GMAT now directly used by HR

From Business Week: GMAT scores are reportedly used by a select tier of employers to narrow the job candidate pool:


For a select group of companies, mostly top consulting, finance, and banking firms, employers routinely look to MBA graduates' GMAT scores as a reliable standard measurement of academic prowess—a fact that may be well-known to MBA students in the thick of the job search, but is relatively unknown among applicants when they're taking the test. Particularly when jobs are tight, and every element of each résumé takes on added weight, test scores can be the difference between an interview and the dustbin.

[...]

At the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business (Mendoza Full-Time MBA Profile), university staff went one step further. Mendoza sent a letter to its 2011 class informing it of the test's importance in prestigious firms' recruiting processes and offered a four-day course for students wishing to retake the test. Five did, at their own expense, and increased their scores by an average of 19 points. "We see a large number of consulting companies, some investment banks, and a couple of corporations all looking at both GMAT and undergrad and MBA GPAs." says Patrick Perrella, Mendoza's director of MBA career development. "These companies are looking for a sustained record of academic excellence."

http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/oct2009/bs20091019_412671.htm?link_position=link3

 

Have I ever shared my "trained monkey" model of HR staffing...?

To paraphrase one of my most controversial theories, if we make all the HR rules (by false simplification of job positions and candidates) so simple that a trained monkey could hire employees, why don't we let trained monkeys hire all our people?

 

From GMAT's website:

http://www.gmac.com/gmac/TheGMAT/GMATScores/HowtoUseGMATScores.htm


Inappropriate Uses of GMAT Scores

GMAT® scores should not be used for the following purposes:

* As a requisite for awarding a degree

* As a requirement for employment, for licensing or certification to perform a job, or for job-related rewards (approved score-receiving institutions are not permitted to make score reports available for any of these purposes)

* As an achievement test

 

My guess is that the schools aren't releasing the scores, but instead these top-tier firms are either requiring, or it's become common knowledge, for the applicants to self-report their score on their resume or application.

In the times of an employer's market (i.e., too many applicants chasing too few jobs), often the HR department will look for screening tools to help narrow down to those applicants that are considered a good possibility for fit with the organization and so would move on to the interview stage. I highly doubt that the GMAT is being used as more than that in these situations (at least I hope not!). However, I'm not defending it as a screening tool at all -- there are far better measurements out there that a competent HR shop could use than a standardized test such as the GMAT (or the GRE, or SAT, etc).

Cheers,
Adrienne

 

That's got to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard. How on earth can a one-time test, usually taken before the degree program commences, be indicative of a sustained record of academic excellence? That's what an average GPA indicates, not a one-off test. Mr. Perrella should know better, and should make it a part of his role, when liasing with companies, to educate HR departments as to the purpose of GMAT, and what it does not do.

Sheesh.

 

My thoughts - Employers need to be ELITE WITHOUT BEING ELITIST

The biggest monster I’ve seen is Exxon Mobil

 

Perhaps an ethics and morality test for those working in finance and baking firms would better serve the public. They are the idiots who created the current economic depression with all their chicanery. And a kill switch embedded into their genitalia for good measure of compliance.

 

With Chris Dodd and Barney Frank holding their coats...

 

...and smiling as Nero played fiddle. Career politicians are a significant part of the problems with government today. In the beginning the politicians were supposed to return home to the own business, farm, or other work for the majority of the year and it was never intended there be a political class. Term limits of 8 years (president), 4 years (senate) and 2 years (congress) need be enacted in law and strictly enforced. A similar scheme would be welcome in Canada too - 8 years (prime minister), 4 years (senate), and 2 years (house) with a strict policy of "If you miss more than 5% of sitting time, out the door immediately."

 

Run

Yep, it's a conspiracy I tell you...

 

By the way, U.S. Senators serve six year terms.

 

The only companies doing this are top tier investment banks, accounting and consulting firms. The big accounting firms require that Masters of Accounting students submit their GMAT scores as well, not just MBA students.
They are mainly looking to the quantitative section of the test, which is an indication of a candidates ability to work with complex numbers.
The firms they are talking about tend to only recruit from the top 10 or 20 business schools and weed out that pool by usually requiring a GMAT score of at least 700, at least that is what the big i-banks were doing as late as 2007.

 

Please add BIG oil!