Companies (still) want to know your SAT score
The Wall Street Journal found that companies ask potential employees for their SAT scores, even decades after taking the test in high school:
“Cvent Inc., a McLean, Va., event management software company, asks all job applicants to provide SAT or ACT scores, results from graduate-school entrance tests and grade-point averages along with their work history. Scores count most heavily for candidates in their first years out of college, though the company has received scores from applicants well into middle age, said Eric Eden, Cvent’s vice president of marketing.”
Employers have recently looked at the social media profiles of applicants, and now they want to see your GPA and SAT scores, too.
“If you want to be a hot-shot, straight out-of-college consultant, you are most likely going to find yourself on the roadway of what was your GPA, what was your SAT score, that kind of track,” Nancy Koehn from Harvard Business School says.
But other companies, like Google, want an applicant that shines on a more interpersonal level. “They’re looking for things like: How well do you lead? And how well do you back off and let others lead? And how much humility do you evidence?” Koehn says. “And high up on the list, how good are you with dealing with failure.”
So what’s an applicant to make of all this?
Koehn says there are no set rules, but rather depends on the industry you choose.
Famous SAT Scores
How does your own SAT score stack up to public radio hosts, Federal Reserve chairs, and other famous Americans? Check out our wrap up below. (Note: before 2005, the SAT was on a 1600-point scale. The current version of the test is on a 2400-point scale.)
Kai Ryssdal, host of Marketplace: 1160 (Source: Kai Ryssdal)
Ben Bernake, former Federal Reserve Chair: 1590 (Forbes)
Ryan Fitzpatrick, football player: 1580 (Sporting News)
Scarlett Johansson, actress: 1080 (Interview Magazine)
Chuck Schumer, Senator from New York: 1600 (Washington Post)
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