Assessment/personality tests for jobs...

Parent Cafe
1

<p>A friend recently told me that her D’s job application process recently included some odd questions that, I guess, are supposed to determine how honest you are. The questions were “yes/no” without any other options or even an area to offer further explanation. </p>

<p>One question was something like this: You arrive home from the store, you look at your receipt and you find out that the clerk somehow missed ringing up your $1 pack of gum. Do you return to the store and pay the $1?</p>

<p>Yes or no?</p>

<p>Well, who the heck is going to make a special trip, spend $X in gas money to bring the store $1. However, you might return to the store with the $1 on ANOTHER day when you’re back in that area. BUT…that’s not an answer you can give. Only Yes or No. </p>

<p>Another question went something like this: You’re at a restaurant and the food is served. You realize that the waiter accidentally brought an extra plate of french fries. What do you do? </p>

<p>This question had multiple choice answers such as:</p>

<p>Eat some fries and then have the waiter take them away.</p>

<p>Eat the fries and say nothing.</p>

<p>Call the waiter over and have him take the full plate of fries away, even tho they’ll have to be thrown away.</p>

<p>Complain to the manager that your order was wrong.</p>

<p>Good grief. We’re talking about some french fries. They can’t be re-served. But, the company is probably wanting you to put that you to pick the 3rd answer.</p>

<p>What the heck? These questions are too petty. </p>

<p>What are people supposed to do? I know “be honest”, but let’s get real. Who’s driving back to pay $1 for the gum once you’re already home?</p>

2

<p>I’ve actually done that. Not for gum. but for other purchases. </p>

<p>And yesterday I pointed out to the cashier of the grocery store that she gave me $4.75 in change when she was supposed to have given me $4.74.</p>

<p>I guess I’m just weird.</p>

3

<p>I work for a company that uses these tests for all of their applicants. These are really not tough questions. I think everyone should know the answers to them and I think you do, too. I can easily score 100%. I am amazed by the number of applicants that cannot get past this very simple hurdle.</p>

4

<p>

</p>

<p>Fwiw, many, many places will do this to avoid pennies. Many cashiers are trained to do this. </p>

<p>The test is dumb. Seems lazy IMO on the part of the HR department.</p>

5

<p>“I can easily score 100%. I am amazed by the number of applicants that cannot get past this very simple hurdle.”</p>

<p>I think most people could score 100%, but interesting that you imply that’s what’s expected. I had to take a test like this recently (I was offered the job, but did not take it as I got a promotion at my current job), and the first screen said very clearly that if you scored 100% you would be deemed DISHONEST and would not be considered further for the position.</p>

<p>I cannot remember the name of the test, but it had two parts-the first was clearly an intelligence test of some kind, lots of math, lots of geometry, reading comprehension stuff, with a time limit. The second part with this honesty type thing, without a time limit. There were questions about if you’d ever taken anything from work, with pencils or paper one of the options, and others like the ones above.</p>

<p>I found it silly. My own boss walks off with my pens from my desk all the time-and I pay for those myself. The other day I found one of the “work” pens in my purse and I have no memory of putting it there. Do you, or anyone else REALLY expect everyone to answer these questions as if you have never, even mistakenly, done the same thing?</p>

6

<p>I’ve always thought that kind of testing was terrific for identifying the people you shouldn’t hire but do anyway. Think about that. </p>

<p>Companies expect you to know enough to pretend to be so honest angels sing when you walk down the street. The tests thus weed out those who try to be honest and pass the people who fill the cubicles and play office politics when they’re not surfing the net. They also do a great job of identifying the socio and psychopaths: they’re likely to be ones you hire because they lie to do well.</p>

<p>You can, of course, sometimes get a pattern of response that indicates a really big problem. And some companies actually care about the responses and examine what you discuss. </p>

<p>The really interesting - and similarly useless - tests are the complete personality workups. </p>

<p>To my mind, the elaborateness of modern hiring is matched only by the uselessness of the process. I haven’t found a system that accurately hires. Many, many years ago, I had a system for hiring admins: pick the one I instinctively liked. No deeper thought. Why? Because I had decided after study that hiring is a crap shoot. Rather than hire randomly from those qualified, I’d pick the one I took to on first sight. Worked just as well as any other system, maybe better.</p>

<p>And now they test you a thousand times. Do this group activity. Problem solve. Show your creativity. Life is not a Top Chef / Bachelor reality competition. Google addressed this. They used to attract people by posting odd problems because they wanted those people to come to them. As they became popular, they added layer after layer of interviews. That so bothered HR - I forget what they call HR at Google - that they did a study. Google lives on data and the study showed the usefulness of interviews dropped after some small number, like 3. So they cut the process.</p>

7

<p>The company where I now work added complete psychological testing for their critical hires after they accidentally hired a paranoid schizophrenic. It’s a small company and it cost them a bunch.</p>

8

<p>*I’ve actually done that. Not for gum. but for other purchases. </p>

<p>And yesterday I pointed out to the cashier of the grocery store that she gave me $4.75 in change when she was supposed to have given me $4.74.</p>

<p>I guess I’m just weird.
*</p>

<p>not weird. I always let the cashier know if s/he’s given me the wrong change. I don’t want their drawer to be short and then they’d get into trouble. </p>

<p>As for driving back for an unpaid item, it really depends on the amount of the item, the distance, and if I have time to even go back. If I’m back in that area within the next few days, then fine. But, I’m not going to burn up a gallon of gas to pay for a $1 item. </p>

<p>After reading some of the above responses, I’m still not sure what is expected. Are they rejecting applicants whose answers are “too perfect”?</p>

9

<p>Any company unwilling to hire you because you refuse to return to the store to pay for a $1 item mistakenly not charged is a company run by idiots who would just make your life miserable if you were to work there.</p>

10

<p>LoremIpsum - that is SO true !</p>

11

<p>Actually, i think the expectation is that you will be somewhere other than 100% one way or the other, but that’s just my opinion. I would not have returned to the store to return the $1, but I would have called the waiter over. </p>

<p>When you work you make value decisions all the time about how much time and effort you will put into something and the value of the decisions you make in the grand scheme of things. For some positions you WANT nitpickers and for other positions that might be the last thing you want. So never try to “out think” these types of tests is my best advice.</p>

12

<p>I’d call the waiter over, but there’s a good chance he/she’d tell us to keep them, which is why the answer is weird.</p>

13

<p>And today the person at Panera forgot to put my $4.99 pack of cookies into my carry out bag. Of course I didn’t notice it until I got home. Hope they believe me tomorrow when I go back there!</p>

<p>My kids have both had to take these tests as part of job applications. I believe this has become very common.</p>

14

<p>It did not stipulate when you had to return to the store to pay for the item…just that you would return to the store (who knows when you are passing by?) </p>

<p>I think the questions are very odd, but somebody with a psychology/business degree is earning a living by coming up with these questions and people are buying this inventory, so whatever. It sounds like this inventory wants someone who is a very black and white thinker and will stick by the rules, so there is probably some LAC psychology/science behind them. </p>

<p>Once, I realized that I was only charged for 5 potted mums and I went back to the nursery to pay for the sixth pot. I was actually accused of trying to take advantage of the store clerk! Yes…that was a very weird nursery and I no longer shop there. </p>

<p>Apparently, this is BIG business for small businesses. Just google it.
[7</a> Tips for Using Personality Tests to Hire | Inc.com](<a href=“http://www.inc.com/guides/201103/7-tips-for-using-personlity-tests-to-hire.html]7”>7 Tips for Using Personality Tests to Hire | Inc.com)</p>

15

<p>If the job one is “testing” for is a cashier who handles lots of little amounts every day, I can see wanting someone to be 100% honest. If the job one is “testing” for requires any amount of brains, I think it’s a stupid waste of time that predicts absolutely nothing.</p>

16

<p>They aren’t really asking if you’d return the dollar. </p>

<p>I’d guess the return question is a “lie” question and that the wrong way to answer it would be to say you would head back to the store. Usually, there are a series of questions like this, which are, in effect, traps to assess whether you are answering the non-lie questions candidly. </p>

<p>The prototypical lie question: “True or False? I never lie.” Who never lies? Saints, and people who are trying to make themselves look good. </p>

<p>If you answer enough of these types of questions in a way that makes you Mr. or Mrs. Goody Two Shoes, it casts doubts on your truthfulness on the other questions. </p>

<p>So, trust neither magicians or psychometricians. Misdirection is their stock in trade.</p>

17

<p>*I’d guess the return question is a “lie” question and that the wrong way to answer it would be to say you would head back to the store. Usually, there are a series of questions like this, which are, in effect, traps to assess whether you are answering the non-lie questions candidly. *</p>

<p>that’s just the problem. it didn’t ask if you would immediately return to the store, so that’s one reason why the question would be difficult to answer. </p>

<p>And, since no one has time to read answers, there’s no space to put a comment or two to provide clarification.</p>

18

<p>I had to take a personality /intelligence test for a job I took in July. Apparently, I passed the test since they hired me, but it was about the only thing I passed. I was miserable there. The work did not suit me at all and my boss was an utter and complete hellcat. Luckily, something I’d interviewed for a while back came open in another department and I was able to transfer. I think the whole test thing is a waste of time.</p>

19

<p>What I would find frustrating is when my own truthful answer isn’t one of the choices, and there isn’t a N/A or “other” choice to pick.</p>

<p>Another question was something like this:</p>

<p>If you were the owner of a business and you caught an employee stealing an item worth $1, would you fire him?</p>

<p>Well, that’s not necessarily a yes or no question. If it’s a long term employee you might answer that differently than a short term employee. Would anyone fire an excellent long term employee for stealing, say, a stapler?</p>