i wil rant because it is appropriate

In order to apply for any non-professional (academic) job at an academic institution in Illinois, you must apply and then take the Illinois Civil Service Examination which corresponds to the job you want to do. I have been attempting to get a job at the University of Illinois at Springfield for about two months now and almost every week I am surprised anew at the stupidity of this system.

First, in order to take an exam, someone must count the number of hours of experience you have which apply to the job/exam you want, and decide if you that experience has provided you with the proper skills to take the test. Does this sound backward to you? Isn't the object of a test to decide if you are skilled?

If you are lucky enough to be deemed eligible, you are allowed to take a test. I have two tests today. I took the first one this morning, and there is no way in the world this should be called a test. No, I take that back. The ten minute typing test is acceptable. The following "Experience Test" is not. Basically, they gave me back my application and my transcripts and asked me to rewrite them on a separate piece of paper. Then, I had to rate the amount of specific experience I have, referring to each of my past jobs. Here's an example question:

1. I have written correspondence using Microsoft Word.

Mark A if you have no experience doing this.
Mark B if you have been trained, but never actually done this.
Mark C if you did this occasionally on your job.
Mark D if you did this often on your job.
Then, mark from what job(s) you got this experience.

I had to sit and answer fifty of these questions, most of which were very specific to the job for which I was applying. For example, if you were applying for a plumbing job in this manner, the question would be, "Have you ever unclogged a pipe in a 3 story house with 2.5 baths, a back porch, and 1.4 acres of land occupied by 2 parents, 1 child and a small rabbit with a pink collar?" Is anyone ever going to be able to reply positively to a question like that?

They should be able to tell by my resume if I have ever done the specific job for which they are hiring. And if they can't, it's quite easy to ask "Have you done this job for which you're applying?" And if they want to continue on this silly, "Experience Test" farce, any further questions should relate to skills learned in other settings which are applicable to the target job. By doing it this way, they wouldn't waste an hour and a half of my time and several hours of "grading" time for them.

"Have you ever revised guidelines and procedures?" No, but I'd sure like to start with yours.