

Ask HN: How to identify potential of a person? - known

Is testing his/her IQ+EQ a reliable measure?
TIA
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keiferski
_Is testing his/her IQ+EQ a reliable measure?_

No.

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sleepdev
Potential for what?

It is only possible to measure fitness for a specific task. Often a trait that
would help in one situation will hinder in another.

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lovskogen
Talking with the person. For a couple of hours.

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ig1
No.

There are two things you need to measure, ability and determination, the first
you can test for the second can only really be shown by a track record.

Ability is very task specific, so what you test for will need to depend on
what sort of potential you're looking for. For example for programming a
number of studies have shown one of the strongest indicator of being able to
program is the ability to form a consistent mental model of how something
works (which you can test for without someone having programming experience).

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curt
No, after you get above 145 (top 98% or 3 SD) the accuracy decreases quickly,
instead they give you a different test which takes quite awhile to administer.
Just ask problem solving, thought, and logic questions; it's easier, cheaper,
and you get you see how they think.

 __WARNING __, in some jurisdictions IQ testing is of questionable legality
within a job setting and can be considered discriminatory (I know, stupid.
They now say you can't discriminate between candidates based on intelligence.)

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puredemo
Where is this?

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curt
Don't know exactly which areas I just know I've been warned by a few attorneys
I know that due to the changes in case law (not newly passed laws). That in
some areas it can be argued and argued successfully that not hiring an
individual based on their intelligence can be a discriminatory practice. If
the test doesn't result in a nominal result between racial groups, in
extension the intelligence test can be found racial discriminatory.

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getonit
There is a book called _Incompetence_ , by Rob Grant of _Red Dwarf_ fame, set
slightly in the future where it is now illegal to discriminate on race, age,
gender... or competence.

Highly recommended reading, both as entertainment and as preparation for the
inevitable.

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mindcrime
I don't think there is any particularly accurate way to assess "potential"
objectively. Maybe some of these things can give you a (very) vague
indication, but I wouldn't put much stock in any of them, personally.

I think a better question would be "How do I help people live up to the
potential they do have?"

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puredemo
IQ + EQ + Credit Score + Past successes is about as close as you'll get.

