I’m a university student in my final year, and I’m currently applying to graduate jobs. I am really confused about the way in which many companies (especially the big ones) have designed their online assessments. Most of them do not even ask for a CV/cover letter/motivation letter/academic transcript. Rather, they have an aptitude test as the first step, and just ask questions about sexual orientation/socioeconomic background etc. The problem is that if you don’t pass these psychometric tests made of “real life based questions”, you’re automatically out of the game. At first, I thought it was just me not having the right “aptitude” for that specific company (which is fine). However, after 20+ applications I still haven’t managed to pass it. I’ve asked a few friends if they are having the same difficulties, and apparently many of us are in this limbo. At this point, we started questioning if we are a group of people with absolutely no common sense and no ability whatsoever to interact with others.
It appears to me that not only these tests favour people with access to a fast connection/good laptop (many of us are not from very privileged backgrounds/areas, unfortunately), but also cancel the humane experience of looking for a job. Some of these tests involve fast paced and visually distracting games which might be hard and confusing for people with attention deficit disorders. Fortunately there are others that have the option to have a simplified experience. However, if I’m presented with a question and a set of predetermined answers I don’t find appropriate on an hypothetical real life situation, this does not imply that I will behave in this or in that way when actually facing that specific problem. I personally believe that such a depersonalising process is not beneficial to neither the company nor the person who’s applying.
I would like to discuss this topic further, and I hope to find people who know how and why hiring processes are designed in this way.