[ExI] The downsides of high IQ

Tara Maya tara at taramayastales.com
Wed Apr 15 18:50:56 UTC 2015


Before I was able to support myself as a writer, I took a lot of temp jobs. Rather than do office work, I took a two-week class and earned a Fork Lifting License. It paid the same (sometimes better) than entry-level clerical work, was a lot of fun, and left me plenty of time to think about plotlines as I worked, since shifting boxes doesn’t require a lot of mental power. (Secretarial work, although excruciatingly dull, requires just enough thought to make other mental activity difficult.)

On one job, I made the mistake of mentioning my college degree to my employer. I was fired the next day.

Tara Maya
Blog <http://taramayastales.blogspot.com/>  |  Twitter <https://twitter.com/taramayastales>  |  Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Unfinished-Song-Epic-Fantasy/310271375658211?ref=hl>  |  Amazon <http://www.amazon.com/Tara-Maya/e/B004HAI038/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1349796143&sr=8-2-ent>  |  Goodreads <http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2951879.Tara_Maya>



> On Apr 15, 2015, at 9:46 AM, James Clement <clementlawyer at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Many organizations select against intelligence, saying that a more intelligent, experienced, or skilled person would probably only stay in the job temporarily until something else came along. Several decades ago I applied for various warehouse-type jobs as an experiment where in some applications I included and in others excluded my membership in MENSA, higher education, and job experiences which included running my own businesses and being a practicing lawyer. I received no interviews for menial jobs in which I'd listed my actual qualifications. The quickest positive response I experienced was related to an application where I simply left almost everything blank, indicating almost no education or experience.  
> 
> Here's an article (among many) which describes how many police departments select against high IQ for their candidates: http://thefreethoughtproject.com/court-police-departments-refuse-hire-smart/ <http://thefreethoughtproject.com/court-police-departments-refuse-hire-smart/>
> 
> James 
> 

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