Employer forces candidate to complete bizarre intelligence tests for management position: 'At this point the job market has become a joke'

JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor

Jun 13, 2026 10:00 AM EDT

Should you have to complete a brainteaser in order to get a job?

It's understandable that a potential employer might want to know how your brain works. It's part of why they want to hire you. They want to know what knocks around your noggin and how. They want to know how you might solve certain problems in the workplace and how you might tackle the challenges of the job. There are a few ways that employers do this, beyond just asking for your resume and cover letter. Maybe once you're in an interview, they ask you pointed questions about experiences you've had, or even problems you might come across. Interviews are one thing. But tests are a completely other kind of gambit. What are you supposed to do when you wind up feeling like you're being bamboozled just to get hired? Nobody wants to feel like they're being taken advantage of, and nobody wants to be made a fool. But that's what was happening in this story shared to the antiwork subreddit. The things that they put you through just to get the job should be interrogated to the highest degree. The hoops you have to jump through are already crazy enough. Nobody wants to do even more than they have to. But a job application can also be a great way to have insight into a company before you even work there. You can get a sense of what it would be like to spend your days with them, and you might not enjoy it.

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Ridiculous set of questions I got for a management position. I didn't complete it.

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Sometimes you have to reach out and ask for what you want. The person in this story was trying to do that, but wasn't sure how. When you're looking for a job, you can feel like you have none of the power, and the employer has all of it. This can feel incredibly discouraging and make you lose faith and start to do things you wouldn't normally do. That's what was happening here. Read on to see what you think about it.
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Some commenters agreed that this was unreasonable.

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