Why do companies have aptitude tests? This is ridiculous. (application, applications, employers)
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Location: where people are either too stupid to leave or too stuck to move
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Welcome to the club. I took a test to work in personnel and the questions had nothing to do with human resource or anything . I passed but didnt get the job, im reapplying and have to retake it because my scores have expired.
Ok first of all, OP, you have a certificate in everyday Photoshop type programs. Dreamweaver? Do professional design companies code websites for clients with Dreamweaver? I don't even know but a guy showed me a site he wanted me to buy that he coded with that and it looked like almost a template. Maybe he didn't know much more than the basics, I don't know.
Come on now. Those two things are programs that teenagers pick up in their spare time. You should be mad at the tech school who sold you a bill of goods not the potential employers. You are competing with much more experienced and seasoned people with college degrees and most likely also work history.
And NO these tests are not ridiculous, even the phone company gives them for entry level sales jobs.
While I sympathize with your frustration you really have no clue about the needs of the business. Also, google web design and math. There are pages of pieces written on the relationship between the two.
Also, when you go for an interview it's your responsibility to find out as much as possible about the company, just FYI.
Take an internship or low entry level job that is NOT in your field to get your foot in the door somewhere. My son took an internship in the MAILROOM and within 2 years was the most indispensable employee in the company PER the two owners. He was actually a graphic designer but WANTED TO WORK THERE. As it turned out he fit with the company so well he did very little design work and was the owners' product manager once they saw how good a fit he was.
He got his dream job working his way UP and they even started him out owning his own company after a couple of years. They took points on his sales and they merged resources like the product fulfillment outsourcing for a volume discount.
You are a person who has alot to learn about all this stuff, change your attitude to be a LEARNER not a complainer and put in the hard work it takes to LEARN on the job instead of assuming you know things about how businesses work. Or start your own.
A math wizard friend of mine from MIT said the best thing about the school is they teach you to THINK not take tests. But he can pass any test you hand him. My husband worked in the BASEMENT for 1 FULL YEAR with a TUTOR to be able to pass the math required to get into the program of his choice at an elite school. And he already had a masters degree in Economics from another country.
Or go back to school online. You're not the first person who thought life was going to let you avoid the tough stuff.
And did you post that you have a linkedin account but "don't even know how to use it"?? How can that be true and think about it? What kind of initiative does that show??
Last edited by runswithscissors; 08-14-2013 at 08:23 PM..
This is a partial explanation. New media is hot right now, the applicant pool is enormous and companies, if given the option, want clever people. It’s a riff on the ludicrous questions a lot of tech companies ask (see: Toughest Job Interview Questions - Business Insider).
I’ve had a lot of jobs where I wished my coworkers were cleverer in a general sense.
let me get this straight...you believe that companies want to spend time, money, and effort bringing people to a location and administering a test just because they want them to fail? Please tell me what the point of that is.
Pretentiousness. There are many companies nowadays that like to think they are much cooler than they really are. So they try to do the same things they see and hear about in other startups. Google type questions, curve balls, trying to sound like they are hackers, focusing too much on tech buzzwords and the programing language of the month, etc.
So it is not that they want you to fail as much as they want to come across as being really hard to get. It is in fact the companies that do mostly inane work or fluffy stuff like multimedia and marketing and design stuff that seem to want this the most. Don't get me wrong - they are usually fairly creative companies, they are just not hardcore tech companies but for some reason they want to be.
It is the same pretentiousness that you see in bucket loads in ad agencies and media houses. They all want to be cool more than anything else.
I applied for a web design internship and was called for a "possible" interview, but only after I pass the aptitude test. I asked the employer via email what this test consists of so I can prepare for it, and he said that it was a general test and there was nothing to study for.
I said okay. So I went to the office with nothing to study for. All I've googled from aptitude tests were just puzzles you find in generic IQ tests.
The lady(at the front desk who was not the employer) gave me a packet, and asked me to work in another room. The packet consists of 5 pages of problems that you normally get in a college algebra course(some of it was logic and puzzles). She gave me, 12 minutes to finish these tests. So I did the best I could. Some of those questions took a bit of time to answer correctly. I only managed to reach about 2 pages. And when the test was done, the lady checked and told me that I didn't answer enough questions, therefore not qualify for an interview. At that moment, I wanted to cry. I wanted to send the employer and email and say "What the **** was that for?!"
I left the building, in tears, in absolute anger that my 2 hours of my time was wasted(I take a bus to the building.) I wanted to cuss out the employer and say "Why". Why the living hell of all things would you bring math questions in a job that consists of designing things?! What does that have to do with my skills in HTML, CSS, Photoshop, all the adobe products, concepts of design, which I study very hard for?! I didn't even get a chance to show off my skills.
If there was a test that consists of HTML and Adobe Creative Suite, I would have grabbed all of my design textbooks and spend all night studying for it. Making sure I remembered everything there is to know about the topic.
What does this have to do with being a web designer?! Why do I have to answer some irrelevant aptitude test?
Oh i definitely feel you on this.
I actually did tell say something about this same situation some years ago. I went in to apply for a sales position and they gave me more or less the same thing. I was like what the hell is this? I didn't finish it, in fact I got up and I said I am sorry I am applying for a sales job and I don't see what algebra has to do with this. They tried to say something about how it was to test people and I said if I wanted to do this then I would have majored in math and not history and I did walk out. I never went back.
So now people are complaining about an impartial assessment?
They complain that you have to know someone to get the job.
They complain that you have to be a smooth talking salesman to get the job.
They complain that you have to pass a test to get the job.
For those that have voiced complaints, on what criteria should companies pick employees from the pool of eligible candidates?
Personally, I thought the Wonderlic was easy to finish within the given time. Whether it's a good test for applicants, I'm not so sure.
Just because a test is impartial does not make it relevant to the selection process. You can ask every candidate to juggle 3 rubber balls and select on their ability to do so. That is an impartial selection parameter but an irrelevant one. I think tests are a good selection tool I just don't think this particular test was used in a way that was relevant. If they gave him a test of basic math skills with a reasonable time limit and it was pass or fail that would be relevant. This quasi-IQ test seems much more murky.
Just because a test is impartial does not make it relevant to the selection process. You can ask every candidate to juggle 3 rubber balls and select on their ability to do so.
And the test, while it may appear irrelevant, might actually be relevant. If you were applying for an office job, and I asked you to juggle three rubber balls, you may think I was going to judge you on your ability to juggle. But maybe I'm just trying to determine how you handle a situation where someone throws a curveball.
Taking these tests is not simply about the math. It is about finding the candidates with good prioritization and time management skills- compeltely relevant skills for any job.
Just because a test is impartial does not make it relevant to the selection process. You can ask every candidate to juggle 3 rubber balls and select on their ability to do so. That is an impartial selection parameter but an irrelevant one. I think tests are a good selection tool I just don't think this particular test was used in a way that was relevant. If they gave him a test of basic math skills with a reasonable time limit and it was pass or fail that would be relevant. This quasi-IQ test seems much more murky.
The Wonderlic is a basic math skills test.
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