Ellie Abraham
Nov 05, 2024
@mtyreshiadaily /TMX
A CEO has left the internet baffled after revealing the brain teaser he gives candidates three seconds to answer if they want a job with him.
Job hunting in today’s day and age is notoriously hard, with employers ghosting applicants and using controversial tricks and hiring methods to filter out candidates.
Taking to LinkedIn, Dino Dionne, the CEO and president of Genesis Capital Group, an investment management firm, shared the maths problem he expects candidates to solve in three seconds if they are to get the job.
In the post, he explained: “I give this test to everyone I interview. If you want the #Job, you have three seconds to provide the correct answer.
“You'd be surprised to hear all the ridiculous excuses I've heard from people who either gave me the wrong answer, or couldn't provide one!
“My six-year-old solved in 30 seconds.”
The equation read: “3x3-3÷3+3,”, while the caption said, “Only for Genius”.
The post drew the attention of the “LinkedInLunatics” subreddit, where a screenshot was shared a discussed by its members.
But, rather than discussing the actual equation, many people shared their anger at the manager for the test itself.
“The correct answer is to end the interview and find a boss that isn’t a tool,” one person argued.
Another said: “The only thing this interview question teaches anyone is that, as an interviewee, your future boss will give you vague, poorly expressed instructions, and then will get angry when you don’t do exactly what they imagine you should do within unrealistic time scales.”
Someone else wrote: “If he gave me 3 seconds to answer this question with a job on the line, it would take me 1 second to leave the room.”
One Redditor said: “Sir, I spent more than 3 seconds simply reading your nonsense. Quick maths doesn’t make a job valuable, it just makes it scriptable.”
Meanwhile, others in the comments did try to solve the equation, with some people suggesting the answer is 1, while others claimed it was 11.
Using the BODMAS (or PEMDAS – Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication and Division, and Addition and Subtraction – method), one person explained what they believe is the correct answer.
They explained: “I get 11 when following PEMDAS (multiplication and division first as a single step, so it’s 3x3=9 and 3÷3=1, then addition and subtraction next as a single step, so it's 9-1+3 = 11), and 5 when I go straight across (3x3=9, 9-3=6, 6÷3=2, and 2+3=5).”
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