IQ Tests as Part of the
Application/Interview Process
Some
companies are attempting to find more and more ways to filter and gauge
prospective employees. One of the ways they are using is IQ testing. (These types of testing, if improperly implemented,
could be considered
illegal.)
The real question, (whether legal, moral, or ethical), is if they really help. It all depends on how such tests are administered, and towards
what end.
I had two
such tests, one online at home, and a 'surprise' one, sprung on me and other
applicants without warning at an unannounced group interview. From what I
understand, each of these tests 'could' be considered illegal:
***
1. The first
test was for a security guard position. The application process was long (more
than an hour), with the IQ portion (which was EXTENSIVE) making it even longer.
That portion of the test was a full-blown IQ exam, almost none of which had
anything to do with the position being offered. I completed the test, 'aced'
it, and, in the feedback section, commented about how in appropriate it was.
Because it was an online test completed at home, I also pointed out that I could have 'Googled' all my answers, which I, of course, did not. During a subsequent onsite interview, I was treated like a smartass for pointing that out. (Suffice it to say, no job!)
Because it was an online test completed at home, I also pointed out that I could have 'Googled' all my answers, which I, of course, did not. During a subsequent onsite interview, I was treated like a smartass for pointing that out. (Suffice it to say, no job!)
2. The
second incident was more sinister. I was herded into an 'unannounced' group
interview, with several other surprised, ill-prepared, and dare I say
'frightened' people (well some of them, anyway), and passed small, sharpened
pencils (no erasers!) and a test booklet. This point in the process, after
we had all been seated and introductions had been made all around, is where the
trap was sprung.
We were
given a lengthy IQ exam (math, logic, pattern matching, etc) that may or may not have had anything to do with the
job in question (at least not the job I had applied for), and told it was to be
timed, as in 'pencils UP, pencils DOWN) for each segment. (It is important to note that each of us had applied for different positions,
yet all of us had been given the exact same IQ exam, a possible legal issue.)
Before we
began we were informed by the proctor that after the exam we would be
individually retrieved for the interview process (or asked to leave) by the
order of our exam scores.
Some people
walked out immediately, the rest of us took the exam, which lasted about
twenty-five minutes to thirty minutes before we heard ‘pencils down’.
I was
retrieved first (because of my score, I guess), but while we waited, we took
occasion to complain to each about the entire affair, because each of us had
been led to think our interviews would be conducted individually, and at no point had such an exam been mentioned.
My interview
consisted of talk about my score, and why I had been ‘fooling around’ applying
for the position I had chosen, instead of something considered more in line
with my placement scoring. (She wanted to place me into a position I for which I had not applied.) I was summarily shown the door by my ‘confused’ interviewer when I did not
acquiesce.
***
I came away
from each interview feeling slightly abused, tricked, and even insulted, and
wary of all such tests foisted unsuspectingly on interviewees without warning
or notice.
