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from the boss-wants-to-see-how-you-handle-pressure? dept.
I recently applied for a job in Silicon Valley.
The recruiter had me take a battery of tests that measured my verbal, mathematical and visual aptitude. I'd guess it was a mini-IQ test; it wasn't a mini-MMPI. As a result of the tests I was invited to interview onsite.
At the end of the interview the manager declared that he wanted me to take some tests.
His tests were brain teasers he had downloaded from a random website. The brain teasers had nothing to do with the work I was interviewing for. He seemed to ignore the battery of sophisticated tests I had been subjected to, and to believe that he could do better.
What is the REAL purpose of using brain teasers during an employment interview?
Is it just to make the candidate feel stupid? Are any of these people qualified to interpret the results? Are any of them industrial psychologists? Or is this all about power and control?
Please advise.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 05 2018, @03:47PM (3 children)
Is it just to make the candidate feel stupid?
Yes. And to accept peanuts as payment for the priviledge of working for superior beings.
Are any of these people qualified to interpret the results? Are any of them industrial psychologists?
No. No. Prfff. What are you smoking?
Or is this all about power and control?
Gotcha!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Friday October 05 2018, @04:59PM (2 children)
LOL, I might have asked questions like that when I was starting my career. As the parent is saying, don't take it so hard. Lot of what they do isn't about you, not in a personal way. What some organizations really want is cover. They may have already decided, or been ordered, to hire a crony-- the boss's nephew, or some "friend" the boss knows will be a reliable sycophant. An important customer can ask for favors of that sort, and they really can't say no.
To comply with EEOC rules, they have to put on a charade and pretend to offer the job in question to any and all candidates. Gaslighting the heck out of the candidates with extreme IQ tests is merely all about generating the excuses they need to say those candidates are not qualified.
That's not to say it's all like that. Many organizations really sincerely are interested in finding the most meritorious candidates. But it's still a very difficult problem. When they are flooded with 1000 plus resumes for less than 10 positions, they have to do something to winnow that enormous pile down. Even if they can immediately reject 90% of the candidates as unqualified, that still leaves 10 times more qualified candidates than they have position to fill. They resort to splitting hairs, reaching for anything to narrow the field. It's a hard world that way.
A few times I have been told that I was eminently qualified, but they can't hire me anyway. In one case, the budget was cut and the position they were recruiting for was eliminated without anyone being hired. In another case, they just flat out told me I was qualified but they were hiring someone else, sorry. I suppose I ought to be grateful they had the courtesy to say even that much, and as far as I could tell, were honest. I have also received a few "Dear John letters", as they were called, but most of the time, you get total radio silence. "Don't call us, we'll call you." And then they never call of course.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 05 2018, @06:06PM (1 child)
In an actually Free Society (you know, where people are free to associate as they see fit), then there is no lying about motivation; people just do what they intend, such as hire the boss's kid.
In a Regulated Society (often a Fake Free Society), everyone just lies their asses off, and then gaslights each other when called on their bullshit.
Enjoy your Regulated Society.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 05 2018, @08:17PM
Thanks! I'm sad for you that you hate it enough to construct such a hypothesis.