As the economy rebounds from the Great Recession, companies are now able to hire workers to help them grow and thrive. Many companies have used the downturn in the economy to reinvent the hiring process, bringing it into the 21st-century. These new practices caught my attention last year as I embarked on a journey for new employment. As a 40+ male, my “desirability” index is not high on most employer’s radar and I found it very difficult to get my foot in the door. Frustrated and unemployed, I decided that I needed to better understand the minds of the hiring personnel in an HR department. What I found was alarming! Many companies abandoned the traditional application and interview process and replaced it with multi-level testing exercises
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I lopped thirty years of career experience off of my resume, leaving only one and a half years of employment history and my college education. I then submitted this resume with my application. Within a day I received an email requesting I submit my transcripts, showing that I completed the four prerequisite courses outlined in the job posting and GPA. After submitting those documents, I received a follow-up email explaining the next steps. The first thing to do was a two-part reading comprehension and depth perception test. If I passed those tests, I would be granted a telephone interview. The reading comprehension test required you to read a three paragraph passage and then answer 5-8 multiple choice questions about what you just read. This was fairly straight-forward and could be passed with a junior high school education. Next up was a depth perception test (figure 1.1) that tested you on your ability to visualize an object in three-dimensional space. This was quite easy for me as I have extensive experience in design and can easily visualize these objects. Upon completion, the results were uploaded to the recruiter, prompting her to call me. She congratulated me on passing the test and scheduled a phone interview for a few days
I lopped thirty years of career experience off of my resume, leaving only one and a half years of employment history and my college education. I then submitted this resume with my application. Within a day I received an email requesting I submit my transcripts, showing that I completed the four prerequisite courses outlined in the job posting and GPA. After submitting those documents, I received a follow-up email explaining the next steps. The first thing to do was a two-part reading comprehension and depth perception test. If I passed those tests, I would be granted a telephone interview. The reading comprehension test required you to read a three paragraph passage and then answer 5-8 multiple choice questions about what you just read. This was fairly straight-forward and could be passed with a junior high school education. Next up was a depth perception test (figure 1.1) that tested you on your ability to visualize an object in three-dimensional space. This was quite easy for me as I have extensive experience in design and can easily visualize these objects. Upon completion, the results were uploaded to the recruiter, prompting her to call me. She congratulated me on passing the test and scheduled a phone interview for a few days