Quiz Time...

slowsol

I recently went to fill out an application and I was told I needed to take a test/quiz to see if I was qualified for the job. I had to fill it out right there, and they timed me. Answer these questions and time yourself. I'm sure I am the slowest person here, but I will state my time later.

1. Do a take off for a 16'x20' room addition, first floor, crawl space, flat ceiling, 2x4 wall construction, 13lf of interior wall for closet. Do not include mechanicals or finish, rough construction only.

2. What does each of these abbreviations stand for?
TOW=
GFCI=
AFF=
W1026=
GWB=
S3=
OC=
R.O.=

3. Explain how to cut a common rafter at a 6/12 pitch.

4. When hanging doors, what would spacing would you leave at the sides and head jambs?
Does that change with the season?

5. Explain the process involved in setting the base and wall kitchen cabinets.

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-John

We'll have to grab a longer board. I forgot to put the wood stretcher in the truck today.

ProWallGuy

BUZZ!!!

I failed before I started.

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Wallpaper Hanger St. Louis
Digital Murals Installation

Mike Finley

I failed. You need to ask these guys if they are looking for a book worm or somebody who knows how to do stuff that will look good once the drywall is covering it up.

joasis

Wow....what is a rafter??????

RobertCDF

Answers

1. Am I bidding this job? I thought the lumber yard did take offs.

2. What does each of these abbreviations stand for?
TOW= Your car sucks???
GFCI= Ground Fault Circuit Interupter
AFF= I thought it was ALF?
W1026= Huh?
GWB= George W. Bush
S3= I thought it was F3
OC= On Center
R.O.= Rough Opening

3. Yell out the numbers and I will take a tape mesure, square, pencil, saw and make it happen for you.

4. Do I look like a trim carpenter?

5. Once again do I look like a cabinet installer?

So I guess I did not get the job... What was the position you were trying to get?

__________________
Robert Shaw
Colorado Springs Custom Decks
Colorado Custom Decks
Custom Composite Decks

Mike Finley

slowsol

It was for a lead carpenter job. To me, the quiz is freaking ridiculous. They're crossing carpenters with estimators. The only two abbreviations I didn't get were w1026 (wtf?) and S3 (simple storage system???no idea).

In my opinion, they are scaring away a lot of people that would be more than capable of the job. Nobody wants to take a quiz to get a construction job. That's why they're in construction.

Anyway, it took me 45 minutes to do the stupid thing. And I was cussing the entire time.

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-John

We'll have to grab a longer board. I forgot to put the wood stretcher in the truck today.

Mike Finley

In all honesty some testing of some sort to get a gauge of an applicants aptitude and skill set isn't necessarily a bad thing. It could work in your favor and put you ahead of everybody else.

In all fairness you should realize that the objective of the test for the employer may not be finding the person who scores the highest, but just scoring in an acceptable range.

Finding the right person for a job isn't easy, an employer for the most part is just throwing the dice and taking a chance on a new employee. I'm currently tyring to assemble my own test such as the one you described for all the reasons I've already listed. In reality finding a good fit with the right employee benefits the employee as much as the employer. If you're a bad fit you aren't going to be too happy at work for long. There is going to be bad blood and friction building everyday until eventually you quit because you think the boss is an ass or he fires you because he thinks you're not right for the job.

slowsol

I understand the need for a some type of testing to determine the ability of the individual. I believe taht this should be more of an oral quiz though, with the employer only quizzing the few finalists for the job that he believes is the best fit based on their application, interview, and other factors.

I don't, however, feel it is necessary for the above quiz to be timed. When was the last time I had to do a lumber take off for a job had never even seen a drawing for? There's too many variables. But I think you may be correct in that they are looking for someone within a certain range that displays a definite grasp of the concepts. It's just too bad that they didn't tell me that at the time. The whole time I was taking the quiz, I was thinking, "What if I get I'm off a little bit? Are they going to grade my quiz poorly because of it?" They should have just said, "Here's a little quiz to see if you know what you're doing. There aren't definite answers, so just do your best." That would have taken away some of nervousness and led me to believe that the quiz wasn't the only thing they were judging me on.

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-John

We'll have to grab a longer board. I forgot to put the wood stretcher in the truck today.

Mike Finley

I understand you would like to feel at ease as much as possible, but as an employer I really could careless how at ease you feel in regard to taking a test, This is more like a poker game than a feel good therapy counseling session, I'm simply not going to show you all my cards, you're going to get as little info out of me as possible, it's all going to be about you, and seeing how you perform under pressure may or may not be a factor in hiring you, but it might. I'm going to be gathering information from you orally, written and body language, I'm going to be watching your reactions and your gestures and everything you do will be judged and evaluated by me.

But once again, you are probably assuming way too much in regard to how the outcome of the test will be used to judge you. Keep in mind your competition isn't a bunch of rocket scientists either!

As long as you show some sort of competency within their preset tolerances I'm sure that would be enough. The fastest taker of the test or the highest score is meaningless if the test taker doesn't have the basic personality they are looking for.

jmic

W1026 may be for a steel beam?

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___"Remember You Never Get A Second Chance To Make A First Impression"______________________
Joe

CE1

Her is the same form looks like the same as the one you are talking about.

Attachment 2039

Good luck on taking it.

RobertCDF

With that one I would imagine they would have to tell you ahead of time to bring your scale rulers and a drafting table to the interview. Around here most of the time you can get a job over the phone or by walking on a jobsite and asking for one.

__________________
Robert Shaw
Colorado Springs Custom Decks
Colorado Custom Decks
Custom Composite Decks