Personality tests at work

[jiacinto]

I just applied for a job at a dept store and had to take a personality test. It just seemed so tricky. The questions were hard on some level.

[Boudicea]

1. What were some of the Qs?

[jiacinto]

2. One part was an IQ test basically

The other part presented statements and how strongly you felt about them.

[wyldwolf]

3. I know, questions like...

"Do you think it is sometimes ok to call in sick when you're not really sick?"

and...

"If you knew a coworker took a longer than allowed break, would you report him or her?"

[qb]

4. These tests suck

When in college, I applied for a janitorial job. The test had questions like, "Describe an accomplishment from your previous job that you were particularly proud of."

Having been a delivery person, all I could really say was "Gee, I sure was proud of the time when I actually found the right address and got the package there on time!"

I didn't say it so sarcastically, but the question really irked me.

By the way, they didn't hire me. Maybe they were looking for someone who would be genuinely proud of pushing a broom.

[jiacinto]

10. I was just afraid that I answered the questions wrong

nt

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Terwilliger]

20. Look, I did NOT say anything wrong

that's bullshit

[VolcanoJen]

6. We (unfortunately) administer this crap test at our nightclub.

My fave question:

"I tend to work better when I'm a little high."

Answer: Agree or Disagree

}(

[bitchkitty]

7. ha ha ha!

Does anyone ever answer "Agree"?

[eyesroll]

8. I've taken them for everything from retail to my job here...

On one hand, I'm kind of a test nerd, so just taking the test didn't bug me. I do those on the internet all the time.

However, the idea that the results actually mean something and are shared with my managers -- and not with me -- is intrusive and insulting.

I love the ones that go something like, "Sometimes, I feel like hitting someone." "I've never told a lie." "I think it's OK to lie on this stupid test if it'll get the results my manager wants."

[Mari333]

9. Back in the early 70s when I was in my 20's

Job applications had THIS on many of them

"Do you have homosexual tendencies?"

I used to cross it out, and put : This question should not be on here..

[XanaDUer]

11. Ah, Florida

a lovely right-to-work state, and a work-at-will state.

A special place.

[jiacinto]

22. Well

Aren't most states at will?

[XanaDUer]

23. Carlos...

Look, Carlos, I'm sorry you got screwed with your job? Okay?

But, most states don't have specific legislation designating them as RTW states or WAW states.

In the cases where they don't exist, the unions and employers work things out among themselves without the interference and involvement of the state. In RTW states, there is usually a government agency that determines whether a specific group of people has the right to organize. Your job classification could be determined to be one that is exempted from collective bargaining, such as confidential or managerial.

In other states, the goverment just does not get involved.


And good luck with your personality tests, Carlos.

[jumptheshadow]

12. In a past life

I was once hired by a company that administered not one but three tests including an IQ test, a personality test and a salesmanship test (even though I wasn't in sales).

Even though the boss took these tests very seriously, I have never worked with such a bunch of kooks in my life!

[jiacinto]

13. How are they used and processed?

nt

[OrdinaryTa]

14. Employee Personality Tests

The tests are designed to avoid putting a square peg in a round hole. If you are outgoing and people-oriented, employers don't want to put you in a room by yourself doing close work that will bore you and make you accident prone. On the other hand, if you don't like socializing, and you enjoy being left alone, you shouldn't be in a job requiring lots of contact with people.

There's a really famous personality test that's known by its initials. Unfortunately, I took it so long ago I've forgotten the real name or the initials. Don't put me in a job that requires long-term retention of facts.

http://www.jobcandidateprofile.com/sample-questions.htm

[jiacinto]

15. Ok

Thanks.

[jumptheshadow]

31. They were all paper tests

It was several years ago when I took the tests but I seem to recall that they all involved written questions and multiple choice answers. I believe the tests may have been sent to a subcontractor for evaluation.

My company hired for two departments -- a creative department and a sales department. They looked for different personality types for each department. The marketing people were generally quite materialistic and driven individuals. The creative people were very intense, hardworking and opinionated. Their average IQ was much higher than the sales staff.

[Mairead]

16. If you don't get the job, and want to raise some hell

you can file a charge under EEO, because they can't demonstrate that tests like that accurately predict job performance.

[XanaDUer]

18. Probably not.

First, he would have to get the EEOC to investigate. Not easy. Then , if they think it's warranted, he could get the go-ahead from the EEOC to sue. Takes forever, and he could use the energy to get another job.

Florida is not a worker-friendly place. Believe me, I tried to unionize in this state. It is bad news. You would not believe what I have seen. About the only right workers here have is to actually be paid for work they do.

The tests are probably pro forma, Carlos.

[Deja Q]

28. With the state atty general, or who?

I just recently applied for a job and had to answer 12 pages of intrusive questions (something like 72 total)

They haven't gotten back to me yet, but I reckon I've failed. I've taken 12 such tests since 1990, and each time I've failed. Maybe for some jobs the questions were appropriate, but for doing computer tech work I don't see the relevance - and with their permission, I could give 50 references who would vouch for my work ethic and ability to deal with customers.

[Mairead]

39. The title varies, but you'll know it when you see it

In Massachusetts it's called MCAD - Mass Commission Against Discrimination. In other states it's called the EEOC, or the Civil Rights Commission, or some similar name.

Personality tests suffered a sudden decline in use during the '70s, right after the federal EEOC was established, because the data showed that they don't predict success as well as less intrusive measures such as interview and reference checking.

If you decide to go for it: good luck!

[salin]

17. I have heard that some are like Myers Briggs

matching personalities to jobs (I find that specious - but thats another story). The other types are more like 'religious' screening. Lots of morals questions - not so much to see if you are good or not, but if your thinking fits the 'moral character code' (re: religious beliefs) of the organization. Seems to skate very, very close to EEOC violations.

[DBoon]

19. Catch potentially dishonest employees

I've heard some tests are designed to pick up latent larcenous tendencies. Are you potentially someone who would steal?

[jiacinto]

21. No

nt

[markses]

34. If the "tendency" is "latent"

How could he possibly answer the direct question?

[Booberdawg]

24. On one test 3 years ago I had to draw a picture of a pig

Was later told they interpret it by little things like did you give it a curly tail, did you draw just the face or the whole pig, etc.

Oh, I didn't get that job, LOL!

[Nikia]

25. I had a friend that helped people pass those

He worked for a rather oppressive company but paid well. The company decided to institute personality testing to applicants to avoid disruptive types. He had friends in management and found out what they were looking for. He helped several friends get jobs there by helping them prep for the test that they would not have passed had they been honest.

[bleedingheart]

26. These tests are used to assess the risk of hiring you

in fact if the test does not have a time limit the test-giver will note how long it took you to take it as well.

They are also used to figure out who in a company should get laid off.

For example, someone who overthinks issues is a risk in a job where they will be required to think quickly and deal with issues on their own. How are they are risk? Well they will require more supervision and possibly be a drag on that department as well.

A friend of mine worked for a company whose sole purpose was to administer and "grade" these tests...they made a mint.

[Deja Q]

27. I know that firsthand, 12 times over

I'm never good enough for them, though I'd probably do a better job than most of the people they ultimately hire, pardon me for being uncharacteristically confident bordering on arrogant.

If you fail, go to a lawyer or state atty general. When I find out that I failed their test, I'm doing that. To do nothing would make me part of the problem and there are people who even need A job and can't because of these tests. Corporate america sure knows how to make people suffer and prefer death. x( They are evil and must be fought. Fortunately the Dems will usually listen but I find it hard to trust Republicans, let alone the neo-cons who'll justify this "cleansing" process.

[Wickerman]

29. These tests, as mentioned

measure fit for the job. The best are painstakingly researched and tested on a normative population for years before they are published. They tend, with amazing accuracy, to do what they are requested to do when used carefully by people who have been properly trained. Regrettably, many times these tests are not interpreted accurately and are used for reasons they weren't intended by people who think they can use one question at face value. Multiple questions are group into factors and those factors are scored in various ranges.

[jiacinto]

30. Ok

Can you explain this to me in English?

[noiretextatique]

32. here it is in plain english

the tests are designed to eliminate people.

[Wickerman]

33. They are ideally used to select the best matched applicant

they can aid in selection. They shouldn't be used in isolation and rarely are. Interviews, work samples and the like should be used in conjunction with testing. Their value, asa rule of thumb, shouldn't exceed 25% of the applicant's "grade". They eliminate some, its true. Hiring dishonest employees is costly, as is hiring the wrong employee, what with training and the cost of not havign the right person in the right job.

There is abuse of pre-employment testing, there is misuse. If you are rejected for a job solely because of testing you would have case to sue the company. It would be hard to prove, but the threat has reduced enqualified use in recent years.

[markses]

35. The REAL PURPOSE of these tests

At a superficial level, the point is to identify a set of inefficient or negative tendencies (as well as the so-called loyalty indexes) through "misdirection" and "subterfuge." (I put both of these in quotations, because one must be absolutely imbecilic to miss the tenor of most of these).

BUT THAT'S not the REAL PURPOSE.

The real purpose of these tests is to produce the paranoid and docile subjectivities that are so useful in lower-end jobs. The purpose is to establish a power relation from the outset that mimics a set of dominant-subordinant relationships (teacher-student, doctor/psychologist-patient, police officer-suspect, etc, etc). The tests don't merely DISCOVER something that's already there. they work to produce something new: the paranoid and docile worker.

You are being effectively FORMED as kind of person by the test. The very fact that you question whether you answered correctly shows that the test has WORKED. It has accomplished its basic purpose, regardless of your answers. You are the paranoid and docile product of the test itself.

In this sense, it doesn't even matter if you know how to answer on the test. the very fact that you "know how to answer" shows that you already understand the power relation involved, and perhaps even accept the power relation. One is no less paranoid for understanding how to hack the omnipotent master. However, one could be less docile.

[jiacinto]

37. Interesting

Thanks.

[jumptheshadow]

38. What a great analysis

I had never looked upon personality testing that way. But I think you are absolutely dead-on. And drug testing and lie detector tests, which are so intrusive, are an even more insidious form of establishing that power relationship.

A side story: One of my relatives, who had been the victim of a devastating violent crime, applied for a job as a drugstore clerk. It was her first tentative emersion from the painful cocoon she had been in since she had been assaulted. She had to take a written test, and although she is an extremely honest lady, she couldn't bring herself to admit that she had taken Xanax while recovering from her injuries.

She was hired and then fired a few days later. The drug store chain had looked up her old prescription records and had found out that she had taken Xanax. Luckily, there's a happy end to the story. She got a much better job that really aided in her recovery.

[Rhiannon12866]

36. Was it the MMPI (Minnesota Multi-Phasic Personality Inventory)

I have seen a copy of that and found it fascinating! They ask the same questions in many different ways, especially the ones meant to trip you up. This is a standard that has been around for years.