Had to look this up, since I hadn't heard of IQ tests being illegal. It seems to me that a domain specific IQ test should be perfectly fine to use.
AFAICT the origin of this is a case from the 70s [1] where it was ruled against the use of IQ tests at a particular company. The reason was that the IQ test did not reflect an actual business need, but it made it harder for black people to qualify.
So making an intelligence test that actually relates to the work at hand, such as testing the ability to design algorithms as a programmer or the ability to comprehend text for a journalist, seems like more than just a workaround, it's a way to actually follow the intent of the ruling.
AFAICT the origin of this is a case from the 70s [1] where it was ruled against the use of IQ tests at a particular company. The reason was that the IQ test did not reflect an actual business need, but it made it harder for black people to qualify.
So making an intelligence test that actually relates to the work at hand, such as testing the ability to design algorithms as a programmer or the ability to comprehend text for a journalist, seems like more than just a workaround, it's a way to actually follow the intent of the ruling.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griggs_v._Duke_Power_Co.