At certainly seems like people have been anxiously hurling themselves into these one-on-one interrogations since the beginning of time, yet in only 100 years ago, that is when the job interview was still in its embryonic state. What are the conditions that gave rise to a job interview? According to Workopolis.com, this personality test was born in the 20th century, and Thomas Edison came up with an ambition to revolutionise the way people communicated with each other over long distances. He invented a phonograph and later on the first commercial bulb without possessing a degree in anything from nowhere. As a well-built up individual, he found an electrical devices company, and prepared an idiosyncratic personality test given to the many potential employees eager to work for him. In 1917, the US army also developed a set of 116 questions to evaluate the mental and psychological readiness and preparedness of recruits. Its purpose, writes Workopolis.com, was to determine whether they could withstand the extreme levels of stress and assess their social and interactional skills. And in that way, the personality test was born. By 1921, the pool of available educated employees had grown at the market due to college enrolment, Edison was not impressed by degrees, and he added more questions and wrote up a 146-question test covering all the topics from cosmology to world history. And this test became notoriously difficult, such that even Einstein couldn’t pass it. This is the origin of hearing IT applicants being asked, “How many golf balls does it take to fill a 747?” Or how a Foods Market hiring manager can ask, “Would you rather fight one horse-sized duck, or 100 duck-sized horses?” That is how interviews were born and are now conducted before any formal jobs.
