[fixxer]

These things are really just filters. Due to the legal aspects of hiring/recruiting, especially at large companies, these exercises are par for the course. Once you're in a large company, firing can be very difficult, so I'm all for filters.

Personally, after having taken many of these tests myself, if you're having even minor problems, that is a huge red flag for me. They're really just binary filters on basic skill level.

[walshemj]

With the USA's at will and limited worker protection you must be kidding about how hard it is to fire people

[fixxer]

In my experience, it is very hard to fire people if they are simply incompetent. You can fire them for mistakes, but just sucking at one's job is this awkward grey area where you wrestle with HR and they usually suggest investing in training, etc. That is fine and good, but when I got a deadline, I'm not going to tow deadwood.