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Telling you that all applicants would be writing about the same feature
sounds like they're trying to assure you that they're not asking their
applicants to document their product for no pay, and yes, asking you
to write about their product gives them a much better chance of seeing
your writing than asking you to write about the "surprise object that is
not related to the company's products in any way at all" (you're less
likely to be able to paste in something you found elsewhere). Most
CEOs don't interview individual contributor candidates except as a
final check after others have screened them, so if you had prior
interviews by phone or in person with other people and your intuition
tells you that things were going well prior to your meeting with the
CEO, the fact that you got to that level at all ought to be positive. Other
than that, I don't think it's possible to form an opinion based on the
information you've provided.
Gene Kim-Eng
----- Original Message -----
From: <subscribe -at- cuff -dot- mailshell -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Sent: Saturday, May 29, 2004 11:14 PM
Subject: Ethics of job-interview testing
>
> Yesterday, I had a 15-minute job interview that terminated abruptly. The
president and CEO told me to go home, log into their product via a guest
account, and write up a page or two of documentation for that product.
>
> <paranoid_delusion>They stressed a couple of times that all applicants
would be writing up the same feature. The way they stressed it made me
wonder.</paranoid_delusion>
>
> Does this strike anyone else as being slightly shaky? They told me they
wanted me to take this test to prove I could write. (Umm, and you consider
that text I e-mail you from my home computer has to have been written by
me?)
>
> I've taken writing tests for job interviews before. They usually involve
writing instructions for a "surprise object" (last time, it was a telephone)
that is not related to the company's products in any way at all. Am I being
overly sensitive, or does anyone else get a weird vibe?
>
> Admittedly, whether or not it's ethical doesn't affect my participation,
but I hoped you'd be able to give me a reality check.
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