Test for flexibility, ingenuity, and equanimity, not for credentials.
technique — attributed to Sarah Shewey
Happily has received over fifty thousand applications. Shewey's screening is not credential-based. It is scenario-based. Senior producers write scenarios drawn from real situations. Applicants are asked how they would respond. The exam tests flexibility, ingenuity, and equanimity in the face of the unexpected. The exam is tough because it has a layer of subjectivity. The technique generalizes. For roles whose value depends on real-time judgment, scenario exams reveal what credential reviews cannot. Credentials show what someone has been certified to know. Scenarios show what they will actually do when the moment requires it.
For hiring managers, agency principals, and platform operators screening for roles that require situational judgment. The technique is most useful for roles where the work is unpredictable enough that credentials cannot predict success.
hiring, scenario-exams, equanimity, fifty-thousand-applicants