<p>If that is the case, I dont understand why they just dont outright ask you to take an IQ test? Im not doubting your statement here, Im really asking why not?</p>
<p>I actually have recently covered this topic in a psych class and companies can ask you to take an IQ test, provided that they can show the tests relate to the position and provided that no discrimination laws are broken in the process. By asking for an SAT (well-known to discriminate among different ethnicities) as well as having no more relation to a position than an IQ test would it seems there would be no reason not to just ask for an IQ test?</p>
<p>That is a lot more fair using the GRE than the SAT. At least the GRE would be recent. Basing a hiring decision of a college grad on the SAT just seems ridiculous given the time frame in which it was taken.</p>
<p>And to be fair, TAMU is not exactly known for EE.</p>
<p>Just one simple example was when a number of pilots tried to sue an airline for requiring a college degree in order to be a pilot. Obviously, a degree in liberal arts has nothing to do with flying an airplane, yet, it is still a requirement. However, the would-be pilots lost the case because the airlines were able to show a correlation between a college degree and the ability to learn quickly due to the very large overhead associated with training pilots it was deemed necessary to have quick learners in order to cut costs.</p>
<p>I would imagine that anybody trying mercilessly to triangulate your IQ in order to qualify you for a job has some well documented research showing that cognitive ability is a major predictor in job success hence, I see no reason not to just ask for the IQ itself?</p>
<p>Personally, I wouldnt give them an IQ test or an SAT score. However, what they are doing is done by almost all major corporations to one extent or another. By having GPA cutoffs, mental reasoning tests, behavioral tests, etc., companies try their best to make well informed hiring decisions. I just dont understand why they would go to such extreme lengths to pinpoint someones IQ when Id be willing to bet they have their bases covered on these three other fronts that all essentially measure the same thing. When I first realized that it was actually legal to require such things I was surprised, because nobody can do anything to change their mental ability so it seemed inherently discriminatory to me. Nonetheless, for those of us out there who will never ace standardized tests without an answer key I say its just all the more reason to stay motivated and learn how to communicate well, as these two things have trumped intelligence many times throughout history and unlike an IQ, you have at least some control over them.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody gets really rich over a lawsuit concerning requiring SAT scores for jobs. I suppose it depends on how BFOQ law is laid out, but if it is found to result in discriminatory hiring (even on accident!) it’s a ticking time bomb.</p>
<p>I would never work for a company that asks for SAT scores. I would be very hesitant to work for a company that required GRE scores. If a company had a test they administered for a position, that’s one thing, because it’s fair. Some things are fair and some things aren’t, and despite what a lot of pretentious blow-hardy people will say, some things are fair by law. This would be one of those things. Like I said, I don’t know about loopholes, but…</p>
<p>Eh, I don’t think it is inherently discriminatory any more than anything else in life to hire based on intelligence. A company should have the right to hire whoever it thinks best fits the job, and if that job requires intelligence, then they have every right to discriminate against people who they judge to be less intelligent. I just think it is rather surprising that some companies rely an a test taken 4 years ago, before entering college, to help them gauge intelligence. I agree that you ought to be able to get a good enough idea of a person based on their GPA, experiences, references and the interview if you ask me, then throw a company specific logic/skills test in some cases and I just don’t see the utility in using the SAT like that. I am glad I have never run across a company like that.</p>
<p>Discrimination laws should come in when two equally qualified candidates are presented and one loses because of race, religion, sexual orientation, etc. Those should not be invoked when one candidate is clearly stronger than the other. THAT is where affirmative action is broken.</p>
<p>I’m with you on this. That’s why I figure that anybody with the b***s to require such a score certainly has some comprehensive research showing that there is correlation here. Hence, why not just ask them for the IQ test…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>In a general sense I agree. However, I tend to disagree that the great majority of jobs out there require a whole lot of intelligence. Yet, almost every major company recruits with at least some emphasis put on GPA. I would argue that most engineering jobs (as most are not the prestigious design work) would never require the amount of either effort, or intelligence, that getting through a decent engineering program with a 3.0 GPA does. As a case in point, a number of the engineers that worked with me last summer sat in front of spreadsheets and did routine procedures – yet, everybody who worked there had very high marks from very well known engineering programs. Simply put, I don’t agree that there should be arbitrary selection criteria just for the sake of weeding out applicants. The governing BFOQ laws protect certain parts about this, but in theory, what they are supposed to do is stop any unmerited discrimination. For instance, you shouldn’t have to be a body builder in order to work in a warehouse that requires the lifting of 20 lb boxes.</p>
<p>That is true to an extent, though once you get above the B.S. level it gets more… in depth. That is one of the main reasons I am going for my Ph.D. actually, because I find the B.S. level jobs to be fairly mundane for my taste and I want to get in there and do research and really push the envelope. =)</p>