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Job application asked for my SAT scores

mrmarket.lol

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Re: Job application asked for my SAT scores

#81

Post by margalabargala »

doctorpangloss wrote: post #36
cm2012 wrote: post #30

I would never ask for them since its so cringe. But SAT scores correlate to IQ at .81, and IQ is one of the few things that strongly correlates to knowledge work performance positively. There is probably a lot of alpha from knowing candidates SAT scores. Its more useful than knowing the college they went to.

> and IQ is one of the few things that strongly correlates to knowledge work performance positively i think you mean that it correlates to pay. nobody knows what you mean by "knowledge work performance." reviews of your peers also correlated with pay. often it is not the smartest person who is the most popular. so... do you see how you said something kind of meaningless?

> nobody knows what you mean by "knowledge work performance"

I actually was pretty easily able to deduce what they meant by "knowledge work performance".

It's understandable to be frustrated by not knowing something, but to claim "I don't understand that and therefore no one does and you're being nonsensical" is a bad look.

Consider responding with curiosity rather than defensiveness.

Re: Job application asked for my SAT scores

#82

Post by jedberg »

OptionOfT wrote: post #50
amazingamazing wrote: post #5

Company is Alpha Vantage: https://beaverhand.com/apply/alpha-vantage-gtm-team-various-...

> Please note that we will also rely significantly on both solicited references (where you introduce us) as well as unsolicited or "back-end" references (where we do our own). For the latter, please rest assured that we will never contact a current employer without first getting your permission. References already give me goosebumps. Having them reach out to people who haven't given you permission to be a reference s…

Every job does that, whether they tell you or not.

Re: Job application asked for my SAT scores

#83

Post by caminanteblanco »

LPisGood wrote: post #64
caminanteblanco wrote: post #17

I just applied to Epic, the EHR company from Wisconsin, and I can confirm that they also ask for SAT scores. Thankfully I have my collegeboard credentials saved

Their pre-screen test was awful. Brain teasers, including some infamous ones like “if you have two coins that make 15 cents and one is not a nickel, how is this possible,” and moderately involved programming questions like “parse phone numbers from a file and record those with any of these area codes OR every other digit is a 2 OR they have multiple pairs of consecutive digits” and you’re given a blank text box with…

Thankfully, the coding assessment does have syntax highlighting for plenty of languages, but in general I feel like face-to-face assessments are more productive. TFA seems to make a similar point

Re: Job application asked for my SAT scores

#84

Post by jedberg »

buildsjets wrote: post #40

You cannot use the SAT as a metric to compare different cohorts. SAT scoring has been revised many times over the years. When I took it the highest possible score was 1600. From 2004 through 2016 the highest score was 2400. Now it is back to 1600 again. Plus, both the content and the format of the exam has changed many times over the years. At times, there was no essay requirement, at times the essay was required, an…

The scores have changed, but ideally they are asking for the percentiles. Those are scaled to the current year.

Re: Job application asked for my SAT scores

#85

Post by dragonwriter »

apparent wrote: post #78

> Why would you ask for a self-reported, unverifiable test score that could be decades old at this point? Because many colleges that used to reliably filter for them no longer do (or didn't during a several-year period). It's true that self-reported scores are not the most accurate, but if I were applying for a job I would report honestly, on the assumption that they could easily request for the scores to be sent by…

> > Why would you ask for a self-reported, unverifiable test score that could be decades old at this point?

> It's true that self-reported scores are not the most accurate, but if I were applying for a job I would report honestly, on the assumption that they could easily request for the scores to be sent by the College Board.

No, they couldn't, except by going through you (the College Board doesn't take third-party score requests.) You might be able to request that if they are recent enough, but not if they are literally decades old (well, not if they are ~21 years old or older.)

https://satsuite.collegeboard.org/scores/sending-sat-scores/...

Re: Job application asked for my SAT scores

#86

Post by tamimio »

> One of the least effective predictors was unstructured interviews or 'chats’

Yeah those are the worst, one time I had an “interview” with a company that I really liked, the founder is also an awesome guy and we chatted few times and all is well. Then I got invited to their facility, great place and team, some of them were structured on how they evaluate, but most of them were an absolute mess, and some of them were hostile as if I would get hired it will get them fired the day after (the passive aggressive of trying to belittle your projects or work and not trying to understand your approach it but to attack it instead) and when I would ask them in a good faith about something they did, you would get a fake halo effect with “oh I can’t tell it’s secret! NDA bla bla” as if they did a patented work.. it was horrible method to hire people despite the great founder I knew.

In my opinion, the best way is what I usually do, after initial screening, I give them an assignment that they can do in few days and then return the work, the quality of the output will determine that, and it’s exactly how you will do in real work anyway, and you get to measure their critical thinking and problem solving rather than how would they sell or articulate something on the spot (maybe they are overwhelmed and their head went blank), as I am looking for an engineer not a sales dude, and they would tale some time to build and solve it.

Re: Job application asked for my SAT scores

#87

Post by jedberg »

nostrademons wrote: post #18
tb99 wrote: post #7

Sneaky age filter? You must be young enough to remember your SAT scores.

I remember mine (both from when I was 12 and when I was 17) close to 30 years later.

Hah, you did the one at 12 also? I too remember both, and it was also 30 years ago. I don't know why, probably because they were really important numbers to teenagers, and they say you remember things that happened to you as a teen more than any other part of your life.

Re: Job application asked for my SAT scores

#89

Post by slashdave »

obviouslynotme wrote: post #45

They are obviously using the SAT as a safer alternative to the legally dubious practice of IQ testing which can lead to running afoul of the ADA and EEOC. I'm not sure it's much safer, but I am positive it's less safe than doing timed leetcode. At least leetcode problems can be painted as relating to the job. Additionally, the SAT is a shitty IQ test that is constantly crammed for and cheated on. I remember my SAT te…

> Higher scores mean better students, more funds, higher home prices, bonuses, and a litany of secondary effects.

Sounds like an IQ test

Re: Job application asked for my SAT scores

#90

Post by consensus1 »

lern_too_spel wrote: post #46
delichon wrote: post #28

Last month 2,400 University of California faculty asked for admissions to resume using the SAT "to ensure foundational fluency." Of course many employers want to ensure that too, especially when college degrees don't anymore. The widening abilities gap followed the 2020 elimination of the SAT/ACT, a temporary measure that has now become a permanent vulnerability. This outcome was explicitly predicted by the Academic…

SAT score is known to be predictive of college grades. Is it also predictive for whether a mid-to-late career candidate will pass a phone screen? It is used for early career candidate filtering in finance, but I have not heard of anybody caring beyond that because of the availability of signal on the actual tasks they will be performing.

It is correlated tightly with IQ, so yes it will likely be a strong predictive signal for passing a phone screen.
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