I applied for a job couple of years ago that wanted a cognitive assessment and what they billed as an IQ test. I applied to several other jobs that had such absurd hoops that, as you say, it became routine for low level work. It's not that we're naive youngsters who don't know any better. We just often don't have a choice. There's no chance to save money or to live off savings when young unless living with relatives while working, and that becomes burdensome quite quickly.
> It's not that we're naive youngsters who don't know any better.
Sorry if it came out that way, that wasn't my intent. Fake jobs were not a thing that I encountered when entering the market, but I almost certainly would have fallen for anything that wasn't utterly incompetent.
> We just often don't have a choice.
This isn't new. I grew up very poor, and it wasn't until my mid-30's that I had things paid off and could start thinking about what economic security might feel like someday.
What's new is that middle-class young people are starting to have that experience, too.
