Career filter: Interview then… personality test!?
My first job out of college, for an editorial assistant job, I took a personality test. The test concluded I was not very creative and might be suited to work with tools. In fact, I am awkward with tools and have since written and published a book. Personality testing is a scientifically not-very-well proven method that seems designed to screen out those who submit extremely inappropriate answers. It’s a big business and it helps add to the mystique of Human Relations.
I worked for a company that gave everyone a PI after a first interview Predictive Index. Everyone who worked at my last workplace did one. Don’t be completely honest on those. One side of the paper has a list of words that you would use to describe yourself, and the other side has a list of words that you think other people would use to describe you. So, obviously, don’t include a lot of negatives. Likewise, don’t make both sides identical or too different. If they use the PI to determine if you’re suited for a job, like Wolfie says: run away. Like goatdog, I did one of those multiple-choice personality tests at a low-end retail job about fifteen years ago and answered truthfully, only to get a chilly response because of my answers. Yes, I do think of ways that someone could steal from the store. Of course I do — I’m trying to prevent people from stealing from the store! To sum up: being completely honest on those tests is not great advice; un
I work for a human resources consulting firm that gives out these tests. A couple things to consider: 1) Don’t bother lying. There’s no way to fail a personality profile, they really are just looking to understand you. A good test has questions in there that are only used to gauge whether or not you’re trying to game the instrument. Too many false answers will render the results invalid, and that’s far more suspicious than any supposed “bad” answers. 2) They might be giving the test to learn how to manage you if you’re hired. Knowing what you enjoy, what motivates you, how you work, and other personal details can help them tailor your work experience in a way that reduces the likelihood of turnover. It’s expensive to hire and train someone, so it’s in the organization’s best interests to keep you around for a while. Relax and take the test. It has minimal impact on the hiring process.
Don’t listen to the people who are saying you should be completely honest. Better to be consistently dishonest than to be honest. I failed to get a job once because I was assured by the cool-seeming interviewer that “this is just a formality” and “you should just be completely honest because nobody really cares about these things.” So I answered truthfully: no, I don’t think it’s wrong to steal to feed your family, etc. That friendly interviewer guy turned pretty chilly when I called back to see how things went; he said there were some “problems” with my test, thank you for applying, goodbye. Of course this was a pretty low-level job where they probably have problems with employees stealing out of the till. Maybe things would be different in a higher-status job. But maybe they wouldn’t.
I think what’s important to know is how much faith the company puts in these tests – not just for hiring – but for determining your future in the company. I worked for a company that gave everyone a PI after a first interview (Personality Indicator or some such). They took it very seriously and I was ruled out of different positions because I didn’t have the correct PI for a particular job. There was a consultant who helped “read” the tests – we called affectionately referred to him as Rasputin. If this is an integral part of their human capital management processes – I would run away. Nothing good can come of that job.
