On Jan 3, 2008, at 8:48 AM, Karl Cunningham wrote:

We give a written test to all applicants, and say so on the job advertisement. The test has about 20 job-related questions, with several requiring some basic math to solve. The time it takes the applicant to complete the test is recorded. If they pass the first test they are given a second, more difficult test. The ones with the best scores on both are given an interview.

We figure this puts every applicant on an equal footing and since we only ask technical, job-related questions it reduces the chance of discrimination. Somewhere around 90% of applicants are weeded out at this step so it covers most of the potential discrimination problems.


While coming up with those written tests can be a very difficult and tedious task in and of itself, it really does ensure that the person you're interviewing hasn't simply bullshitted his or her way into the interview chair.

The fact that the tests are a requirement to _get_ an interview interest me greatly; that would likely have saved me a lot of time (and frustration) when I was trying to hire another sysadmin back at my last job. There, though, the test was given as part of the interview, so even if they bombed the test, you still had to go through the face-to-face.

Gregory

--
Gregory K. Ruiz-Ade <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
OpenPGP Key ID: EAF4844B  keyserver: pgpkeys.mit.edu



--
[email protected]
http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list

Reply via email to