Snowflake Hiring Test

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TheArmsman
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Snowflake Hiring Test

Post by TheArmsman »

http://newbostonpost.com/blogs/you-want ... ere-it-is/

If you want a checklist of questions to ask new hires, you might want to try this one. Some of the responses are pretty hilarious. Might use some of these myself when I have to hire more people.
When death is inevitable, style counts.

Survival trumps programming.
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Jericho941
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Re: Snowflake Hiring Test

Post by Jericho941 »

Ooh, this should be fun.
1. Outside of standard benefits, what benefits should a company offer employees?
That's charmingly vague. If they're not getting any bites with their current package, they're going to have to find a way to sweeten the pot one way or another. Try fattening the health insurance and contribution-matching 401(k)s.
2. What should the national minimum wage be?
Why, is this a minimum wage position? Am I going into payroll? No? Who cares?
3. How many sick days should be given to employees?
As many as it takes to stop me from catching Ebola from Perfect Attendance Man.
4. How often should employees get raises?
That depends greatly on the health of the company, performance objectives met by the employees, and the local economy. Yearly cost of living adjustments are appropriate to avoid bleeding employees to competitors.
5. How do you feel about guns?
I feel that -based on what is almost certainly company policy for liability reasons- that's none of your damn business.
6. What are your feelings about employees or clients carrying guns?
I don't care.
7. What are your feelings about safe spaces in challenging work environments?
Someone tries to come up with a carcinogen-free alternative to the smoke pit and suddenly it's the end of the world.
8. In a creative environment like The Silent Partner Marketing, what do you envision work attire looking like?
Based on your website, despite all the pictures of suits: popped-collar polo shirts and cargo shorts.
9. Should “trigger warnings” be issued before we release content for clients or the company that might be considered “controversial”?
Why, are you selling sexual assault?
10. How do you feel about police?
Am I being detained?
11. If you owned the company and were to find out that a client is operating unethically but was a high paying client…how would you handle it?
Cut ties immediately, Arthur Andersen. Turning a blind eye to unethical practices for the sake of short-term profit is how you wind up sinking with Enron and the banking collapse of 2008.
12. When was the last time you cried and why?
I have cried twice in my life. Once when I was seven and I was hit by a school bus. And then again when I heard that Li'l Sebastian had passed.
13. You arrive at an event for work and there’s a major celebrity you’ve always wanted to meet. What happens next?
I don't want to meet celebrities.
14. What’s your favorite kind of adult beverage?
Rum for fun and whiskey for bad decisions.
15. What’s your favorite thing to do in your free time?
Not work and definitely not after-hours crisis management without time and a half.
16. What’s the best way to communicate with clients?
Directly and honestly.
17. What are your thoughts on the current college environment as it pertains to a future workforce?
I think that colleges offer an excellent environment for learning and teaching skills needed in business, STEM, and yes, even liberal arts. The fact that occasionally a bunch of students get loud and protest things they may or may not understand is only a matter of consternation for adult bedwetters.
18. What’s your typical breakfast?
Beer, Yoo-hoo and toothpaste.
19. What’s your favorite drink when you go to a coffeehouse?
I don't.
20. How do you handle bullies?
I get even.
21. How do you handle it when your ideas are shot down?
I reevaluate, revise, and [strike]get even[/strike] try something else.
22. What do you do if a coworker comes to the table with an idea and it sucks?
I tell them, politely but firmly, that it sucks.
23. What does the first amendment mean to you?
It means idiots are free to self-identify.
24. What does faith mean to you?
Sorry, is this a business or the seminary?
25. Who is your role model and why?
As a grown man, I do not have one.
26. “You’re in Starbucks with two friends. Someone runs in and says someone is coming in with a gun in 15 seconds to shoot patrons. They offer you a gun. Do you take it? What do you do next?”
I already have my own, and this guy sounds like a YouTube prankster, so I look around for the camera crew.
27. What does America mean to you?
Home.
28. You see someone stepping on an American flag. What do you do?
Roll my eyes and keep going.
29. What does “privilege” mean to you?
The ability to spend time writing up incredibly stupid questionnaires and pass it off as a legitimate part of the hiring process without losing your job.
30. What’s more important? Book smarts or street smarts? Why?
Neither. You need a balance; you can't apply one without the other.
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MiddleAgedKen
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Re: Snowflake Hiring Test

Post by MiddleAgedKen »

Yeah, that one is made of almost as much ass as Feldman's authoritarianism scale from skb's dissertation thread, but at least the "snowflake" test isn't claiming to have been "scientifically" validated.
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Netpackrat
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Re: Snowflake Hiring Test

Post by Netpackrat »

It's also a good way for an interviewer to get fired and/or get their company sued.
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Netpackrat
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Re: Snowflake Hiring Test

Post by Netpackrat »

Jericho941 wrote:Ooh, this should be fun.
26. “You’re in Starbucks with two friends. Someone runs in and says someone is coming in with a gun in 15 seconds to shoot patrons. They offer you a gun. Do you take it? What do you do next?”
I already have my own, and this guy sounds like a YouTube prankster, so I look around for the camera crew.
I think if somebody runs at me while producing a gun and talking about patrons getting shot, that is liable to be the person I shoot.
Cognosce teipsum et disce pati

"People come and go in our lives, especially the online ones. Some leave a fond memory, and some a bad taste." -Aesop
TheArmsman
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Re: Snowflake Hiring Test

Post by TheArmsman »

Netpackrat wrote:It's also a good way for an interviewer to get fired and/or get their company sued.
Which question(s) would be grounds for getting a company sued?
When death is inevitable, style counts.

Survival trumps programming.
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Netpackrat
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Re: Snowflake Hiring Test

Post by Netpackrat »

Mainly asking about faith.
Cognosce teipsum et disce pati

"People come and go in our lives, especially the online ones. Some leave a fond memory, and some a bad taste." -Aesop
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Jericho941
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Re: Snowflake Hiring Test

Post by Jericho941 »

Netpackrat wrote:Mainly asking about faith.
Yeah, that one could easily have the EEOC coming after your business. Even if an interviewee volunteers information about their religious beliefs, you're not allowed to ask about it. Now, they might be able to weasel out of it with "faith" being vague phrasing, but from their own website:
Faith – Political correctness be damned. We are who we are and have what we have because of a greater good. We might call that greater good by different names…but faith is an integral part of who we are.
That's a paddlin'.
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Vonz90
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Re: Snowflake Hiring Test

Post by Vonz90 »

Easier ways to figure this stuff out anyway. Ask people scenario questions, see how they react to things. Keep it work related because I do not care what they do away from work. If they are trouble, it usually comes out then.

I mostly care about how they work with a team and if they can solve engineering problems. It is amazing how many are freaked out that you ask them engineering problems when interviewing for an engineering position.
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blackeagle603
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Re: Snowflake Hiring Test

Post by blackeagle603 »

I mostly care about how they work with a team and if they can solve engineering problems. It is amazing how many are freaked out that you ask them engineering problems when interviewing for an engineering position.
Preach it brother. Even more basic than that, I'm happy if I can find one QE in 10 that can simply remember to think about the material pipeline from start to finish at any time during a quality containment/line recovery issue. That's before even finding out if they can think rationally with their technical mind about failure analysis and addressing root cause.

Don't get me started on the number of "certified" Quality Engineers I've interviewed who cannot begin to describe the difference between a process being "in control" vs producing "in spec." I think it was actually 2 out of 60+ Senior/Staff level QE's I interviewed over a 2 year period.

I let my ASQ certification lapse because I was so ashamed of them and that cert which I had once cherished and thought to be of significance -- and shifted my focus to engineering/s
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