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SAT score is known to be predictive of college grades. Is it also predictive for whether a mid-to-late career candidate will pass a phone screen? It is used for

SAT score is known to be predictive of college grades. Is it also predictive for whether a mid-to-late career candidate will pass a phone screen? It is used for early career candidate filtering in finance, but I have not heard of anybody caring beyond that because of the availability of signal on the actual tasks they will be performing.

consensus1 4mo ago
It is correlated tightly with IQ, so yes it will likely be a strong predictive signal for passing a phone screen.
- cute_boi 4mo ago
  Maybe Maths, but english is probably not correlated tightly with IQ as it is more affected by language background and education.
  - gruez 4mo ago
    >english is probably not correlated tightly with IQ as it is more affected by language background and education. No, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G_factor_(psychometrics) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G_factor_(psychometrics) English and math has a 0.64 correlation.
  - Maxatar 4mo ago
    I feel like it's a common misconception that IQ only tests some narrow intellectual abilities like math and logic, likely because online tests and fake IQ tests tend to focus on those kinds of puzzles. Actual IQ tests actually do place heavy emphasis on language skills like vocabulary, verbal abstraction and comprehension.
- lern_too_spel 4mo ago
  That doesn't answer the full question. Is SAT (or even IQ) positively correlated with phone screen passage after controlling for past work/education experience?
cute_boi 4mo ago
> Is it also predictive for whether a mid-to-late career candidate will pass a phone screen? The answer is probably no. I got many friend they got good marks in SAT, but they were average.
- jimbokun 4mo ago
  Would you include the ability to differentiate between anecdotes and peer reviewed studies in your assessment of intelligence?
labcomputer 4mo ago
> Is it also predictive for whether a mid-to-late career candidate will pass a phone screen? I’m sure having access to your own SAT scores (or even remembering what they were) is highly predictive of not being someone who it would be illegal to fire because they are too old… which is probably the point… and why I’d expect most HR departments to shy away from this requirement.

consensus1 4mo ago

It is correlated tightly with IQ, so yes it will likely be a strong predictive signal for passing a phone screen.

cute_boi 4mo ago
Maybe Maths, but english is probably not correlated tightly with IQ as it is more affected by language background and education.
- gruez 4mo ago
  >english is probably not correlated tightly with IQ as it is more affected by language background and education. No, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G_factor_(psychometrics) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G_factor_(psychometrics) English and math has a 0.64 correlation.
- Maxatar 4mo ago
  I feel like it's a common misconception that IQ only tests some narrow intellectual abilities like math and logic, likely because online tests and fake IQ tests tend to focus on those kinds of puzzles. Actual IQ tests actually do place heavy emphasis on language skills like vocabulary, verbal abstraction and comprehension.
lern_too_spel 4mo ago
That doesn't answer the full question. Is SAT (or even IQ) positively correlated with phone screen passage after controlling for past work/education experience?

cute_boi 4mo ago

> Is it also predictive for whether a mid-to-late career candidate will pass a phone screen? The answer is probably no. I got many friend they got good marks in SAT, but they were average.

jimbokun 4mo ago
Would you include the ability to differentiate between anecdotes and peer reviewed studies in your assessment of intelligence?

labcomputer 4mo ago

> Is it also predictive for whether a mid-to-late career candidate will pass a phone screen? I’m sure having access to your own SAT scores (or even remembering what they were) is highly predictive of not being someone who it would be illegal to fire because they are too old… which is probably the point… and why I’d expect most HR departments to shy away from this requirement.