Weigh In

[Jim Brady]

Things are a bit quiet at the moment so have a play around with this one.
A factory has 10 machines all producing the same component.The component is identical in every way same size,shape and weighing 3lbs.
On inspection some components are found to only weigh two and a half pounds.They have a weighing scale but they are only allowed one weigh,how do they find out which machine is turning out the component half a pound under.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[Robin Ellis]

Only one weigh allowed? How about this then:

As the first machine makes its component you pick it up in left hand.
Then pick up the component from the second machine in your right hand and see if they feel the same weight Put down the component in your right hand and repeat with components from weach of the other machines until you have compared all of them with the first one which you still hold in your left hand.

Choose the lightest one and put it on the scale.

[robpage]

from machine 1 you take 1 component , from machine 2 two components , from machine 3 three components all the way to ten components from machine 10 , the light machine is 1/2 pound light , so if the total weight expected is 55 components at 165 pounds weight , at the weigh in take the deficit total , for example 4 lbs then that makes 8 off 1/2 pound light components so machine 8 is faulty

Sorry Jim spent too many years playing with te average weight system

[Jim Brady]

Spot on there Rob,did you know it or did you work it out ??
Regards.
Jim.B.

[robpage]

It is in a series of Interview questions designed to put an interview candidate off his guard , so I will tell the truth , I have seen it before , a long time ago . It was in amongst some other ones that were varying between stupid , obvious , and where the hell did that come from .

The idea , was I am crap at interviewing youngsters , and we had a policy of come July , come another apprentice , The factory has long gone , over five years now , but we had an ageing workforce , and I felt that modern apprentices were as good as what you made them , so I built up a scheme where five years before one of ( us ) oldies was due to go , i took on an apprentice to replace them , three years , not the old four and a half , but then two years experience . and hey walked into a job for what was then life . I found communicating difficult as they talk a different language , and their work ethic was not the same as mine . We used a proprietary test to filter out the no hoper , and what we were aiming for was the old four "O" level student , the maths was hard so you needed a level to start from . I tried with the class drop outs a couple of times because their enthusiasm was so good , but they could never manage the maths or the writing as well and failed .

I would see around ten kids for each annual vacancy and they were all about the same , so I had a few of these odd ball questions and threw one in every now and again , not to see how clever they were , but to see how they handled being on the spot . Some where what would you look for in someone to do this job , , see this pen , tell me why I should buy it , and some of the mathematical , logic ones . We had a few really good lads over teh last few years , but longer ago was persuaded to try the old YTS scheme which was less than useless as far as I was concerned .

So that is just one of the few that I remembered . I think the ancient long gone HR manager had them in a brocheure or magazine , but what the source was I have long forgotten , One was about droping eggs off a building , one about heavy footballs , it was a way of knocking the rehearsed front off and seeing a struggling kid behind

[Jim Brady]

hi Rob,yes some of those aptitude tests to decide if you got a job were a bit stupid I thought.My grandson did his two year apprentice ship in joinery college and on site he needed an employer for the final year.He got top marks in all the work he had done over the two years.A firm were recruiting but I think it ws done by a recruiting agency,he turned up for interview was given some paper a pair of sissors and some glue.One piece of paper (not very big) had tobe cut with the siissors in such a way that you ended up with a band that would pass over your body,the other piece had to be made into a tower using the paper and glue.He failed to do one of the tasks so that was the end of the interview,no verbal discussion of his past work or capabilities,I thought that was crazy.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[Tony Morcom]

Still don't get the weigh in poser, but hey it is Monday morning. I remember well being put on the spot about why my interviewer should buy the biro. The next question was how would you feel about having a woman as a boss. I went better prepared to the next interview

[Jim Brady]

Tony,you number the machines from 1 to 10 you take off each machine the number of components that match the number of the machine. So machine one one comp,2 ,2 comps 5,5 comp.and so on..You should end up with 55 components x 3=165 that should be the total weight,put them on the weighing scale they weigh 161lb which is 4lb short so machine 8 is the problem 8 half lbs short.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[robpage]

The answer to the paper body band is How to Pass Your Body Through a Sheet of Paper: 9 steps - wikiHow , the tower , you cut the legs into a tripod for stability , agencies get paid a lot of money to sort interviewees out , I have used them but never been satisfied with the result . I used the throw in question as a character test , One kid of sixteen when asked one of these stupid type questions told me in no uncertain terms that he was not F*****g wasting his f*****g time F*****g about with f*****G daft f*****g questions , well his outburst of anger told me a lot more about him than the answer to the question would have done and he did not get the f*****g apprenticeship . It is hard to interview kids that are a third of your age , their music , hobbies and attitudes are so different , white kids speak like Jamaicans , a personal annoyance that ensured that kid was not employed by me , It may have been he might be the best candidate . These aptitude tests are taken too seriously by agencies and HR professionally , I like to get the idea of what the kid id about myself , then it is my success or failure .

One of the problems that I see ( saw now I am retired ) is as a senior manager you are busy , to interview the fifty or sixty kids we used to get apply , you need half an hour a person so it is a week's work you cannot afford , I used to look through three minutes a CV and retain 10 out of fifty , Take one day that I did not really have time to waste and see the ten , decide by the end of the day , job done , then catch up on that day's work , NOT a fair system , I could have paid a recruitment company around £3000 out of my departmental budget to do that for me , and they were no better at picking than I was .

The paper exercises are not so much about a contest to say the highest tower or the best body band wins , it is about sorting the kids that say F**k this it's stupid , or this is the means to an end , and these so called experts read the body language , I am a bad candidate as I am an arms folder , so am suspected of being defensive , ******** , that is where I am comfortable . I suspect that is what failed your Grandson , not his ability . It really is an American idea that is not one of their better ones

[Jim Brady]

Rob,I once went on a course run by the Manchester Evening News,it was a 3 day job at a hotel in Stockport,part of that was interviewing techniques.I must admit that there is such a thing as the "halo effect" there are some people that you take a liking to and although they are not the best qualified for the job you want them to have it against a more qualified person whos personality you were'nt happy with.I alwys thought that as soon as someone walks into your office you had half made your mind up.People could not be taken on because maybe they did not support the same football team or they were a different religeon.
Regards.
Jim.B.