WTF with high school questions? • Hacker News Board

Re: WTF with high school questions?

#11

Post by dymk » Tue, Jan 24, 2023, 6:49 PM UTC

nickff wrote: post #8

juice_bus wrote: post #2

It feels like Canonical does this silly shit so only the truly desperate will apply, and thus take lower compensation. I would of closed the tab pretty quickly.

You seem to be making a lot of assumptions about Canonical's motives and reasoning. Perhaps the question about language indicates that they're only looking for people who wouldn't have closed their tabs.

I would be able to give "impressive" answers to those questions, yet I'd still close the tab. Canonical is shooting themselves in the foot.

The next worst thing they could have asked was my Myers-Briggs personality category.

Re: WTF with high school questions?

#12

Post by biesnecker » Tue, Jan 24, 2023, 6:49 PM UTC

I've literally never been asked my college GPA, let alone high school. My first job out of school wanted to know that I had a degree, which I did, and asked me practical questions. Every job since has asked me about previous jobs and then asked me practical questions.

Re: WTF with high school questions?

#13

Post by TrackerFF » Tue, Jan 24, 2023, 6:49 PM UTC

I've never seen this outside investment banking or management consulting, and even then, it was a very local thing (Scandinavia)

edit: Because they wanted "full picture" of the candidates. Meaning that they don't put too much weight on your HS grades, but that having been a consistent performer throughout your life, is a positive trait for them.

Re: WTF with high school questions?

#14

Post by analog31 » Tue, Jan 24, 2023, 6:49 PM UTC

I met a former HR person from a company that had these kinds of questions, such as your SAT scores. She told me the point was hiring people who are competitive enough to care about that stuff.

Re: WTF with high school questions?

#15

Post by rilindo » Tue, Jan 24, 2023, 6:50 PM UTC

jackmott42 wrote: post #3

A lot of people who have problems with various recruiting techniques seem to assume a universe where nobody is dishonest. You can call for references but in many cultures people do not want to be mean and will say nice things about you even if you were a terrible employee. People will also lie and scheme and it can be difficult to really dig into someone's professional career to know if they are serious and good peop…

That is what background checks are for. They are irritating, but at least that would let the job candidate apply without having to fill in all the crap from the get go.

Re: WTF with high school questions?

#16

Post by activitypea » Tue, Jan 24, 2023, 6:50 PM UTC

A common situation in my country is that quite a few high school math teachers are psychotic sadists -- maybe a few of the hardest-working students will clear the bar for the equivalent of an A or B. Sometimes the students with "the most potential" will have average (or worse) grades because the teacher prepares special, harder exams to push them harder. High school is usually an unrepresentative mess, I'd to love learn about the background of the person that decided this question is valuable.

Re: WTF with high school questions?

#17

Post by dymk » Tue, Jan 24, 2023, 6:51 PM UTC

LatteLazy wrote: post #4

This is dumb. If you don't want to apply, don't. If you think something is no one else's business, don't tell them. But don't cry when they discard your application because they think it IS relevant, because shockingly you don't personally have a monopoly on truth...

Personally, I'm thankful the author made a blog post about this. I can now safely skip Canonical on my next job hunt, so that's time well saved.

Re: WTF with high school questions?

#18

Post by 13of40 » Tue, Jan 24, 2023, 6:53 PM UTC

"In highschool I did well enough at Z80 assembly code in Junior year that I was selected as a teacher's assistant for the Pascal class in Senior year...Kiddo."

Re: WTF with high school questions?

#19

Post by garciasn » Tue, Jan 24, 2023, 6:53 PM UTC

treis wrote: post #10

They use the same format for Accounts Payable Clerk as they do for Director of Devops. Slightly lazy, sure, but not really blog post worthy. If you're an experienced hire just put do not recall and move on with your life.

Could be auto-culled based on those types of answers, and that may be completely ok with any number of us but the vast majority of folks probably just answer as they normally would.

Re: WTF with high school questions?

#20

Post by noirbot » Tue, Jan 24, 2023, 6:53 PM UTC

jackmott42 wrote: post #3

A lot of people who have problems with various recruiting techniques seem to assume a universe where nobody is dishonest. You can call for references but in many cultures people do not want to be mean and will say nice things about you even if you were a terrible employee. People will also lie and scheme and it can be difficult to really dig into someone's professional career to know if they are serious and good peop…

Sure, but asking me to self-report that information is a lot different than requiring proof of it.