Writing/ Editing Skills Tests

How common are writing or editing skills tests as part of the interview process?

I work in a controlled industry (pharma) and our team is expanding to hire an additional person at the Senior/Principal level. My department head has asked me to put together a 20-30 minute test for reading comprehension and editing skills to screen the candidates.

We have never done this in the past (relied on portfolios and writing samples). The one instance where we did test applicants, it was to prove familiarity with a certain software that we no longer use.

My gut tells me that I would be irritated if a job did this to me, but I haven't been interviewing in a while. Is this now a common part of the screening process?