Employment Personality Test

[Enola.Grey]

Anyone else hate this test? Just thinking about brings up memories of frustration...

 

[Ghost1986]

i guess i would hate it. took it in in college and all the top jobs it listed i can not physically preform.

 

[Decaf]

I guess it depends on which test you're talking about. I use to analyze DiSC tests for a local telecommunications company and I think they had a lot of value. The point was to determine if the candidate had a sales mentality and whether or not that mentality was for farming or hunting (working with current customers and finding new customers).

There are a lot of people with a customer service mentality who believe that sales is basically the same thing and apply for those jobs when they want to do something that makes more money or when looking for a replacement job. Suffice to say, those individuals tend to dislike the job and quit shortly after starting, long before the investment of training the company put forward pays off. My job was to determine if the person was likely to stick with the job past the point of break even, if they were likely to learn the material quickly and what kind of customers they would be more suited to interact with.

In a way my job was to look past the desperation of the candidate to get a job and find out if this is the job that really want. I put some people through who didn't last long and probably refused some that would have stuck around for a while, but overall sales employee retention improved while I was doing it.

 

[walfin]

Any link so we'll know which test you're talking about?

 

[Infinite Regress]

Are we referring to psychometric tests?
They always tend to ask if you like team/group situations, which I don't prefer - but have had to bs about in the past.

 

[Enola.Grey]

I do not have any specific test to reference. I do not remember...

 

[Decaf]

Are we referring to psychometric tests?
They always tend to ask if you like team/group situations, which I don't prefer - but have had to bs about in the past.

Psychometric test with a purpose are useful. If your personality (be it stereotypical INTP or something else) is not particularly good at aggressive sales, do you really want that job even if you're desperate enough to apply for it? More importantly, is the company you're applying at going to be happy with your work when it turns out that you're not well suited to it?

I agree that standardized psychometric tests are a problem. When bosses start applying the eugenics model to hiring, you are destroying the diversity of the workplace and filtering out those that don't fit your model of a "good employee" unfairly. It happens, but real professionals in the industry don't do it. It mostly happens when you have a corporate manager who reads an article on how testing is helpful in hiring practices and then assigns the testing to an untrained HR department with ignorant stipulations. It happens <shrug>. Frankly I wouldn't want to work in that environment, but beggars can't be choosers.

I don't know if it'd work, but it might not be a bad idea to ask to see a copy of your results for the test.

 

[Enola.Grey]

Psychometric test with a purpose are useful. If your personality (be it stereotypical INTP or something else) is not particularly good at aggressive sales, do you really want that job even if you're desperate enough to apply for it? More importantly, is the company you're applying at going to be happy with your work when it turns out that you're not well suited to it?

I agree that standardized psychometric tests are a problem. When bosses start applying the eugenics model to hiring, you are destroying the diversity of the workplace and filtering out those that don't fit your model of a "good employee" unfairly. It happens, but real professionals in the industry don't do it. It mostly happens when you have a corporate manager who reads an article on how testing is helpful in hiring practices and then assigns the testing to an untrained HR department with ignorant stipulations. It happens <shrug>. Frankly I wouldn't want to work in that environment, but beggars can't be choosers.

I don't know if it'd work, but it might not be a bad idea to ask to see a copy of your results for the test.

That's not the issue. When I look for a job in a department store, even if I am ringing registers, I shouldn't have to take a test to do mundane work to begin with.

Your right it has it's place, but I think they should change it... seriously

 

[Infinite Regress]

The finance & accounting industry is full of these quasi psychometric tests that included numerical and logic questions- I guess its more to filter out candidates than looking for specific qualities. I say this because there were tests where you had to complete 60 questions in 40 minutes etc.

I took lots of these tests when I was a grad, and they were organized by HR - which has you have stated Decaf can lead to problems. The ladies in HR thought party animal candidates = top employees.

So, I guess the problem is misapplication.

 

[Cavallier]

Hmmmm...Are we are talking about those stupid personality test you take when you are applying for a job?

If so, then yes, I agree they are a bit ridiculous but at the same time I view them as a way to weed out those who are bad liars from those who are good liars. It proves whether or not you know what's expected of you as a sales rep. Oh, and it attempts to determine whether or not you will rob the place blind. Yes, if you have a brain and good social sense then you'll be insulted with this test.

Also, as a sort of side note: I'm definitely a farmer. I've got to compete with the hunters at work and it drives me crazy. Some of them are really good at getting a sale from a single customer in the moment but pretty much piss off regulars. Then if that one customer does become a regular I have to work harder on building a good repore with them. However, they often want to deal with me exclusively to the point of only coming in when I'm working. The hunters drive them away but if they let up they could get so much more out of the customer by making them think they are getting a personalized experience. They don't plan out their strategy. Bah.

/rant.

 

[Geminii]

I've annoyed test-givers before by asking them what result they'd like me to come up with, and then dissecting their tests as I'm taking them.