Exactly what it is. "We had to go through it, so they'll have to too!" plus "Someone who has so little self-respect that they do this will do anything we ask of them."

(I know that some people genuinely like Leetcode and that's totally fine. But that's not why company want people to do it)

If you think that’s bad, wait until you hear about medschool / nursing.

Standardized interviews or panels do not necessarily exist to find the best candidate. They exist as a tradeoff to ensure some measure of objectivity and prevent favoritism/influence/corruption/bribery/forgery/impersonation/unfair cheating by getting advance access to the test material; in such a way that this can then be verified, standardized, audited at higher levels or nationally. Even more important for medschool/nursing than engineering.

One of countless examples was the sale of 7600 fake nursing transcripts and diplomas in 2020/1 by three south Florida nursing schools [0]. (This happened in the middle of Covid, and at schools which were already being deaccredited.)

Buyers paid $10-15K to obtain fake diplomas and transcripts indicating that they had earned legitimate degrees, like a (two-year) associate degree in nursing; these credentials then allowed the buyers to qualify for the national nursing board exam (NCLEX). About 37% of those who bought the fake documents — or about 2,800 people — passed the exam. (Compare to candidates holding a bachelor's degree in nursing (BSN) reportedly typically pass at 90% compared to 84% for those with an associate degree in nursing (ADN)).

Among that 2700, a “significant number” then received nursing licenses and secured jobs in unnamed hospitals and other health care settings in MD, NY, NJ, GA.

[0]: "7,600 Fake Nursing Diplomas Were Sold in Scheme, U.S. Says" https://web.archive.org/web/20230928151334/https://www.nytim...

I meant more that a massive part of the experience is hazing used to filter for less obvious criteria, but that is also good info!

Right, sure. But I was saying it isn't by any means only the candidates that we want to guard against misconduct or lack of objectivity, or their schools, but the interviewers/panelists/graders/regulators themselves.

Hazing is just an unfortunately necessary side-effect of this.

Are you saying "smart, are disciplined, and have the capacity to work hard for a long period" have no bearing on doing a good job?

No