Wine Test And 6-Hour Interview: CEO Of $25 Billion Company Shares "Secret Hiring Weapon"

Inaki Ereno, CEO of the global healthcare company Bupa, has shared his bold approach to hiring. In a recent interview with Fortune, Ereno dismissed traditional, one-hour conversational interviews as a waste of time for selecting top-tier executive talent. Instead, he said he relies on a "secret weapon", which includes three separate two-hour meetings, totalling six hours of intensive assessment, concluding with a restaurant sit-down where he conducts a psychological test by checking what the candidate orders. During the meal, he closely monitors whether a candidate has the confidence to order what they actually want, rather than simply mimicking his choices.

"I tend not to like people who don't have any initiative," he said as quoted. "Imagine if my drink is a glass of water. I'm very happy with someone who says, ‘Do you mind if I have a glass of wine?'" 

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He prefers that autonomy over someone who reluctantly orders water just to match the boss. "I don't like followers who say, 'Oh, I will have a glass of water as well, I don't want wine.' These sorts of things are very important," Ereno noted, emphasising that he is specifically testing self-assurance. 

For him, that distinct energy is what separates true leaders from the crowd. "Be more proactive, less passive. Take some risks, take initiative," he said. 

He said a standard 60-minute chat barely scratches the surface, often allowing well-rehearsed candidates to slide through without proving their actual capabilities.

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"When I was doing an interview of just one hour, that was not enough," Ereno admitted. "I reduced my hiring mistakes by setting up a system based on three meetings, two hours each. That's my secret weapon."

"How you treat the waiter, for me, is an obsession," Ereno added. "I want to see how nice you are. You need to be respectful."

Some might view a six-hour process and a restaurant evaluation as overly demanding; Ereno considers it an essential safeguard for a company operating on a massive global scale. 

The report mentioned that Bupa, which operates in 190 countries and has over 100,000 employees, reported $24.5 billion in revenue in 2025.