Poker Test to Job Candidates

Author: Simon Dexter

Las Vegas still buzzes with the name of Eric Brooks who caused a major upset by winning a WSOP* bracelet at his first attempt this week and then shocked everyone by announcing he would donate every cent of his 5,856 to a Californian-based charity. Clearly not one to have his head turned by the city’s glitz and glamour, Brooks went on to say he couldn’t hang around for the post world title party as he had to fly up to Oregon for his father’s 85th birthday. As stylish, if brief, appearances go, Brooks’ effort takes some beating.

Prior to this week’s success, Eric Brooks was already a wealthy man after spending more than two decades as a derivatives trader on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange. In 1987, together with his colleague Jeff Yass, he founded the Susquehanna International Group of Companies (SIG). From a relatively small-scale trading operation, SIG now employs more than 1,500 people across the globe.

Brooks and Yass could be the ideal employers for poker players, although anyone contemplating applying for a job should prepare well for their interview.

A couple of years ago, SIG staged a Texas Hold ‘Em poker tournament for 83 job applicants as a method of testing their potential employee’s analytical skills.

The company regularly hosts poker tournaments for clients, but this was the first it had staged for potential recruits. To make it really interesting, they also stumped up ,000 in prize money, including a first prize of ,000.

According to SIG’s website, job applicants were required to have “the ability to work well under pressure, to use critical and non-linear reasoning and to communicate effectively with other team members.” They also expected applicants to “undergo a unique interview process that focuses on skills that range from the quantitative to informed decision making,” Poker is deemed to be a way of fine-tuning those skills and ensuring that you work well under pressure.

Keeping a close eye on proceedings (and dealing the cards at the final heads-up) was none other than Jeff Yass, whose interest lay in how the players handled their betting. “Poker and trading have a lot of similarities, such as making good decisions under pressure,” he said following the ten hour tournament. “It teaches you to deal with losing even when you make the right decision.”

*World Series of Poker and WSOP are trademarks of Harrah’s License Company, LLC (”Harrah’s”). Harrah’s does not sponsor or endorse, and is not associated or affiliated with Littlewoods Gaming or it’s products, services, promotions or tournaments.

Tags: poker, Poker Strategy, SIG

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 12th, 2008 at 10:08 am and is filed under News & Promotions Blog.