Should I mention my genius IQ on a resume?

Two _______ (substitute any fitting stereotype) talking:

- Man, I took an IQ test yesterday.

- Yeah? How did it come out?

- Thank God, it was negative!

This is correct, you definitely should not. Learn as much as you can about your potential employer's business, try to write a cover letter with a resume that expresses some insight into the business or industry in question, and then be prepared to discuss it if you get an interview. Unless you are applying for a research position that does not require social interaction (which is very rare), your IQ, whatever it is, may not be more important than social skills and emotional intelligence. Good luck.

My son is "gifted" wrote:

My 8 year old was recently administered an IQ test by a neurologist. Final tabulation: 160. Literally the same as Einstein. I point that out only because many people have high IQ's. It's what you DO WITH IT that counts, not simply possessing one. As a college prof and writing buff I would strongly recommend against mentioning it either in writing or verbally. It sends too many of the wrong messages. You need your accomplishments to speak for you,

not a number that does nothing to demonstrate to a potential employer anything you have done or what kind of employee you will be.

As was already pointed out, neurologists would not administer an IQ test. And your son is not "literally the same as Einstein", as Einstein was never tested.

Irrespective of this, 160 for an eight year old and 160 for an adult are two different animals. IQ for children is calculated as Mental Age/Chronological Age. An eight year old with a 160 IQ performed as well on the test as an average 14 year old. A sign of precocity to be sure, but little else.

I also take issue with the statement, "many people have high IQs". On a test with an SD=15, a 160 IQ has a cumulative frequency of 1 in 11,000 individuals. All but .01% of the world population is winnowed from this group.

If, as an aspiring prof, you have time to pick apart a post to such lengths, you may be better off logging off and putting some time in toward your PhD aspirations. Nevertheless, to clarify (and this may be of benefit to some of you with kids) my son had what I thought was ADD or ADHD. While I feel both are very much over-diagnosed, as a responsible parent I took him to his pediatrician to ascertain if perhaps there was a problem, or if he just needed a kick in the butt. I ended up with a referral to a pediatric neurologist (neurologists deal with, among other things, behavioral disorders). After talking with my son for about 45 minutes and asking him questions of all sorts he left the room and came back a short time later with a manual. He then proceeded to spend an hour and a half administering what I would pretty quickly figure out was an IQ test (he later gave me the specific name of the test, don't ask me which it was). The questions ran the gamut; mathematical based, science, deductive reasoning etc.. While I knew the kid was sharp, when he started explaining the effect of the moon's gravitational pull on the earth (keep in mind he's 8) I started to pay closer attention. He went on to explain what an ecosystem is and discuss ecosystem ecology. Again, I knew the kid liked science shows but I had no idea he had been retaining so much. One of the final "questions" consisted of the doctor reading a lengthy, highly detailed and complicated article which was followed by him asking my son a single question, the answer to which wasn't in the article, but rather had to be deducted from the information given. By this time I was "playing along". I got the question wrong (In fact I wasn't even able to muster a guess), while my son nailed it without even pausing to speak. I sat there slack-jawed while the doctor tallied up the percentages and using a formula (again, don't ask me what formula, my specialty is law) came up with a final "IQ" of 160. He later assigned my son a diagnosis of "superior cognition", something that would ensure that my son's school would in effect be forced to provide educational programs geared specifically for him (as they do not currenly have any such programs at the elementary school he attends). Moral of the story: If you think your son/daughter has "ants in their pants" or like me was "sure he has ADHD", be sure to cover all your bases. You may be surprised what you find. You are correct in pointing out that in children an IQ assessment is indeed a mental/chronological age assessment. In sum, the doctor said my son could go from third grade to tenth grade (something his principal later pointed out was an option, but I quickly declined, and not just because I don't want to be doling out college tuition for a 12 year old). You may well be correct in your assertion of Einstein's actual IQ. That was my "research" and of course the validity of most sources can be disputed. I stand by my statement that 'many people have high IQ's' as "many" do, depending of course upon your definition of many. With one out of every 10,000 or so people at 160 that's 100 out of every million persons, or in NYC about 830 people. With regard to the original question, would I have my son cite this "score" on an application for a private school, or scholarship? Definitely no. I'm hoping that he turns this potential into something that is worthy of putting on an application. I also plan to address the "ants in his pants" by burning up his seemingly endless energy on the roads and trails with me, as he has taken a liking to running (Amen!).

Yes, there is research that suggests runners are in fact smarter than non-runners (and earn more too!).

I read 1000s of resumes every week and it does not matter if you list standardized test scores or GPAs on your application or resume. I regard "IQ" tests as a misnomer and not a test of intelligence but of taking that particular brand of test. We look for people who can operate in the real world. Who is to say that the intelligence it takes understand and quantum physics is more or less important than the intelligence it takes to coach an athlete to an Olympic Gold medal in the 110HH/110H ?

I find it amusing that people have continued this thread so I'll amuse myself and answer my post a few pages back. Bascially I read resumes and hire employees for a electronics engineering R&D department. If our comapany's pricing structure could be determined by the so-called "IQ" test scores, then we would consider using those scores for hiring. As it stands now, we cannot charge our customers based on employee test scores and we have not found any correlation with so called "IQ" and ability to produce and deliver working eletronic designs and products.

Respectfully, what you're describing does not sound like any IQ test that I have ever administered, and I've used a wide range of them. Nor is it the norm for an IQ test to be administered with an observer (Dad) in the room, unless we're talking about a very young child.

And while there are multiple reasons why allowing an observer to watch the test administration is discouraged, you have just demonstrated one of the most important of them. You are blabbing about the content of the test to thousands of people on the internet. Were this an actual IQ test, and I may be wrong, but I don't think it was, your disclosure of the details of the content would be damaging to the integrity of the test. The more familiar the general public becomes with the content of the test, the less reliable the test becomes as a measure of IQ using the established norms.

I don't doubt that your son is very bright, I'm simply suggesting that some of what you've described is inconsistent with typical IQ administration, and that you may want to get more details (name of test) before you take this to the school. A written report with interpretation of the results should have been provided.

Your son sounds like a great kid! Hope he'll have access to a more challenging curriculum as a result of your efforts.

Yes, we have a winner!

Q: What's the difference between a Mensa member and a retard?

A: The Mensa member is better at math.

I take it you're not good at Math...

I also take issue with the statement, "many people have high IQs". On a test with an SD=15, a 160 IQ has a cumulative frequency of 1 in 11,000 individuals. All but .01% of the world population is winnowed from this group.[/quote]

It's simpler then that. It's an average, if a lot of people were high it wouldn't be high.

It's the old joke:everyone think they are above average.

To compare the correlation of job performance and IQ with the correlation of average parental height and one's own height is a little misleading, since it ignores gender>average parental height + 3 inches is a very good predictor of male height, and avg. ph - 3 inches is a very good predictor of female height. There the correlations will no doubt be better than IQ and job performance.

Where jobs depend more on relationships, IQ's not going to be a fantastic aid; where they depend on figuring stuff out, it should be helpful. However, as we have seen in the financial industry recently, there is no shortage of people with bad judgment everywhere along the scale.

I can't believe this thread made it to the front page... and now I can't believe I've written such a long post for it...

I grew up around people who told me that IQ tests don't measure street smarts. You know what? They used their "street smarts" to hang out on the streets and get into trouble. I with my "book smarts" was a bit of an outcast, but I managed stay away from trouble in the first place.

I work in a very quantitative field. You would probably be laughed out of the room if your argument for employment was hinged on your IQ. I can't believe that nobody has talked about MOTIVATION as being fundamentally important. It doesn't matter how smart you are -- if you aren't willing to do a crazy amount of work, you aren't going to get things done. My roommate is one of the smartest people I've ever met, but he had to switch fields because he acknowledged that he could not be successful if he continued to play as many video games. The only time I could imagine IQ being important for a grownup is if you were interviewing to work at a quiz show where they like to have people who like to take tests.

For children it's a completely different story. Children haven't had a chance to strike out on their own, and they're often stuck in mediocre classrooms -- unlike most adults, they often haven't been given the opportunity to live up to their potential. The father of the bright kid who said he got an IQ test actually touched on an important issue. Bright kids have their own special needs; people often say that kids like that are hard to screw up, and it's true -- but I think it's often hard to motivate people who've had it easy their entire lives -- intellectual laziness is difficult for everyone to overcome. I'm not sure what to advise the person who thinks his son is a genius, except perhaps to try to deal with him on an *intellectual* (NOT emotional) level as if he were older (say, as an intellectual equal). One of my students, a pre-med, once started asking my colleague real questions about the class (as opposed to, "I can't do the homework" questions), and my colleague simply didn't know how to deal with this student until I told him to talk to her as if he were talking to me. This worked among strangers, at least.

Mensa guy wrote:

The Reality Check wrote:

If you have to ask the readers of LetsRun, then you're really not that smart...

I'm glad you are so willing to admit you are one of the dummies on this site. A few of us aren't though.

By the way, I got a second interview this Friday. Cool thing is, the secretary said that my interview skills AND high IQ have it narrowed to three.

Ha! to the haters.

Hahahhah! But was she very fit?

Make sure you keep reminding them of your high IQ.

[quote]Mensa guy wrote:

I'm glad you are so willing to admit you are one of the dummies on this site. A few of us aren't though.

Sadly you are not a part of the few The fact that you had to ask in the first place reveals how stupid you are.

M Guy I feel your pain.

I, too, have been saddled with a high IQ. Added to my woes are great wit, personality and exceptional good looks. It almost makes up for the fact that I only have PRs of 15:31 and 32:48. Times I never see again.

We are a rare breed. Learn to deal with the haters as it is the cruel burden we must bare daily.

I think this is a pretty cool story. I have no way to determine the veracity of it, but I hope it's true.

Having kids take IQ tests seems rather useful. Knowing whether your kid has ADHD and can't concentrate versus being incredibly smart and thus bored by his surroundings is important to know.

But being an adult and taking an IQ test doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me. What are you getting out of it? If you haven't been successful in life, finding out that you are smart or gifted probably isn't going to change any of that. Clearly, it isn't your intelligence holding you back. But if you have been successful, finding out you are smart may be no big surprise and unlikely to do you much good. And finding out that you are not as smart as your success might otherwise indicate can't have much of a benefit.

The only upside I can think of is if you have not been particularly successful and are questioning you smarts. Then, taking the test will either support that or show that you are gifted but clearly have to work on some other areas holding you back.

What I learned this week on letsrun:

IQ = Idiot Quotient

In my books you are the winner if you took the time to read through all of that.