Thursday, 12 January 2017

Quality of tests matter

Is going back to the basics really the right way of judging if the candidates have adequate grammar and punctuation skills needed to pursue a career in content writing? This is the first question that crept in my mind while I glanced through the questionnaire handed over to me by Accenture, one of the leading MNCs in the country. 

The huge multistory building at one of the most bustling areas in Gurgaon boasts of hiring the smartest people while allowing them relevant opportunities. The reviews on Internet make one believe that the tests taken are one of the most stringent kind allowing no scope for mistakes. Practical experience proved to be otherwise. The questions that the candidates, including me, were required to answer are simpler than the examples quoted in Wren & Martin, a book hailed as the best working piece on grammar.  The essay test seemed like a pastime activity for a 10-year old.

Jokes apart, if this is the level MNCs boast of being high and stringent, one wonders how they define the word “easy”. This kind of lax attitude followed by the management while ensuring employees of the greatest quality reinforces the myth that most companies do not value the importance of Content Writing as a profession or its importance in marketing of their products and services.

The selection process believed to be strict and innovative proved to be easy, long and boring instead. While such MNCs stress on the way they portray themselves in media, they need to exercise caution while planning the course of an interview meant to recruit employees looking to build a career with them. Such tests only coerce the candidates to ask the question, “Does the company understand what it is looking for in its employees?”

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