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Oh boy. Bad memories for me here! When I interviewed at my current job, they
gave me a written test. It asked for definitions of all sorts of technical
terms. I bombed - and bad. I was extremely frustrated, as I knew what a lot
of these things were. But, I too, needed reference materials to give the
kinds of definitions they were looking for. Of course, I just handed over
the test and said "I bombed" quite pleasantly. I figured it was over. I
interviewed and the next day, to my surprise, received an offer. I still
believe that the test was ridiculous. As far as I can tell, I've become a
valued employee. There are others who could breeze through that test, but
who aren't doing quite as well. I agree with Andrew's point that what
matters the most is how you handle the test.
I do understand why companies think they need to give tests such as these.
But, I really do believe that you'd find out more by doing a thorough
interview. Tests can be frustrating and intimidating and bring back bad
memories from school [maybe that's just me]. I don't believe it's
necessarily an indicator of what type of employee you'll be. Of course, if
giving definitions to these types of terms is necessary to the job... But,
in my job, I need to know what many of these things are, and do, but still
bombed :)
Tara
-----Original Message-----
From: Ehr, Meg [mailto:Meg -dot- Ehr -at- smartworks -dot- com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2001 2:39 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: RE: Technical Test
Re: Andrew's technical eval.
I'm curious: do you allow access to any supplemental materials? I could
probably answer all of those questions if I had some basic reference info at
my disposal (as it is, I'm thinking I *should* know the answer to about
three or four off the top of my head). It may not be what you're testing
for, but providing basic materials might allow you to assess the
individual's ability to find the answer.
Of course, I'm not expected to document any of those topics, either. If I
was *supposed* to know that stuff, well, I guess I'd better!
Meg Ehr
Perfectly happy trying to figure out XML, EDI, and Ariba, thank you.
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