ESPN's Sports Knowledge Test

Young_Chitlin
Young_Chitlin Members Posts: 23,852 ✭✭✭✭✭
http://deadspin.com/take-the-sports-knowledge-test-given-to-wannabe-espn-em-1583745078


By: Barry Petchesky

The brain—and maybe the soul—of the world's largest sports media company is the ESPN Stats & Information Group, the behind-the-scenes crew of impossibly dedicated experts responsible for every stat, trend, and non-stupid talking point that makes it onto an ESPN platform. Here's your chance to see if your sports knowledge is even in the same ballpark.

Below, you'll find a test taken by all job applicants to the Stats & Info Group. It gauges your proficiency in: 1) Calculating basic statistics; 2) Proofreading box scores for errors; 3) Spelling athletes' names; 4) Scoring plays; 5) Naming major sporting events; 6) Matching athletes to their sports; 7) Matching pro athletes to their colleges; and 8) Matching athletes to their teams.

It is just a small part of a multi-step job application process. (You can read all about that process in this thread, which also contains the 2008 version of the test. It's updated every so often; the version below, shared with us by an applicant, is from a couple of years ago. There are similar tests for other departments. When I applied to work as a fact-checker at ESPN The Magazine, I took a shorter exam that focused less on numbers and more on general knowledge.)

Real applicants have 45 minutes to complete and return the exam, which is handed out via email. They are allowed to use the internet, which is remarkably logical—no Stats & Info employee is expected to know everything by heart. But if you'd like a true challenge, give it a shot without looking things up.

Comments

  • Young_Chitlin
    Young_Chitlin Members Posts: 23,852 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Response to someone trying to get a job at espn

    http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/index.php?topic=52290.55

    I've definitely posted this before. Here's how my experience went.
    - Applied 3-4 times and never heard back
    -Applied a fifth time sending in multiple resumes from multiple e-mail addresses applying for any position
    -Got a call back on a Saturday at 10 p.m. while I was at the bar (I'm EST just like Bristol, WTF?) had an impromptu quiz where I had to name the starting lineup for the Lakers, had to explain how to calculate ERA and had to name the last 8 Heisman Winners and their schools.
    - Passed the test and the made me schedule an hour long block to speak to them again (immediately) there was no waiting. They said they like to move the process along quickly - a bunch of ? really.
    - The next morning they called back, gave me a Data Assesment, which I think I deleted (DAMN). It was a 45 minute test where you had to edit things, check stats, do some simple sports math etc. The test had weird rules, like if you didn't finish one question in a section you got them all wrong. I didn't finish editing a box score for a basketball game and got that entire section wrong. (I had to submit it within 45 minutes or I failed... so I took the loss of points)
    -Passed the test. They called me about a week later and told me. Set up an interview for a few days down the road.
    -Had a really cool interview with a team member about sports. He talked about his path to ESPN and basically we talked about Fantasy football, Brett Favre, Chad Henne and the Dolphins. The interview was cool and I had a great feeling.
    -I didn't hear anything back for a while... and I mean a long while. The hiring manager told me it was going to be a bit of a long process.
    - I followed up every few weeks and this did not make the hiring manager happy. I kept leaving messages and never heard back. At one point she returned my call and said that I was "being excessive". I apologized to her, and said that I was trying to be persistent and would not have kept calling if someone had returned my calls.
    -Finally, after months of this ridiculous charade, I had a phone interview with said hiring manager. She was very cold and rude. I tried to be as nice as possible. I wasn't nervous and did great in the interview. She was short and cut me off after about 10 minutes on the phone. From there, I pretty much knew it was over (however, she told me the next step was that they would fly me in for an interview... so I held out hope)
    -A kept following up, and after about a month the hiring manager left a voicemail saying there was a hiring freeze and I wouldn't have the job.

    Nine months total for the interview process just to go down like that. It was dissapointing because I had done everything right on my end. I was a bit bitter, but after the way the hiring manager treated me, I realized that's not the type of place I wanted to work.
  • zerocool
    zerocool Members Posts: 3,973 ✭✭✭✭✭
    It ain't like the commercial?