I check in with the kitten of the blogosphere regularly because he links to interesting stuff. His comments, however, are strange at times, almost dimwitted. I don’t know what to make of it, but maybe he struggles with his sanity or something. Either way, this post got my attention. He is right that companies continue to use pre-employment testing even though the courts ruled against it in Griggs. I worked at two companies that employed the Wonderlic, math and vocabulary tests and personality profiles. I’ve administered so many tests I lost count long ago. The thing he does not understand is that these are not used in isolation. That’s how big companies get around Griggs. In many cases, the testing is done after a decision to hire. Companies also have diversity programs to avoid the dreaded disparate impact claim. Of course, all firms use filtering mechanisms to sort resumes.

That later bit is something employees like the aforementioned blogger don’t get. Management regularly meets with HR to discuss standards and practices. The reason it is not just “standards” is there are a lot of things done at the HR side that are not formal policy. That’s both out of necessity and habit. Humans are not, in fact, moist robots. If Sally from HR went to a Catholic college, she may be partial to applicants from Catholic colleges. Fred, a state U grad, may favor the state university. HR could very well be tasked with hiring minorities or women, even though it is not official policy. What no company does since Griggs is use an IQ test as a first filter. That’s no longer legal and a sure way to get sued. They may achieve the effect, but that’s in response to Griggs, not in spite of it.