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I just took an online assessment for a potential new job. It consisted of an IQ test, a motivation assessment and a personality inventory.
The motivation assessment consisted of asking me about 75 times, in 75 different ways, whether I would enjoy doing some interesting intellectual work, or some menial work like filing papers in an office. Each question gave three possible work activities and I was asked to rank them according to the order in which I would prefer to be doing them.
So the HR lady tells me that I got the highest score she's ever seen on the IQ portion of the test, but that I'm not a good fit for their programmer position according to the other parts of the assessment. She said I would be bored with the job. 
I have had success at every programming job I have ever had, and here they are telling me that I wouldn't do well at their programming position because of some stupid multiple choice test where every question is devoid of any necessary context. What do they want, robots?
Has anyone else taken such an online assessment? How did you do?
The difficult we do right away...
...the impossible takes slightly longer.
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Take a long breath out... relax....
It is an unfortunate facts of life that the HR step to work is a roulette spiced with stupid erroneous personality assessment... Get over it! 
(I don't mean it nastily, I mean job hunting is like fishing... sometimes there are no fish, sometimes you have to throw the line many times!)
Fact is, they probably had lots of applicants and found someone else first, or cheaper...
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Well it just happened, so I think I still have time to get over it. But I get your point. Thanks.
(She even mentioned that the hiring manager was very interested in my experience. I guess their computer knows better than the hiring manager.  )
The difficult we do right away...
...the impossible takes slightly longer.
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Last time I was looking for job, all was done in personal meetings - first with the professional team, and then with HR...
However it seems, that like in all learning-related fields (like schools), they try to define a quantitative formula, that enables passing on the decision to some AI-like software... For me it seems like passing on responsibility (which in my experience is the way no-fitting persons deal)...
But! Look at the bright side - she maybe right, and saved you from boredom for the rest of your life
"The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012
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Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter wrote: she maybe right, and saved you from boredom for the rest of your life
 Thanks.
The difficult we do right away...
...the impossible takes slightly longer.
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Looks like you dodged a bullet -> if they have such a poor opinion about about SW engineering and see it as a boring and repetitive activity, they have not understood what it is all about and it was certainly not a place for you (just imagine sitting together in a team with people who answered 75 times "My happiest workplace would be one where I would like to do exactly the same thing everyday").
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Yes, that is a good way to put it. Thanks.
The difficult we do right away...
...the impossible takes slightly longer.
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Sounds like HR motivating their existence
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
Never stop dreaming - Freddie Kruger
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Richard Andrew x64 wrote: What do they want, robots?
Somerhing far worse. A creature that has been conditioned not to do or say anything before consulting its brain pacemaker and some online community for approval. The sort that may not be good for anything, but is capable of everything when so instructed. Scoring high on the IQ test used to be a good thing, but now it only means that your conditioning is faulty.
Richard Andrew x64 wrote: Has anyone else taken such an online assessment? How did you do?
No. I usually get up, wave my hand and tell them that I'm not the droid they are looking for.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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CodeWraith wrote: Scoring high on the IQ test used to be a good thing, but now it only means that your conditioning is faulty.
 
CodeWraith wrote: I usually get up, wave my hand and tell them that I'm not the droid they are looking for.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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Thanks for the perspective.
The difficult we do right away...
...the impossible takes slightly longer.
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I too have encountered that sort of profiling when applying for jobs, and have never succeeded and never received any feedback as to why.
I'm now a manager for the largest employer in my area, and we've never considered utilising such tools.
I recently read all applications - 114 resumes, most of which came with a cover letter (read those too). We also had a cover letter with no resume. Interviewed 9, selected 2. I had the pleasure today of calling two people and offering them jobs. It's great over the phone, but the one time I got to do it face to face was awesome. A reaction of pure joy.
We also (me or my team lead) call each applicant we've interviewed to inform them they've missed out (and thank them for their time in applying and interviewing). It's the decent thing to do, and being a big employer, there are times I see people I've not selected later working in another part of the organisation.
Hiring is tricky (but I've only made one mistake). It's something that managers need to allocate a decent amount of time to. Hiring is the single most important task a manager has, yet many look for the shortcuts, HR filtering CVs or CV parsers, IQ/personality tests. They aren't needed if you are prepared to invest the time in it.
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You know what they say, "Success is the best revenge."
Thanks for relating that story.
The difficult we do right away...
...the impossible takes slightly longer.
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My former employer did some personality test as well, but they where smart enough to not use it in first screening - and i did NOT have the result of the test when doing the first person to person interview with the candidate. If test and personal experience did not match it was never a showstopper, but might result in some extra questions in the final interview round.
Overall not the most useful tool ever, but as used it didn't hurt - and was good at making you think if you asked the right questions.
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Reminds me of an interview I've done, where I was asked to write down a function for a (given) simple task. Even though it was only a few lines, I managed to fit in at least half a dozen 'neat tricks', one of which I had to explain to the interviewer because he'd never seen it before. In the end I was told I'm overqualified... 
GOTOs are a bit like wire coat hangers: they tend to breed in the darkness, such that where there once were few, eventually there are many, and the program's architecture collapses beneath them. (Fran Poretto)
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Yes, I know how you must have felt!
The difficult we do right away...
...the impossible takes slightly longer.
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Overqualified = "we don't want to pay you what you are worth"
Kelly Herald
Software Developer
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Indeed, and tbh I can actually understand that. But it's still frustrating!
GOTOs are a bit like wire coat hangers: they tend to breed in the darkness, such that where there once were few, eventually there are many, and the program's architecture collapses beneath them. (Fran Poretto)
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Richard Andrew x64 wrote: What do they want, robots?
Yes
Richard Andrew x64 wrote: Has anyone else taken such an online assessment?
I doubt I can ever apply for a job anymore, as I absolutely refuse to take any kind of online test. If you feel the need to administer a test after reading my CV and perusing my Code Project articles, then I do NOT want to work for YOU.
I was very impressed that my current employer felt the same as I do - there was an in-person interview and I was essentially hired on the spot.
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Thanks Marc. I really respect your opinions on the industry.
I feel better now.
The difficult we do right away...
...the impossible takes slightly longer.
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I've taken these from way back, in person, all day.
You have to know the company culture (I guess).
The questions I remember include:
- How much beer do you drink per week?
- What do you prefer: a tidy desk or seeing a pretty girl?
It's called Industrial Psychology.
(I got the job, 99th percentile ... and WAS bored once the project was over).
It was only in wine that he laid down no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be confused by it.
― Confucian Analects: Rules of Confucius about his food
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I hated the process of hiring from the other side of the table and would happily abdicate the process to HR. And yet like Marc I would not participate in any online assessment for a job.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity -
RAH
I'm old. I know stuff - JSOP
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Today I've seen a video in youtube that made me laugh.
Technically speaking it's interesting, the power that thing must have must be amazing (computing power or megaton power it's up to you and clearly forget about spending a dime on heating this next winter).
The first 13 seconds are a small cut of the last part of the video...
I've laughed seeing his reaction when powering up that thing (and yes, it's a computer): PC 8x RTX 2080Ti + max 3TB RAM - YouTube[^]
Have fun.
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We have a couple of HP Proliant 'pizzas', that sounds just like that when turning on... There is a 5-10 seconds of high spin, when all the fans running at maximum speed and making awful noise...
"The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012
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