RE: Hiring Criteria, Writing Tests, and Drug Tests

Subject: RE: Hiring Criteria, Writing Tests, and Drug Tests
From: Janet Valade <janetv -at- systech -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2000 14:55:57 -0700


the companies I worked for hired a woman who was a PhD and looked
really
impressive on paper. (She taught university
level classes, had a couple of undergraduate/graduate degrees in
varied fields
etc.). I got my first clue about her on the second day of
work. She came to me and said: "I don't see how anyone can compose
a document
and type it in the computer
at the same time. I just can't do it, but they won't give me a
secretary to do
it for me." Well I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt. I
thought --

I don't think you have a lack of testing here. I think you have a lack of
interviewing. Did anyone ask her if she composed on a computer? Did she lie?
A simple question like which WP software did she use would have "unmasked"
her.

It's my belief that the only way you hire a good person is by learning about
them in the interview process. The samples are the starting place for a
discussion. You point to a place in a sample and say, "how did you do
this?" or "why did you do it this way". A few questions and a little
discussion soon reveal the persons abilities, knowledge, and attitudes. It
may be possible for someone to present a totally imaginary picture to an
interviewer, but not many people can do that. Especially in a field such as
ours with technical information that you can ask about. I suppose a test
could serve as the same sort of starting point for a discussion, but after a
test, a testee is likely to feel irritated and under scrutiny and less
likely to be comfortable and forthcoming in the interview.

I think using writing tests is detrimental to the hiring organization. I
think the people who are most experienced and who have the most confidence
in their skills and their ability to get a job are the people who will
probably say "no thanks" when they are presented with a test. I think this
whole discussion may be more about personal style, than about any objective
properties of tests. I think some people have more faith in their own
ability to read people and some people prefer more objective, standardized
criteria for their judgments.

Janet

Janet Valade
Technical Writer
Systech Corporation, San Diego, CA
mailto:janetv -at- systech -dot- com



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