> This is like asking a Ruby developer to debug PHP as a test of flexibility
> If the job requires specific tech skills, test those skills
Sounds like someone failed a coding challenge.
In all seriousness, you need to understand that companies rarely implement their hiring practices for the sake of it. It is usually the best their collective minds could come up with. Telling them to get rid of it without attempting to understand what problem they're trying to solve and without offering alternatives, is, to say the least, not a productive use of anyone's time.
I find in software development we try to reinvent the wheel all too often instead of borrowing practices from other professions. Let's have a look at what civil engineers have to go through to get hired at half the salary of a software dev, and let's incorporate that into our practice. That will make everyone a happy trooper !