Apparently, there is a hedge fund manager which posted a job advert that asks the applicant to flip a coin 50 times, write down the sequence and to include it in the job application:

1) Prepare a cover letter.
2) Flip a coin 50 times. Record the results on your resume as a sequence of heads (H) or tails (T) symbols.
3) Email your cover letter and resume to us.

There is endless speculation about what 50x coin flipping is supposed to be good for. Read the comments here on Paul Kedrosky’s blog. Opinions range from honesty test, over programming test, and stupidity test, to analytics test.

I only know what this job advert achieved: it went viral.

The job advert satisfies the rules of what makes things go viral that I talked about in a previous post: it is funny, surprising and somewhat absurd. Also have a look here and here for viral marketing. The end result is that this small advert has gotten a huge amount of free coverage.

What a great way to market a job advert.

PS: For what it is worth, here are my coin flipping results plus very quick spreadsheet analysis (no, I don’t need a new job):

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