Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

IBM's Asshole Test

johnpublic.mataroa.blog

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

271–280 of 604 posts

Re: IBM's Asshole Test

#271

Post by johnnyanmac »

cmckn wrote: post #93
eej71 wrote: post #67

Decades ago, in the days before uber, my employer would fly in candidates from college campuses as part of an onsite interview. The candidate would fly in the night before and we relied on a taxi service to bring the candidate to the hotel. Then in the morning the same service would bring them to the onsite and of course bring them back to the airport at the end. It was a whole curated process. Little did the candida…

Hm, I don't dig this. I don't think it's ethical to evaluate a candidate's interactions when they weren't informed they were being evaluated. People are stressed heading into an interview, and may be upset afterwards. Unless they're interviewing for a public-facing role, I don't see how this behavior is relevant to the job; and discussing it with a hiring committee invites all sorts of "cultural fit" biases that make…

>I don't think it's ethical to evaluate a candidate's interactions when they weren't informed they were being evaluated

I may have agrees 15 years ago. But in a day and age where one random tweet of personal opinion can cause a PR disaster to an entire company, it seems inevitable that they want to make sure a candidate isn't going to potentially go off the rails.

For better or worse, many people are connected worldwide for a signifigant part of the day, and have accounts that are easy to cross reference. e.g. a twitter account has the same name and location as a linkedIn profile.

----

with all that said, I'd be surprise if it was anymore than what was described; an ability to interact without unneeded hostility in life. I don't think you're gonna be dinged for failing to count change correctly and have that impact your eligibility despite whiteboarding your practiced algorithms to perfection.

Re: IBM's Asshole Test

#272

Post by tastysandwich »

One of my first grad interviews was at a large bank. They had one big interview day, where dozens of people were invited and herded into a big room together. They had several smaller rooms where different stages of the interview process were conducted. Your name would be called along with the room number and you'd nervously walk on in. Then you'd come out, waiting for the next interview. One was technical, and I think others were more around culture fit?

I was so so so nervous.

The final part was a big group task. About 10 of you sat around a table in a big room. Then in the room sitting & watching were a bunch of people in suits (psychologists maybe? HR people?) watching you and taking notes.

You were then given one sheet of paper to share with the group outlining some "problem". I can't quite remember what it was, but it wasn't technical, and it wasn't a logic puzzle. Maybe solving some global problem?

Anyway, I was soooooooo nervous, I thought "I know, I'll try to show my leadership skills!"

I quickly grabbed the piece of paper and blurted "Ok guys, what do we think!"

I must have sounded like a maniac. One of the other candidates shot me down immediately with some sarcastic comment, and it was all over for me haha! I tried my best to be calm and productive but I was done like a dinner. Lesson learnt!

In retrospect I'm really glad I didn't get that job. Smaller companies have worked way better for me and my personality.

Re: IBM's Asshole Test

#273

Post by User23 »

hindsightbias wrote: post #146
eej71 wrote: post #67

Decades ago, in the days before uber, my employer would fly in candidates from college campuses as part of an onsite interview. The candidate would fly in the night before and we relied on a taxi service to bring the candidate to the hotel. Then in the morning the same service would bring them to the onsite and of course bring them back to the airport at the end. It was a whole curated process. Little did the candida…

Was told if you interview with the FBI, the interview starts the moment you go through the door. And be careful what you say at the bar.

The FBI will go door to door talking to your neighbors. I know this, because I was a neighbor.

Re: IBM's Asshole Test

#275

Post by solarhoma »

eej71 wrote: post #67

Decades ago, in the days before uber, my employer would fly in candidates from college campuses as part of an onsite interview. The candidate would fly in the night before and we relied on a taxi service to bring the candidate to the hotel. Then in the morning the same service would bring them to the onsite and of course bring them back to the airport at the end. It was a whole curated process. Little did the candida…

Sounds fine on the surface. Until you dive deeper and think the taxi driver will eventually be aware of the leverage they have. And decide to be malicious with their own biases.

Re: IBM's Asshole Test

#276

Post by johnnyanmac »

genewitch wrote: post #196
SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't want to work with anyone who treats service workers like garbage, no matter what mood they are in. I have never in my life, no matter how bad or good of a day I am having, taken my frustrations out on a service worker for whatever internal/external stressors are happening to me.

I find this extremely hard to believe. I, too, try very hard to not get upset at "service workers", but at a certain point, if someone has a bad attitude with me i'll eventually give it right back. This has only happened a few times, off the top of my head: support at ISPs a couple of times, creditors who were harassing me without reason, and one time extremely rude and racist people at a California School transporta…

>You might be as stoic and nonplussed as you claim, but we're all the heroes of our own stories, or something.

I prefer the terms lazy and non-confrontational, myself. But no, my first response to undue difficulty isn't to lash out. Better to save my energy and time and just hang up, walk away, etc.

I'm the above in part because: I'm certainly no hero and don't expect my words to magically fix the cable industry or have some insularly bigoted person see the light of day. There are others who spend full time+ attempting to do such feats with varying success. Some may find that lack of resistance as tacit approval of the current norms, and they may be right on a subconscious level. But I simply don't have the energy or will to care 99.9% of time with so many other things demanding my attention.

I don't see myself as some paragon of patience turning the other cheek, I just say to myself "I don't have time to deal with this" and run away (metaphorically speaking. Mostly)

Re: IBM's Asshole Test

#277

Post by dolebirchwood »

wolverine876 wrote: post #244
hnarn wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't think it's ethical to evaluate a candidate's interactions when they weren't informed they were being evaluated. That makes about as much sense as saying that you shouldn’t be held responsible for stealing office supplies because no one informed you that there were cameras installed. If you treat cab drivers and other service personnel badly, that’s because you’re a shit person. It’s really that simple. I’ve…

> If you treat cab drivers and other service personnel badly, that’s because you’re a shit person. That attitude seems the same one that judges service workers. IME, and based on what I know of humanity, people act badly because they feel vulnerable; they are scared or anxious. It's still bad behavior, but they aren't 'shit people'. If bad behavior damns us, then we all qualify. The mistake is judging others, and lac…

These are reasonable points in the context of normal everyday life. However, when making a hiring decision, there are likely to be several competent candidates who could all do the job just as well as any other. If you've got an easy way to filter out potentially problematic candidates based on their soft skills, might as well do so to avoid a bad hire. There's no room for giving the benefit of the doubt in this context.

Re: IBM's Asshole Test

#278

Post by Taniwha »

badkitty wrote: post #260
SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't want to work with anyone who treats service workers like garbage, no matter what mood they are in. I have never in my life, no matter how bad or good of a day I am having, taken my frustrations out on a service worker for whatever internal/external stressors are happening to me.

That's the really nasty thing about retail: the angrier and more abusive you are, you'll likely get your way. And much of the time, "your way" is being made whole with the situation. Ive worked retail for quite some time but broke out into IT. But the abuse is expected in retail. Managers are paid minimally more to deal with it - and that's to prevent customer complaints to corporate. Pretty much everyone, at some ti…

depends on where you live - growing up in New Zealand we don't have a tipping culture, servers will get to you, in your turn, try and demand service and you're cutting against a cultural grain, perceived to be trying to claim you're better, more important, than the other customers, or the server.

I read somewhere that our "obnoxious American tourist" stereotype came from some time in the 60s when rich tourists started flying across the Pacific, showed up and and started demanding service like they did back at home

Re: IBM's Asshole Test

#279

Post by DaveExeter »

_moof wrote: post #36
WisNorCan wrote: post #17

I am fairly sure Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos & Elon Musk would have failed this test. Are you better off having them at your company or not?

Having worked for one of the people in that list, I can say that yes, I am definitely better off not having that person at my company.

Steve? I assume you are talking about Steve.

Yeah, that guy had problems.

Post reply on HN