My first job at a consulting company out of uni I had to to an IQ test that could also indicate if I had rabies.

It had questions like "are you afraid of water", "have you showered in the last three weeks", "have you felt more aggressive lately"...

Wow, first time i hear that. Aren't those IQ test horribly biased?

I failed a job application because of the IQ test. It was administered in a second language for me, so I really didn't do well... the interviews had been completely smooth and I got on well with everyone I had talked with...

The thing is, I really needed that job... ended up going to another job that offered me a very low salary (I had no visa in the country , so was looking for a sponsor, which makes things a lot harder) and the company went bankrupt within a few months!

Anyway, I still got the visa, and then, with a few months to find another job with more peace of mind, I eventually got much nicer job, paying a lot more! But I still dread the though of doing an IQ test, despite my years of experience indicating I am more competent than average, at least.

I have never had to take a general IQ test when job hunting here in Sweden. Coding tests, yes, but not IQ.

I had to do it twice for different companies that used the same IQ-test platform.

And most of the time it's not even proper IQ-test but only Raven Matrice test + maybe quick math tests.

Funny thing was that I did very good (apparently according to the HR person) on one of them, but did horrible enough they didn't even call back on the second test.

grids my gear why this is still a common practice in Sweden. HR in Sweden seems to be about one or two decades behind rest of the world in their efficiency.

I would disagree. I’ve never heard of any company doing this, nor any former or current colleague that had to do one.

Really? I'm surprised I haven't heard of that.