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More important than the test itself, is the timing of the test.
I applied for a specific position where the manager was an arrogant
know-it-all who tested five applicants in a group setting, before even a
phone interview.
The test itself evaluated our academic knowledge, some technical
communication tasks, and an understanding of the subject domain. It was
apparent that I knew more about the subject domain than the manager.
The company had a pay parking lot, and would not reimburse us for wasting
our time on this fruitless exercise. I had half a mind to submit an invoice
for the time wasted during that portion of the application process.
Contrast that to another job where the manager said I was already hired,
but wanted to see how I naturally approached the type of work I'd be
assigned. This company had two main pain points: Developers wrote English
as a foreign language, and often wrote lengthy paragraphs which should
become process steps.
In the first example, the test already weeded out the applicants who didn't
fit, and the phone interview confirmed it. The manager hired none of us. I
saw the ad repeatedly over a year. I wonder if that manager just gave up
looking for a subservient coffee girl.
In the second example, I learned the type of work I'd have to do, and
realized at that point how I needed to restructure my time to get more
done. I didn't complete the second test.
-Tony
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