This is not a new thing that google invented (although, its possible they did it much better). According to some of the things I've read today, one of the benef

This is not a new thing that google invented (although, its possible they did it much better). According to some of the things I've read today, one of the benefits of using intelligence tests is that they tend to be valid across industries and positions, which means that unlike many other forms of hiring selection, you do not need to do an internal HR audit for applicability. This makes them convenient for enterprises of all sizes. However, in the past, and currently for items like psychological / social fit / performance metrics, etc, it was usually necessary for a company to find their good hiring metrics by doing an audit of previous 'successful' vs ' unsuccessful' employees, and compare attributes. The successful employees made up the desirable attributes, as you might expect, and this is what HR looked for. There are many, MANY problems with this way of thinking, but it did work fairly well, I think. This has been done for a long time, and the army started it. It seems likely the one thing google could apply to the process is its significant algorithmic capabilities.