What Winkler asks Bloomberg job applicants

Julia LaRoche of Business Insider has a story Monday morning about the hiring process at Bloomberg News and the three questions that editor in chief Matt Winkler asks all applicants.

They are:

1. What is the most important value in journalism? 

How To Answer: “Accuracy.” (That’s the ONLY answer)

This questions gets asked every time. We’re told that everyone warns the reporters about it, so no one ever gets it wrong.

2. Where do you see yourself in X-number of years? 

How To Answer: We’re told that the key to answering this question is to not say anything outside of Bloomberg.

“One time there was a stocks intern who wrote a record number of stories without any corrections. But she didn’t get hired because a manager asked what her goal in life was and she said to be Secretary of State of the United States. The fact that she had aspirations outside of Bloomberg cost her the job,” our source explained.

To be safe, you might want to say that you see yourself “being an editor at Bloomberg News”.

3. What is the most important modern financial news story? 

How To Answer: It depends on what the big story is at the time, but we’re told he does this to make sure you understand what the big-picture business story is in the world.

A couple of summers ago the big story was Greece. Right now, the big story could be the emerging markets.