Testing...

I've watched trends in hiring come and go. The current craze seems to be a combination of psych testing and something that closely resembles the SAT tests (vocabulary and bizarre word problems to test, I guess, math aptitude and logic functions?)

I don't have a problem with this, except I cannot fathom what most of this has to do with the job for which I am applying. The tests I had to take today had some other types of questions "Name the city once divided by a wall" was one of them. Is this some subtle clue that I will be tutoring the boss's kids? "Name the permanent home of the United Nations"... wait, what? Is this something I am going to be asked in the course of my daily work? Is it some kind of test of "were you paying attention in your high school history class?"

And everyone wants to pull your friggin credit report. Guess what, if you've been laid off and out of work for a while, your credit is probably suffering. Doesn't make you a bad person. Doesn't make you a deadbeat. And without a job, your credit isn't going to recover, so using the fact that someone has subpar credit against them sounds ill advised to me.

Plus, drug testing. I understand that companies don't want addicts working for them, but I'm going to answer your phones, not pilot the company helicopter.

But these all seem perfectly reasonable to employers and they just dangle the carrot and you jump through the hoops and humiliate and dehumanize yourself because you want/need to have a paycheck so you don't end up living in a van down by the river.

That being said, I hope that one of these days jumping through all the hoops will pay off for me.