Q: Is a government agency allowed to require a subjective written exercise as a form of interview?
The position applied for was to be considered for a position investigating civilian complaints against local law enforcement. A sample civilian complaint was given, and the prospective employee was required to subjectively identify violated SOPs within the scenario, as well as make a finding on the violated SOPs. 5 specific SOPs and findings were given to use in the justification. The qualifications of the interviewee was to only hold a Bachelor's Degree - no specific degree within the subject of investigations/criminal justice/etc. The sample scenario of the incident did not contain clear or factual details from any of the provided SOPs in order for the interviewee to make a true informed decision, however, the interviewee was notified that they did not make the second round due to failure to identify an SOP that was NOT listed as a choice given, under a specific law that was mentioned (but never provided as a reference).
A: Yes. They are allowed to do so.
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