The Buckingham

Photo Credit: www.mentalfloss.com

Do you think you could have passed Thomas Edison’s job interview test?

Edison was infamous during the 1920s for his interview exams.  He would hand job-seekers a 150-question exam before he would consider hiring them.

The exams were tailored to the applicant’s industry, but with major emphasis on facts.

Edison refused to release any sort of lists with his test questions, despite frequent requests from the press.  The only way to know of any sort of question was through the test-takers.

Edison’s tests however soon became a popular trend.  Other companies began requiring similar entrance exams.

Edison considered 90% a passing score, and only 35 out of 500 applicants ever passed the test.  Try to answer some of these questions, then head over to mental_floss for the answers:

• Who was Francis Marion?
• Where is the River Volga?
• Who invented logarithms?
• What is the first line in The Aeneid?
• What war material did Chile export to the Allies during the War?
• Who was the Roman emperor when Jesus Christ was born?
• Where is the Sargasso Sea?
• Of what is brass made?
• Who was Leonidas?
• Who discovered the X-ray?
• Where do we get shellac?
• Why is cast iron called Pig Iron?
• Who was Bessemer and what did he do?