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Comment by kukallan | Hacker News Reader

Yes, sadly a quite common part in too many recruitment processes here in Sweden.

My first job at a consulting company out of uni I had to to an IQ test that could also indicate if I had rabies.

It had questions like "are you afraid of water", "have you showered in the last three weeks", "have you felt more aggressive lately"...

Considering these questions, have you honestly answered "yes" to the last one?

I've had to take the MMPI [1] for an employer before. About 500 true/false questions to screen for mental health disorders. Some of the questions seem quite outlandish but taken as a whole make sense.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Multiphasic_Personal...

I'm sorry what?

It’s a joke about the pattern of questions

It also assumes that one knows that rabies can cause hydrophobia:

https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/16749/why-does-r...

Wow, first time i hear that. Aren't those IQ test horribly biased?

In the United States, the Supreme Court has ruled that using IQ tests for employment screening can violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griggs_v._Duke_Power_Co.

not only that, but they aren't a great predictor of actual job performance

Given that these tests don't evaluate critical thinking and knowledge of statistics it's quite ironic but coherent for the company using these tests.

They are a great predictor of actual job environment though (the test, not its results)

Depends on the job actually. (I know this will be unpopular but in my experience hiring for certain roles it is correlated)

This is exactly why these IQ-test companies make so much money. It gives out yeses and no:s confirmation bias does the rest.

Quickly why they don't work:

You create a huge chain correlational assumptions. First that visual-spatial tasks of this kind predict performance on visual tasks. 2. That performance on visual tasks predict general intelligence (whatever that is). 3. That this notion of general intelligence (which is usually and arbitrarily defined not to include social skills) actually correlates with the tasks that you think the person will be performing, and finally that your idea of what the role has an impact on the company. Of course it is completely absurd, what they are selling is snake oil, plain and simple.

The remedy I recommend is simple, talk to the person - do it and you will be able to tell within 5 minutes.

I use it to filter out candidates when hiring assistants from the Philippines. I get so many applicants that I don't have time to talk to all of them. Have you been on the hiring end? You get hundreds of applications within a couple days when you have a good position and are paying well enough.

There is a strong correlation between IQ and professional achievement whether you want to believe it or not.

Right - and the general intelligence thing is funny too because all of these companies want to hire specialists in some area, not generally intelligent people.

You are making assumptions here that are incorrect. I use it when hiring virtual assistants. They don't need a specific skill.

I think you're just trying to justify an unjustifiable test to protect your ego.

First, if you're just hiring assistants from the Philippines they could just have someone else take the test or get around it some other way.

Second, you have no good data to support this hiring practice. You're free to use it, but it's no better than just hiring a random person from your pool of applicants. You might as well screen based on their favorite color too to just make up filtering criteria.

I failed a job application because of the IQ test. It was administered in a second language for me, so I really didn't do well... the interviews had been completely smooth and I got on well with everyone I had talked with...

The thing is, I really needed that job... ended up going to another job that offered me a very low salary (I had no visa in the country , so was looking for a sponsor, which makes things a lot harder) and the company went bankrupt within a few months!

Anyway, I still got the visa, and then, with a few months to find another job with more peace of mind, I eventually got much nicer job, paying a lot more! But I still dread the though of doing an IQ test, despite my years of experience indicating I am more competent than average, at least.

I have never had to take a general IQ test when job hunting here in Sweden. Coding tests, yes, but not IQ.

I had to do it twice for different companies that used the same IQ-test platform.

And most of the time it's not even proper IQ-test but only Raven Matrice test + maybe quick math tests.

Funny thing was that I did very good (apparently according to the HR person) on one of them, but did horrible enough they didn't even call back on the second test.

grids my gear why this is still a common practice in Sweden. HR in Sweden seems to be about one or two decades behind rest of the world in their efficiency.

I would disagree. I’ve never heard of any company doing this, nor any former or current colleague that had to do one.

Really? I'm surprised I haven't heard of that.

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