Re: Why don't more job interviews use writing tests?

Subject: Re: Why don't more job interviews use writing tests?
From: Iliana Kostova <i_kostadinova -at- prosyst -dot- bg>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 14:33:30 +0200


Dick Margulis wrote:




Iliana Kostova wrote:


my company can hardly gain any decent benefits from the applicant's work.



Yes, that's obvious to you and me; but how much would it cost your employer to pay a lawyer to convince a labor department hearing officer of that fact?

There are rules (varying from country to country and, within the US, from state to state) governing testing of applicants. You can do it, but you have to do it within the framework of those rules. Talk to your HR department before you decide to start a testing program. They can set the boundaries for you.


Dick, I can get your point.

I am usually testing applicants together with the HR manager of the company, so I presume this activity as legal at least in Bulgaria. Here writing tests is a common practice for most of the IT companies - programmers do tests on programming and technical writers do tests on writing documents.

What our HR manager has explained to me is that the procedure is legal as long as the applicant agrees to get tested. But you are right that the issue on maliciously using an applicant's work for free still remains. So these are the adopted rules and we're trying to follow them as much as possible. How fair these rules are is another matter and I do not have the expertise to discuss it.

However, IMHO the legal part is not the main aspect of the discussion, am I right. As far as I can see, people here are discussing how useful such tests are and how often such tests are set in companies' recruit campaigns. What I simply meant in my previous message is that testing people before hiring them is a good strategy as it may turn out that you have just engaged another "good actor" as somebody has already mentioned in this discussion. Then you, playing the manager, should persistently try to make him or her do something with the required quality which may become very painful for the manager.

Testing an applicant may also reduce the extent of subjectivity which an interviewer can have.


Best regards,
Iliana Kostova.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

WEBWORKS FINALDRAFT - EDIT AND REVIEW, REDEFINED
Accelerate the document lifecycle with full online discussions and unique feedback-management capabilities. Unlimited, efficient reviews for Word
and FrameMaker authors. Live, online demo:
http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l

Doc-To-Help 7.5 Professional: New version with new features, improved performance and reliability, plus much more! Download your free trial today at www.componentone.com/techwrlfeb.

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.



Previous by Author: Re: Why don't more job interviews use writing tests?
Next by Author: Re: Why don't more job interviews use writing tests?
Previous by Thread: Re: Why don't more job interviews use writing tests?
Next by Thread: Re: Why don't more job interviews use writing tests?


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads