here.”

Every role touches that reality. A loan advisor on our sales team needs to understand why a customer wants to refinance. A marketer needs to understand the lives of the people we hope to reach. An engineer needs to remember that each screen they build is part of an important financial decision. People who genuinely care help customers decide with confidence. People performing care don't, and customers can tell.

Engineers need these skills as much as anyone. They regularly partner with product, design, and business leaders, turn customer needs into technical decisions, and explain trade-offs to people who don't write code. An engineer who listens well, is honest about what's possible, and stays connected to the customer builds better products than one who only writes great code.

The Question I Always Ask

My most revealing interview question is simple. I ask candidates why they expressed interest in Caribou, and which of our values connects with them most deeply.

Our values are public, so any prepared candidate can name one. What I listen for is what comes next. For example, candidates who choose "Give a damn" often get specific. They want to build something that gives real value to everyday people, and connect it to real experiences. It doesn't sound rehearsed, because it isn't.

A scripted answer stays at the level of the value statement. An authentic one gets personal fast.

Authenticity Runs Both Ways

The same standard applies to us. We can't ask candidates to be real while giving them a sales pitch, so we tell them what is hard about the role, what they will need to tackle and who they're going to work with. Candidates energized by that honest picture tend to stay. We provide transparency in our interview process and provide prep materials so they understand what will be focused on in each interview, and who they're going to meet with and why.

That transparency is what makes it safe to be yourself. When candidates know what to expect, they stop performing and start talking. We also ask our interviewers to treat "I don't know, but here's how I'd find out" as a strong answer, not a weak one. And when an answer sounds personal rather than polished, we notice it and talk about it in our debriefs.

The Signal Worth Hiring For

Authenticity is not a personality type. Introverts, nervous interviewees, and career changers can show it as clearly as anyone. It is a choice to be honest about how you think, and to care about the people your work serves.

Our job as talent leaders is to build interviews where it is safe to show up as yourself, and then to notice when someone does.