Dumbass personality tests and job applications

[Jaden]

Why? Are we all so perfect that we can look down our noses at people who think and act differently than the majority of the posters on this site? No one is perfect, but you'd never know that, reading this site. Every time someone handles a situation differently than the majority would, they get ganged up on for it. I'm sorry but that's not fair.

All I have to say to this is:

Following that line of logic, then who are we to complain about the way the company handles it's job applications? So long as it doesn't have anything to do with sex, race, orientation, etc., they can put whatever they want on their job applications. Just because they handle their job applications differently than the majority would, they get attacked for it.

Now, the above is complete balderdash of course. I hate those personality tests as much as anybody, and I don't mind people complaining about them. But they should be complained about in a mature, professional manner, which the original letter, I'm sorry to say, was neither. There are certain ways some things should be done, and this is just one of them. Business letters should be gone about in a business-like manner.

[powerboy]

I know that If I owned a business I would want to know if we were pissing off people, especially large amounts of people.

Exactly. I would want to know that also.

KatieKaBoom, thank you for agreeing with me.


I do know that when I have my own business. I will do it the old way, and just interview people. Will it take a long time, it might.

[Seshat]

I think we're just trying to make the point that it's perfectly alright to be upset, it's plenty fine to come on here and vent wildly, but once you're putting it down in words to be sent directly to the company, it's best to do it calmly and rationally, in a way that they can appreciate and take seriously.

That's what I've come away with, too.

My opinion (not that anyone wants it!) is this: when something happens that really pisses you off, vent the emotion any way that works for you. Then when you're thinking clearly again, figure out how to best get what you want, and go for that calmly and sensibly.

Writing the kind of letter the OP says she wrote, isn't likely to be effective to get what it seems the OP wants. A more effective type of letter is the calm sort people in this thread have recommended.

The OP has every right to be upset. I think anyone would be. But next time, she needs to decide whether she wants to vent her spleen at the offending company, or get what she wants from them. And then act accordingly.

[Ree]

Maybe the tests aren't slanted in any particular direction and you are genuinely failing them for a reason.

Maybe you passed the test previously, and were being considered, but perhaps after being out of work and failing at a job search, when you wrote the test, you were in a frame of mind that set off red flags for them.

It doesn't seem fair, I know.

I can only tell you what I have told other people. When one consistently fails to find work after several interviews, instead of taking the stand that the world is all lined up with you in its sights, and management has united in a common cause to keep you unemployed, it's probably time to look within and figure out what one is doing wrong in the interview.

I mean in the scenario of 1 applicant, going on 15 job interviews with 15 different managers, and the applicant is rejected, the common denominator is the applicant, so where does the problem really lie?

[NightAngel]

I am a Store Manager for Hollywood Video.

No, no one likes those tests.
We've had discussions about this before on this board BUT what they are supposed to do is narrow the applicant base to people who seem to exhibit they qualities we are looking for. I'm sure that sometimes good people fall through the cracks. Then again, there are times where I can tell you from the second a person steps through the door if they can pass the test or not.

Your answers confidential and the Store Manager never sees them. If you don't score high enough I am not allowed to hire you. Period. And it would be a complete waste of my time to interview you anyway even if you do want to explain your answers. Not to mention a waste of your time and the getting up of your hopes for no reason, etc.

If an applicant was to tell me that they don't like crowds that would be a red flag. I need people who LIKE crowds. I need people who outgoing, outspoken, friendly and thrive in a bustling environment. We are Hollywood- we ARE entertainment! That means we engage and entertain EVERY customer- EVERY time no matter how busy it is. If an applicant doesn't show me high energy and fire- forget it. I don't care HOW good they scored and if I hire someone thinking they have the fire and they don't- then bye!

I'd also like to note that I do not OWE anyone a job. I have applicants that score high that when they come in for the interview do not show me they are what I'm looking for and I don't hire them either.

[blas]

They just make everyone at the factory (including temps!) take an adult equivalency exam. You're exempt from it if you have gone to college.

And guess what? We still have some of the dumbest people I've ever seen with no common sense whatsoever working there.

[Ree]

Case in point. I did another one of these tests for Circle K over the phone yesterday and they actually asked me what I thought of comedians who poked fun out of people in the audience.

Now it seems that your sense of humour isn't your business anymore...but whatever.

I'm guessing they were trying to figure out if you had a sense of humor (which is pretty vital when dealing with the public) and whether you have a short fuse and are easily upset by the nitpicking of others. (That's also pretty key in dealing with the public.)
Some of these questions may seem stupid, but you can't take them at face value.
There is usually a deeper meaning and interpretation behind them.

Sometimes an inkblot isn't just an inkblot, ya know what I mean?

[Jester]

I'm sorry but that's not fair.

Life ISN'T fair.

If it were I would be getting paid an exorbitant amount of money to just entertain people with magic and comedy, and wouldn't be schlepping food and beverages to mental midgets on a daily basis. (As luck would have it, this week I AM for the most part just doing magic.....) And RW would own the guest house she has always wanted. And I'd have my bar in Phoenix or Mexico that I want. And the incompetent wouldn't be our bosses, the unethical wouldn't be running the government, and the cheaters would not be our children's role models.

But it isn't. Never has been. Never will be. To quote one of my favorite movies:

"Life is pain. You just get used to it!" (Samantha Caine, The Long Kiss Goodnight)

Yes, that is a bit harsh. Life can be harsh and cruel at times. It is how you DEAL with that that determines how much you are going to enjoy it.

[aniwahya]

I humbly request that you look at this as a response not a criticism.

I place a higher value on concise, logical, well-thought out and articulate arguments than I do on emotionally driven spontaneous out pourings of feelings. My tendency to place more professional credence on the former in no small part due to being college educated (not to mention a particularly zealous high school English teacher). There is a given format for business letters that is taught in grade school and then refined at higher levels. By the time you get to college level they assume that you know the format and it is expected when addressing someone in business correspondence that you adhere to the standard form.

While I agree that it is unfair to arbitrarily dismiss a letter out of hand because it does not fit the standard mold, I would not expect someone at the corporate (or even managerial) level to take my letter seriously if i deviated from said mold. My reasoning behind is this is that someone at corporate level is likely to be college educated, and therefore has jumped thought the required hoops in English class that dictate following a prescribed form for business letters.

Also as a "type A" personality I find the emotional aspect of your email to be very alienating. I do not intend this as criticism, but as observational feedback.

Oh! I completely agree with you regarding the tests prospective employers use to screen applicants. There is not a test question made that I could not over-think, and personality tests drive me insane. >.>
I sometimes wonder if they are in part a tool to help screen out those who truly want the job, who are willing to suffer through the test, from those who are just applying at anywhere and everywhere (like people on unemployment who wish to stay unemployed).

Tig hath spoken.

[Misanthropical]

~~WARNING! RANT AHEAD!!~~ Directed towards corporations and no one on this board!

Yes, no one owes you a job! You should have foreseen your job being sent over seas or having the employer bring someone over from another country to do your job cheaper. You should have foreseen that a robot would take your place or they can bring someone in who's younger and will do your job much cheaper.

How dare you think you should be able to support your family when the corporations need their millions? The utter nerve of you! You should have thought that before having a family! You should have a hundered and one degrees just in case, but if you do, then the corporations can tell you that your over qualified.

Go on welfare, oops, you make $2 too much to be on welfare, sucks to be you. We will glady bail out a corporation, but if you go to get welfare we will look on you like you're nothing more than a leech.

If a corporation is generous enough to throw you a crumb and give you a low paying job, they expect you to remain loyal and forever grateful, but if you dare expect the same from the corporation, you live in a fantasy land.

[Andara Bledin]

"Life is pain. You just get used to it!" (Samantha Caine, The Long Kiss Goodnight)

I prefer: Life is pain, Princess. Anyone tells you different is selling something.

If you want people to sit up and take notice, be calm and rational.

If you want people to dismiss you out of hand for being a loon, be excited and emotional.

Life sucks, but there are ways to try to minimize the suckage and writing rants to corporations isn't one of them.

Oh, yeah, and personality tests for hiring often weed out some of the best candidates... Put me in the "hate 'em" category.

^-.-^

[Gravekeeper]

Yes, no one owes you a job! You should have foreseen your job being sent over seas or having the employer bring someone over from another country to do your job cheaper. You should have foreseen that a robot would take your place or they can bring someone in who's younger and will do your job much cheaper.

I fail the see the connection between personal entitlement and corporate evil you're trying to make. Everything you said applies to people that already have/had a job. It'd make more sense if you removed the first sentence.

Besides I'm not going to India to rent a DVD.....

PS. Not all companies / corporations are evil. ( I can't believe I just said that. But its true. )

PPS. Many are merely dysfunctional. <cough>

[NightAngel]

Besides I'm not going to India to rent a DVD.....

While there may be some new HV stores opening in the semi-not-so-distant future I've heard nothing about any of them being in India.

[Misanthropical]

I fail the see the connection between personal entitlement and corporate evil you're trying to make. Everything you said applies to people that already have/had a job. It'd make more sense if you removed the first sentence.

Besides I'm not going to India to rent a DVD.....

PS. Not all companies / corporations are evil. ( I can't believe I just said that. But its true. )

PPS. Many are merely dysfunctional. <cough>

I was ranting, so I don't have to make sense!

I know you're not going to India to rent a DVD, which was sort of the point too.

The only jobs soon to be left here are in the service industry. Yes, the job market is booming if you don't mind working at McDonald's, Wal-Mart, etc. While there is not a thing wrong with working those jobs, the jobs that use to be here are not here anymore and they should be.

The middle class is disappearing and soon there will be class warfare if something is not done about the job market among other things.

[Can I Help Your A$$?]

Businesses have to hire people. When they don't hire you, and hire someone else, how do you know that the someone else needs the job just as much as you do?

If businesses owe YOU a living, they owe EVERYONE a living. Think about that for a moment. If A: businesses owe you a living=true, then B: businesses owe us all livings=true too. So, what does this mean?

The government takes over all companies, and distributes the jobs to its people, meaning you no longer have any choice in what you do or how much you can make.

If you agree with this, fine. But you'd have to forget that the last hundred years of the history of communism ever happened. I'm sure Americans would be happy to go on 5-10-year waiting lists to buy their cars.