Organizations today are perhaps more aware of the importance of human capital than ever before. Talent acquisition and retention are essential for success.
Entrepreneurs and business owners have a difficult time finding qualified employees, especially when their businesses are just starting out. When business leaders do not use well-validated screening tools, they often overemphasize things that may hinder the selection process.
Check out the snowflake test for an example.
A top executive devised the test in order to eliminate a particular type of job candidate. While the executive received attention for the snowflake test, business leaders also found it interesting.
As a screening procedure, it would be wise to reconsider including the snowflake test.
Hire people for the sake of being cool, but you won’t be as cool as Tesla or Apple. This might destroy your company’s reputation if you use it as an application pop quiz.
The Snowflake Test: What does it entail?
Here is an introduction to this test. A snowflake test that Kyle Reyes developed for potential clients is a screening tool for Silent Partner Marketing. To avoid interviewing overconfident and overrighteous candidates, we have developed this CEO-inspired test.
This process will identify and eliminate such applicants.
Snowflakes are by definition those who complain or whine and don’t support their points of view and come to the table with nothing but an entitled attitude. As part of the snowflake test, applicants must complete 30 multiple-choice questions, along with a short essay.
Questionnaire for Snowflake
Applicants to companies that provide snowflake testing to applicants shouldn’t be surprised at the questions they’re asked.
There may be questions on this exam such as these:
- What is your usual way of starting the day?
- Whose importance do you place higher? How street smart are you? Give a brief description of your response.
- How long has it been since you last cried? Why then?
- A word with an interesting connotation is “faith”. How do you feel about this?
- Bullying isn’t your cup of tea. What do you do?
- What trigger warnings should we provide for controversial content?
- If you see someone walking on the American flag, do you step on it?
Initially, some of these questions may seem irrelevant or too personal for the job. According to the interviewer, the way the candidate answers these questions reveals a lot about the type of candidate he or she is.
Does the snowflake test work as a hiring tool?
You might be tempted to use the snowflake test in your business, as it can surprise even the most prepared job applicants. As a result of this hiring practice, your organization will suffer more harm than good.
Reasons for this are:
Lying is encouraged when candidates take tests for jobs
You’ll pass this test because the truth isn’t as important as answering the interviewer’s questions. The snowflake test brought a flood of applicants to Reyes’ firm, who knew what sort of answers he wanted.
Even if you don’t know the answer, you must choose the “correct answer” on the snowflake test. Thus, the correct answer will appear when you research and submit the question. Playing a game is what it is.
A culture of fear is embedded in the test
This test likely degrades the individual as well as determining surface worth. Leadership is about inspiring, motivating, and uplifting your team to success. In fact, the test appears to make things worse instead of improving safety.
By implementing the snowflake test, companies are sending a message that they value and respect employee views and opinions. Due to their fear of being different, they will be afraid to voice their opinions if they ever have any.
Business leaders may face legal problems
Snowflake tests may cross over into discrimination or denial of service in some instances.
When you are taking the test, you will be asked how faith means to you. This application does not ask people directly about their religion, yet an applicant might misinterpret it as if it had done so.
Even though this may appear to be an innocent question, it will provide insight into how the job candidate lives. In order to maintain equal employment opportunities (EEOC) a question such as this is frowned upon.
Is there an alternative to the Snowflake Test?
Is there a legal way to screen job candidates? Try sticking to job-related questions rather than throwing random questions at the interviewer.
When interviewing someone to be a customer service representative, you can have the customer be obnoxious to the employee. A question about how an applicant would handle an angry customer should be asked.
Come up with questions for interviews using a data-driven hiring platform like Caliper or Traitify. HR managers can identify candidates who are suitable for certain jobs based on their skills and personality.
Candidate assessments prepared by professionals could be negatively impacted. This is a useless test that employers will eventually realize if they include it as part of their hiring process.
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