Pavlov’s Dog, Trained Monkey, Idiot or Genius

Well today I think I almost suffered the ultimate indignity in job search activities. I received an e-mail the other day for an IT company in which I applied and this is the response that I received:

Thank you for showing an interest in Sunshine IT Inc.

After initial review of your resume, we are interested in moving you forward to the next step in our employment process: our on-line assessment.

You should be receiving an email shortly from Test First that will provide a link to their website as well as your log-in and password information.

Please set aside 2-2 ½ hours of uninterrupted time to take the assessment. Most of the sections within the modules are timed, so accuracy and speed are important. You may not use a calculator, but the use of pen and paper is encouraged. Each section has multiple pages; please make sure you complete as many pages as possible. Do not move to the next section until you complete all the pages or you run out of time. The assessment must be taken on a PC, using Internet Explorer web browser. Other browsers are not supported. It is also important to answer the questions as honestly as possible, since the tool tracks whether you are answering candidly or telling us what you think we want to hear. Assessment results will not be shared with candidates.

Please be aware that if you move to the in-person interview stage, you will be asked to retake the first portion of the assessment again, to make sure all of our applicants are being tested under the same conditions. The assessment will apply to all opportunities at Sunshine IT.

Thank you for your time and consideration. You will hear from us a week or so after you have completed the assessment. If you have questions in the future, please don’t hesitate to contact me. In the interim, please feel free to browse our corporate website at www.sunshineit.com

I was curious. I’m on spring break from my teaching position so I had a little extra time to kill so I clicked on the link and took the “little test”. What a slap in the face that experience could have been if I were seriously looking for a position with that company.

“What is the next letter in the sequence?” AABBCCDD 1.A 2.B 3.E 4.F

“What is the next shape in the sequence?” Square, Circle, Triangle Pentagram, Heart shaped tutu!

“What does almost mean?”

“Do the math” – You are the bus driver. There are 20 kids on the bus. You stop and pick up 3. Then you drop off 5. Next you pick up 7. Then you drop off 15. Next you pick up 30 and let off 15 and then pick up 400 and drop off 500. What is the name of the bus driver?

“When did the US enter WWII? Who is the president of the UN? What is a bear market? Blah blah blah blah blah…..who the heck cares and what does all this have to do with my ability to train and educate learners on their particular healthcare IT product?

Searching for a job has become ridiculous! When employers make applicants jump through a ton of hoops that really don’t mean a hill of beans where does that leave us as a human race? I can tell you first- hand what it does to the human person; it is demeaning and degrading. A robot is deciding whether or not I will be a good candidate for the company. All this data sorting, and key wording, and search criteria, take the human out of the being and debase the individual into compressed statistical megabytes of information.

When will this nonsense stop? When will employers put the human back into resources? I know this, I am an excellent educator but the HR person on the other end of my “Monkey Test” will never know. Perhaps they do know. Perhaps they are only looking for Pavlov’s dog. Time will only tell. Will I be labeled as another idiot applicant or will I be revered as the latest genius to pass through their electronic matrix?

“Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures that the final victory comes.” - The Buddha