The U.S. basically made them illegal in workplaces in the 70’s, when it was shown that employers were using so-called intelligence tests unrelated to job functions to discriminate on the basis of race. Plus, in the 90’s they passed a law banning discrimination on the basis of disability. Now workplace testing needs to be shown to be directly related to job responsibilities, so general purpose tests are pretty much too much of a compliance nightmare to be worth the effort.
Maybe they’re still common in some other countries, but they’re really rare in the U.S.
I took a “personality” test in 2007 for my first job (union btw). Some pretty obvious basic questions that I imagine only a selfish sociopath would fail but maybe that helped filter at the time.
American (CA) engineer here, I had to take one of these for a job I ended up getting in 2012. It was for a big company too! They might argue that cognitive ability is directly related to engineering.
I actually do have a cognitive disability, ADHD. But I’m like a one-legged stripper… It might seem counterintuitive, but just watch me dance for a minute and then it will make sense.
I don’t know they still find ways to sneak them in. I took a “logic” test as part of an application recently for a job with the government. The questions weren’t related to anything I would be doing. It definitely felt l like they were trying to suss out intelligence.
The U.S. basically made them illegal in workplaces in the 70’s, when it was shown that employers were using so-called intelligence tests unrelated to job functions to discriminate on the basis of race. Plus, in the 90’s they passed a law banning discrimination on the basis of disability. Now workplace testing needs to be shown to be directly related to job responsibilities, so general purpose tests are pretty much too much of a compliance nightmare to be worth the effort.
Maybe they’re still common in some other countries, but they’re really rare in the U.S.
I took a “personality” test in 2007 for my first job (union btw). Some pretty obvious basic questions that I imagine only a selfish sociopath would fail but maybe that helped filter at the time.
American (CA) engineer here, I had to take one of these for a job I ended up getting in 2012. It was for a big company too! They might argue that cognitive ability is directly related to engineering.
I actually do have a cognitive disability, ADHD. But I’m like a one-legged stripper… It might seem counterintuitive, but just watch me dance for a minute and then it will make sense.
I don’t know they still find ways to sneak them in. I took a “logic” test as part of an application recently for a job with the government. The questions weren’t related to anything I would be doing. It definitely felt l like they were trying to suss out intelligence.