4 ms·

A bit out of topic and not really an answer to your question. Once in an interview for a startup company(~10 people), when I got into the office they had an un

A bit out of topic and not really an answer to your question. Once in an interview for a startup company(~10 people), when I got into the office they had an uncompleted coat hunger from IKEA and there was a person trying to assemble it. They intentionally let me wait for a bit next to him and he started to look confused with the manual so naturally, I offered to help him and got on my knees and started to read the manual. They told me much later that that was a test and I had successfully passed it. I am not sure about the validity of such a test and maybe someone else can verify it.

koopuluri 9y ago
Wow... that's out there. Intuitively it makes sense: I would want to work with someone that chooses to help others around them when presented the opportunity. But then again, I wouldn't feel comfortable taking away points from a candidate if they didn't help - maybe they were stressing over the interview they were about to have, etc. and didn't want to distract themselves. > maybe someone else can verify it I'm really curious to see if anyone has implemented such a test over and over again.. The biggest challenge right now with changing up the interview process is validating the change is tough. You need to use the same challenge in a lot of interviews, and track how well the candidates did over time at their jobs, if hired, in order to be able to verify. Tough to do for a startup.
tebugst 9y ago
I love to help other people to fix there coding problems. But in this situation I may withdraw unless I really feel person needs help. As per my experience, sometimes offering help hurts ego ( particularly senior brogrammer )
- kostarelo 9y ago
  Sensitive egos isn't quite a proof of healthy teamwork players, right?
deepaksurti 9y ago
>> they had an uncompleted coat hunger from IKEA http://worknearyou.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ikea_job_interview-300x208.jpg http://worknearyou.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ikea_job_i...
megaman22 9y ago
Assembling furniture as part of an interview process for a white-collar job is a little silly, and I can easily see how that might introduce bias if it's given much weight - that's sort of a stereotypically male task, down to the usage of spatial orientation skills to understand and compare the instructions versus the assembled object.

koopuluri 9y ago

Wow... that's out there. Intuitively it makes sense: I would want to work with someone that chooses to help others around them when presented the opportunity. But then again, I wouldn't feel comfortable taking away points from a candidate if they didn't help - maybe they were stressing over the interview they were about to have, etc. and didn't want to distract themselves. > maybe someone else can verify it I'm really curious to see if anyone has implemented such a test over and over again.. The biggest challenge right now with changing up the interview process is validating the change is tough. You need to use the same challenge in a lot of interviews, and track how well the candidates did over time at their jobs, if hired, in order to be able to verify. Tough to do for a startup.

tebugst 9y ago

I love to help other people to fix there coding problems. But in this situation I may withdraw unless I really feel person needs help. As per my experience, sometimes offering help hurts ego ( particularly senior brogrammer )

kostarelo 9y ago
Sensitive egos isn't quite a proof of healthy teamwork players, right?

deepaksurti 9y ago

>> they had an uncompleted coat hunger from IKEA http://worknearyou.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ikea_job_interview-300x208.jpg http://worknearyou.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ikea_job_i...

megaman22 9y ago

Assembling furniture as part of an interview process for a white-collar job is a little silly, and I can easily see how that might introduce bias if it's given much weight - that's sort of a stereotypically male task, down to the usage of spatial orientation skills to understand and compare the instructions versus the assembled object.