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by Bostonian 1571 days ago
IQ tests have been shown to have predict performance in a wide range of jobs. There is a 2004 paper "General Mental Ability in the World of Work: Occupational Attainment and Job Performance" http://wminsk-shared-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/Schmidt_Hunter_20... .
3 comments

There's always someone pointing to some psychiatric study that it predicts some kind of future performance, despite the fact most of them can't be reproduced.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/08/27/6422183...

Out of all the subjects out there, I find psychiatric studies to be the most bullshit out of all of them. It's whatever you want it to be. I am sure if I was motivated, I would find another study that says the complete opposite.

I am a Mensan and even I find these IQ tests pointless and stupid.

IQ testing studies aren't the kind that fail to reproduce. The replication crisis is with other kinds of studies.
That seems both obvious and irrelevant to hiring. In today's market you are less picking the best available person and trying to increase the number of people available for the position who are willing to take it.

You never want to create a filter so small that no one can pass through it.

Increasing the number of people available for a position doesn't help you hire a better candidate if you aren't able to effectively screen out candidates.

I don't see why an IQ test creates a filter so small no one can pass through it. It's just one more data point.

It filters out people who wouldn't take it to begin with. I know I wouldn't continue with the process at a place that puts stock in one.
Not sure why you wouldn't want to take an IQ test, they don't strike me as any sillier than the multitude of other questions I've been asked for hiring.

Most places I've seen that use IQ tests usually hire from non traditional backgrounds. People without experience, bad GPAs etc...

How could a test that is predictive of job performance possibly be irrelevant to hiring?
Maybe you should fund a study about the success of companies that hire software engineers via IQ tests versus companies that don't test candidates via IQ test? Cause that would be a lot more relevant than your paper...
That wouldn't happen because IQ tests for employment are illegal due to Griggs v Ohio