Worker Confused After Recruiter Asked To See College SAT Scores As Part Of Their Job Application
Andrey_Popov | Shutterstock An engineer applying for a job at SpaceX didn't understand why the recruiter wanted to know what their SAT score was, but apparently, it's becoming more common in the hiring process.
There are some things that you just want to move past in life. No one likes to look back on the time they spent on college entrance exams like the SAT and ACT. Even if they did relatively well, no one remembers it as a positive, fun experience.
And, of course, none of us really thought those scores would be following us forever. It’s just a test, right? No one thinks that a recruiter is going to ask for their test score years later when they’re applying for a job after they’ve already graduated from college.
An engineer was confused after a recruiter asked to see their SAT scores.
A prospective employee posted in the r/MechanicalEngineering subreddit with an interesting query. “I’m interviewing for SpaceX and the recruiter just asked me for my SAT/ACT score,” they said. “I have a master's degree and two years of experience in the launch vehicle industry. Why does this matter in the slightest?”
Oladimeji Ajegbile | Pexels
Some Reddit users were pretty shocked that a recruiter would ask for something that just seems trivial now. “That’s idiotic,” one said. Others weren’t surprised, given the company it was coming from. “They buy into the Silicon Valley myth that SAT scores establish a ‘track record of success,’” someone else argued.
The workplace standard has always been not to look at standardized test scores, but that might be changing.
According to College Raptor, the SAT and ACT are tests for college-readiness and have nothing to do with how well-prepared someone is for an actual career. After all, the fact that you were able to complete a degree program in your chosen field is pretty much all the confirmation a company needs that you’ll be ready to go to work for them.
“However, you may want to include your SAT/ACT results if you’ve recently graduated high school, have limited work experience, or [you’ve] scored very high,” they added. If you don’t have a college degree or don’t really have a lot to fill out your resume with, an SAT or ACT score can be a good thing to include, especially if it’s impressive. Still, being asked for it was traditionally pretty rare.
Writing for TIME, Martha C. White reported that this trend is starting to shift, especially with the current job market. Since there’s an excess of applicants for a limited number of jobs, employers can be more picky and ask obscure questions, like what your SAT or ACT score was. Companies like Goldman Sachs, Bain & Co., and D.E. Shaw Group are among those asking for standardized test scores as part of their hiring process.
People are debating the fairness of using standardized test scores in the hiring process.
A TikToker named Nick, who offers advice for finance and consulting careers, shared that SAT scores are actually pretty important if you’re looking to work in business or finance. He explained, “What [the SAT] does is measure your ability to perform across three different areas: math, evidence-based reading, and writing. Top employers use it as the closest gauge to the modern-day IQ test, even more so than GPA.”
Of course, doing poorly on a standardized test doesn’t mean you’re not smart. In the CollegeVine Expert FAQ, where experts address common admissions questions, one expert noted, “Firstly, test-taking skills and subject knowledge can be two different things. Students who excel in their coursework might not be great at handling the pressure of timed tests or the specific question formats found on those standardized exams.”
Tests like the SAT and ACT do provide a helpful marker for showing what information students have retained. However, they are not the end-all, be-all of educational standards. Asking for those scores when someone is applying for a job after graduating from college seems extreme, especially in this Reddit poster’s case, when they have a master’s degree and two years of experience.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
