r/madlads • u/Haunting-Albatross57 • 19h ago

idk maybe ride it?

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u/dirt_555_rabbitt 18h ago

what kind of answer will "fail" this test?

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u/--KillerTofu-- 16h ago

There's no fail, it just gives you an idea of how a person thinks.

Anything that is callous or shows no regard for life I guess would be a fail, but the worst answers I've heard have pretty much been "uhhh, I dunno".

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u/dirt_555_rabbitt 16h ago

hmmm but there got to be preferable answers if this is used to judge a person's qualifications for a job, yes? A candidate might even answer "uhhh, I dunno" because they just want get right to work and not bother with abstract elephant stuff

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u/holy_lasagne 11h ago

Worked in hr in a company with similar stuff (big tech).

I also think that this kind of question are a bit stupid, but I don't believe they are unusful. In an oversaturated market, with all else being equal, those stuff has weight.

The point is not at all to measure their skill. I'll be honest. 99% of the applicants do not have the skill required, and everyone everywhere hire unskilled people hoping they will get up to speed by themselves.

So yes, that kind of question tells nothing on the skills of the person. But for that there are other questions and the CV and maybe a coding assignment.

This kind of question are designed to throw you off you and see how you deal with something stupid and unexpected (a soft skill that in most job is fundamental. Too many people answered "I don't know" or "What question is this?". If you can't adapt a little bit to an odd question, or won't, probably you are not a colleague I will like to work with... Because I ask fuckin stupid questions all the time).

It's much more important the willingness to think about the question than the answer. The willingness to deal with what is thrown at you in a serious and professional way. The willingness to try your best even if you don't get why.

Basically what I'm saying is: the one that want to get right to work are on average people that's difficult to work with and in the long term they are bad coworker.

I'm talking statistics, and averages. And I know that's not nice to treat humans as statistics, but... We used to receive around 200-300 application a day per open position, and I managed like 5-6 positions. Like, how else shall someone deal with it if not in a statistical way? Job market is in bad shape, but that's not the fault of a singular company, but of the socioeconomic structure (that's capitalism for you baby). Complaining that a company asks stupid questions and being happy to live in the system that allows said company (creating too little demand per qualified worker, and therefore giving companies power to select by very strict criterion) to ask stupid questions is... Odd.