The Truss test is also relatively straightforward, unlike the craftier tactics deployed by the likes of Walt Bettinger, chief executive of US broker Charles Schwab.
He once revealed that he invited prospective hires to breakfast and, having arrived early himself, arranged for the restaurant manager to muck up the candidate’s order to see how they “deal with adversity”.
This is only marginally better than a US tech company I once came across that sometimes asked job applicants to play table tennis after their interview, to see how they managed “challenges”. At least Bettinger’s hapless dining companions got breakfast.
The trouble with both of these ploys is they assume that people going for a job behave honestly, which they do not.
If you really want a job at Charles Schwab, you will almost certainly treat a waiter politely at breakfast with the boss, no matter how many times you get an Americano instead of a latte. You will also cheerfully play ping pong, no matter how much you may hate it.
Maths ability is harder to fake, but mental arithmetic tests share another, deeper defect with the ping pong and breakfast trials. All suggest there is a special, fail-safe way to hire good people. In fact, picking the most suitable employees is one of the hardest things to get right in any organisation.
Remember this if you are ever unlucky enough to be asked one of those weird interview questions such as, “how many golf balls would fit inside a 747?” Or “how many haircuts are done in the US every year?”
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