I mean, unless the job was to solve Form 2 physics and rules to be read from someone’s mind via bluetooth,

eliminating a candidate on such grounds…. you, reader, will judge whether it was justified.

Let me tell you the story.
A painful, yet a hilarious experience from my job search some time back.

So,

I applied for this electrical engineer position at a big international company.
No names mentioned. (For legal and emotional reasons 😏).

I saw the job ad online. Sent my CV.

As you all know,

Step one: your CV must fight in the royal rumble, knock out 500 others,
and convince the system you deserve to live.
Mine did🤜

Next, the surviving CVs face HR.

This is where your papers must sing lullabies so sweet, that HR, who possibly already has someone in mind, can’t help but dump the rest straight into the recycle bin.
Again, my own won. 💃

Invitation received. Online screening done. Passed like a champion.

I thought,

“Yoh, we’re almost there!”

But then came an email from HR,

“Hi Denish, You got a written assessment to test your suitability for the role. Carry a calculator with you,” She said.

I was like,
Aiii, why is that? Is this a national exam or what did I just get myself into?

Anyway.
I want this job. After all, I already have the experience.
Perhaps, they just want to know if I can calculate power or PUE or Gen efficiency or board loading or energy consumption or redudandy … ..you know,
thing datacenter engineers do all the time.

I said okay to the email.

On the d-day.

At 1 pm, I showed up sharp.

They handed me a paper.
“Electrical test” 30 questions. “Mechanical test” 15 questions.”

Pause.
Did you hear me?

‎Let me repeat this part so I’m sure you understand what I’m talking about here.

‎I had applied for electrical engineering position, specifically, a datacenter engineer.
‎
‎As any candidate would, I expected tests on that line, particularly,
‎
‎Because really,
you are not hiring me to calculate calculus or solve belean algebra. That I had done in colleage.
‎
And ‎the fact that I hold genuine BSc. degree, not just in electrical engineering, but also in telecommunications engineering means I had proved myself on those basics.

Back to the story,

Anyhow, they ushered me into a small room.
Paper. Pen. Calculator. Phone.

Then the HR tells me, as if reading weather news:

“Ok Denish. You have 2 hrs 30 mins. Score 75% in each section or else you are dropped. Your time starts now.”

‎”Alright. Thank you,”
I replied opening the paper that was about to judge my competency.

Friends, stop. Shout “shock!”🥱

NOTHING inside that paper was related to datacenters. Nothing!

The “electrical” test looked exactly like Form 2 end-term physics. I sat that kind of paper in 2006😁😁

Of the 30 questions, 20 were about resistance. The same thing. Over and over.

Imagine,
You could pass that test without really knowing anything datacenter.

‎Again,
even if you truly had the skills and experiences they were looking for,
but couldn’t recall the effective resistance formulae in the Wheatstone bridge circuit, you could still fail properly.

I stared at the paper like, “Are you serious?”
Was this a recruitment or KCSE revision?

Then came the “mechanical” section.

Let me laugh here first. 🤦
Because apparently, they expected me, an electrical engineer, to design HVAC systems. Wow!

Fair enough,
my CV said I had supervised HVAC services before.
It never said I was an HVAC guru with blueprints in my head 🤐 I know is how to put things and people in place for HVAC work to happen. How to supervise, manage. Not design or repair.

And just when I was wrestling with the confusion, HR stood up casually:

“Hey Denish, I gotta rush. Just drop the paper at the reception when you’re done.”

I responded with the standard ‘ok’ answer.
She walked out, shutting the glass door behind her.

Then,
I picked up my pen, looked for instructions.

Well,
a few lines.
Write your name. I did.
What role are you applying for? I indicated.
Answer all questions.

Excuse me?
That’s all!
Yes. Nothing more.
No rules. And he was gone.

So, I was there in the room.
Just me, my pen, and Google staring at each other.

Anyway, I battled the physics section. Done. It was hard to fail that one 💪

Then I reached the HVAC part. Theory. Hard theory. At least hard for someone who had never been to HVAC class before.
There, I could answer only five.
The rest? I had no clue.

I still had time though.
Then an idea hit me. 💡
I wasn’t going to let time run out on me without doing anything.

You see, engineers don’t just “know” everything.

And in real world, engineers don’t work solo.
We solve problems by researching, collaborating, and innovating.

Teamwork?
I didn’t have a team.
But I had research tools; a smartphone and Google.

Before I turned to Google.
Reread the instructions.

No mention of “don’t use your phone.”
Nothing close to “don’t use Google.”

In fact, they have a WIFI in that room. The lady at the reception had asked if I wanted to use WIFI. She could share the password.

To me all these communicated one thing,

“It’s your life, bro. Figure it out” 😫

So I googled everything I didn’t know. Finished strong.

Submitted the paper. Walked out with a smile.

🤫with a 75%+ score, I would be invited for the interview.

Weeks passed.

I didn’t hear from them.
Then ‎I wrote a follow-up email as I should as a professional.

The reply was
“Hey, we gave a feedback. Just check your mail.”

It was a lie. They never did.
‎
‎An insider told me,
‎I had been eliminated for violating assessment policy 🙄

People. The only written instructions were as I said above.
The verbal one was “score 75% or more”

So, what policy exactly? 🤷

Am I supposed to calculate resistance and still read hiring rules from HR’s mind?

Guys, explain to me…
Why do some organizations use these long, unnecessarily complicated hiring processes?

Why test someone on skills completely unrelated to the role or experiences you required on JD?

Why trap candidates in ambiguity, then blame them for breaking invisible rules?

Till today, I don’t get it.