Quote:
Originally Posted by silvia8917
it's just not really possible for me to know so much about American literature... Just like I'm not going to ask "Which Emperor ordered the unification of writing characters in China?", even though it's pretty common knowledge in the place where I live. (The answer is Qin Shi Huang, by the way.)
|
Well, I agree, some questions might not be easily answered by those who are unfamiliar with American or English literature. But the questions I choose always relate to the crop I have. I would not ask, for example, 'How many Colonies were there, when what became the United States fought for independence from Great Britain?', because I cannot correlate the answer with any possible Farmtown crop. I would not ask, 'Who is the author of 'The Shining'', although many know it is Stephen King. I would ask 'Who wrote 'The Grapes of Wrath', if my current crop is grapes. (It was Steinbeck).
Quote:
Originally Posted by silvia8917
As a matter of fact I used to hand out hiring tests too, but it was usually a mathematics question, so basically no information research is required. (And it's not stuff like "what is the square root of 45905 times the sum of 1298 and 4333 minus sin80", just simple stuff like "1+5*9") BUT then one day...
I gave out a math question, say, 1+5*9, by saying "I'll hire the first person who answers 1+5*9=? correctly".
I got a couple of answers saying 54.
I thought, well that's incorrect, but since nobody did get it correctly, so I hired the first person who answered anyway.
We went to my farm, and I started a chat by saying "the correct answer is 46 because in mathematics you should do multiplication and division before addition and subtraction".
And the person I hired replied, "Oh I never knew that. Never taught this at school."
CULTURAL SHOCK!!! In Hong Kong, "multiplication and division first, addition and subtraction later" is something that's taught in primary schools...
|
Here in the States, the arithmetic question would have been written:
1 + (5x9) = ? The brackets are used to indicate the separation of the figures. Without the brackets, the arithmetic would be done 'in order' of appearance, which is why you got answers of 54. Also, in the States, the symbol for multiplication is 'x', not '*'.
Quote:
Originally Posted by silvia8917
By the way, once I also got someone who replied "I played this game for fun, not for doing mathematics". Well, to each their own, but to me, being challenged by single-digit multiplication is pretty lame, unless you are born or hit with some special conditions. And that's actually quite a rude response, too.
|
Well, I certainly have gotten similar replies, Silvia - from players who resent having to think for a moment, instead of beg. I just gently remind them that they have at their disposal an excellent tool, called the 'ignore' button, and encourage them to employ it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by silvia8917
The people I hire with this strategy are all satisfactory workers so far, so I'm sticking to it.  |
I find all my employees wind up wanting to be buddies, so I imagine the reality is, those who enjoy a bit more of a challenge than, 'Who wants to harvest grapes', try to answer the employment quiz. Those who consider asking for a correct response to a quiz as a hiring tool being expected to 'jump through hoops' ignore my employment quiz. I'm pretty sure, with the tremendous number of folks playing this game, there is room at the marketplace for all.