Forget Job Interviews: Employers Will Find the Best Person for the Job in an Escape Room (This Former CEO Explains Why)

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When it comes to hiring, most interviews still look like a game of verbal ping-pong. The interviewer lobs "Tell me about a time…" and the candidate volleys back a perfectly practiced story. But today's workplaces don't run on perfect scripts — they run on improvisation, collaboration and quick thinking under pressure.

That's why a growing number of companies are experimenting with escape-room-style interviews — timed, team-based challenges designed to reveal how candidates actually think, adapt and work with others when the clock is ticking.

It's not about solving puzzles for fun. It's about revealing the soft skills that matter most: Communication, humility, teamwork and calm under chaos.

My escape room revelation

I attended an escape room with my YPO Forum recently. We were locked in a room and had to find the "real diamond" and replace it with the fake one.

I thought that this was sort of lame and would be simple, but it wasn't. We had to work together and use different skills — one of us needed to be able to read music and play part of a tune on a piano, another had to do the foxtrot, and others had to read codes upside down and find locks and hidden pictures.

It took lots of discipline and teamwork.

I watched as my forum-mates celebrated as a team, not as individuals, as we continued toward the goal.

It was also interesting that people backstage were monitoring us and stopping us from doing dumb stuff like trying to pull keys off the piano when the clue said, "Find the clue in the piano keys." It meant in the tune, not the actual keys.

We found the diamond, with 15 minutes to spare (just sayin').

The experience made me realize I would want my future employees to go through the same thing. Let's face it, if you want to know who really works well under pressure, lock them in a room.

Breaking out of the boring interview

Traditional interviews tend to measure poise, polish and preparation — not performance. As Harvard Business Review has noted, unstructured interviews are notoriously poor predictors of job success.

By contrast, simulated exercises reveal how people behave in real-time scenarios, not just how they say they behave.

Enter the escape room. Whether physical or virtual, these challenges simulate stress, time pressure, incomplete data and shifting goals — conditions that mirror modern work environments.

Researchers at BMC Medical Education have found that "escape-room-style simulations" improve assessment of leadership and collaboration compared to traditional interviews. They test not only intellect but interpersonal dynamics — who steps up, who listens and who credits others.

I discussed this with my daughter, Kyel, and mentioned that escape rooms would be a great way to interview for the banking industry. I see it with my graduate students at Columbia, some of whom go on ChatGPT to get the questions and pat answers for their interviews.

My daughter said, "Forget banking. If any field proves why these interviews matter, it's supply chain management — a profession where calm problem-solvers are gold."

Over the past few years, global supply chains have faced tariffs, shortages, volatile freight costs and skyrocketing prices that couldn't always be passed on to consumers.

Leaders in this space must make quick calls with imperfect information — rerouting shipments, juggling suppliers and making decisions that can ripple for months. Big accounting firms like Deloitte are trying to help the industry cope with these changes, but companies also need talent to match these strategies.

An escape room exercise can mirror those realities:

• A key "supplier" disappears midway through
• New "tariffs" appear, forcing quick adjustments
• The "budget" shrinks with minutes to go

You watch how candidates collaborate under uncertainty — who takes initiative, who asks for help, who listens — and who quietly credits the team when the buzzer sounds.

That's a much truer test of readiness than a canned answer about "strategic agility."

Why this works across roles

Escape-room-style challenges aren't just for supply-chain hires. They're powerful for any position that demands agility and teamwork — from project management to marketing, operations to finance.

Here's what they reveal:

• Problem-solving under pressure. Candidates must think critically and creatively when data is incomplete.
• Adaptability. When rules or constraints change, who freezes and who pivots?
• Collaboration. The ability to communicate, compromise and build on others' ideas is often more valuable than raw IQ.
• Emotional intelligence. Does someone dominate or listen? Encourage or dismiss? Do they share credit or seek it?

These qualities are hard to extract from a résumé but shine brightly in a shared, time-bound experience.

Designing your own escape-room interview

Whether you use an off-the-shelf escape room vendor or build an in-house simulation, the principles are the same:

• Mirror your work reality. For sales, simulate a client negotiation with shifting goals. For tech, a system outage. For a supply chain, a disrupted delivery.
• Add constraints. Time limits, incomplete data or new obstacles introduced mid-task.
• Observe silently. Let behavior emerge naturally — don't intervene.
• Debrief immediately. Ask candidates to reflect: What did you learn? What frustrated you? How did you decide who led?
• Evaluate collaboration, not victory. Sometimes, the most revealing test is one that can't be solved in time.

Caution: Not every candidate thrives in these settings

Yes, it's fun, but the goal isn't entertainment. It's behavioral insight. You still need structured evaluation criteria, trained observers and fairness safeguards. Not every candidate thrives in game-based settings, so balance creativity with equity.

Still, the benefits are hard to ignore: Deeper engagement, memorable experiences and insights into traits that no résumé bullet point can show.

The bottom line

In a world of complex challenges — from tariff swings to tech disruptions — the real differentiator isn't what candidates know but how they think and collaborate.

The escape room interview gives employers a glimpse into that reality. It turns hiring into a high-fidelity test of what matters most: Composure, creativity, teamwork and trust.

After all, if someone can stay calm, problem-solve and credit their team while trapped in a locked room with a ticking clock, they're probably ready for whatever challenges your business throws their way.

This article was written by and presents the views of our contributing adviser, not the Kiplinger editorial staff. You can check adviser records with the SEC or with FINRA.