How do you fight a horse-sized duck? : secrets to succeeding at interview mind games and getting the job you want

Poundstone, William, author.

First edition.

Book

New York : Little, Brown Spark, 2021.

vi, 313 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

"Each year about 28 million Americans begin a search for a new job. Many more live in the age of the permanent job search, their online profiles eternally awaiting a better offer. Job seekers are more mobile and better informed than ever, aspiring to work for employers offering an appealing culture, a robust menu of perks, and opportunities for personal fulfillment and advancement. The result is that millions of applications stream to the handful of companies that regularly top listings of the best companies to work for: Apple, Netflix, Amazon, Alphabet, Disney, SpaceX, Oracle, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, and others. Tesla has received as many as 200 applications for each open position. How do selective employers choose which people to hire? It's through interviews asking uniquely demanding questions testing imagination, persistence, and creativity"--Dust jacket flap.

Employment interviewing.

Employee selection.

Creative thinking.

Problem solving.

Foreword: The cherry tree incident -- Part I: A short history of assessment. Army Alpha ; Bletchley Park ; The blind audition ; Creative problem-solving -- Part II: Mind games. Take a detour ; Explore, plan, act ; Put yourself in someone else's place -- Part III: Puzzles and problem-solving. Your first reaction is wrong ; Pay attention to unexpected words ; Use an analogy ; Break the problem into parts ; Draw a picture ; Try a simpler version of the problem ; Ask good questions ; Use a process of elimination ; Work backward ; Beware of trick questions ; Guesstimate and refine ; Set up equations ; Don't follow the wrong footsteps ; Ignore the MacGuffin ; List, count, divide ; Look for a parallel to the job ; Introduce a new feature -- Afterword: The Edison fallacy.

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