Who knows the psychology of pre-employment personality surveys

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Who knows the psychology of pre-employment personality surveys

Posted: 6/16/2009 12:29:55 PM EDT

These things are maddening. I hate taking a 250 question test on whether or not I strongly agree or disagree with something.

What are they usually looking for besides consistency?

Why does this question ALWAYS pop up?

* It is maddening when the court lets guilty criminals go free
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly Agree

Posted: 6/16/2009 12:36:21 PM EDT

[#1]

I took one of them. It said i was a racist.

Posted: 6/16/2009 12:39:23 PM EDT

[#2]

Consistency is part of the design... A well designed test will ferret out those who are answering in a manner that they think that the company wants instead of what they themselves believe. If you are flagged as being inconsisetent, you will not even be given results.

Assuming you're consistent, it shows:

- compliant or rebellious tendencies
- leader or follower
- self starter or procedure oriented
- skeptical or gullible
- etc...

How they interpret the results depends on the position being applied for and/or what your boss/HR wants. You don't want a salesman, engineer or developer to be a follower or a 'by the book only' type of person. However these may be the exact traits you want in an auditor...

Posted: 6/16/2009 12:57:50 PM EDT

[#3]

ive heard different schools of thought. One school says that any extreme, is better than middle of the road from either side of the spectrum. (I.E /always and never VS. sort of agree/ sort of disagree.) why? i'm not sure, i suppose it has to do with confidence and emotional self esteem. i hate psycholgical evals in jobs. For a job requiring top secret ultra sensitive clearance? yes, it makes sense, but for workin at wallyworld? get real.
took an 80 question pseudo-psych assement on my appl, when I began work at Target. The things you put up with for 7 bucks an hour.

Posted: 6/16/2009 1:28:19 PM EDT

[#4]

Quoted:
ive heard different schools of thought. One school says that any extreme, is better than middle of the road from either side of the spectrum. (I.E /always and never VS. sort of agree/ sort of disagree.) why? i'm not sure, i suppose it has to do with confidence and emotional self esteem. i hate psycholgical evals in jobs. For a job requiring top secret ultra sensitive clearance? yes, it makes sense, but for workin at wallyworld? get real.
took an 80 question pseudo-psych assement on my appl, when I began work at Target. The things you put up with for 7 bucks an hour.

personality tests have a pretty high correlation to job performance.

Posted: 6/16/2009 1:54:33 PM EDT

[#5]

I can't stand some of the dumb questions. I got one that was "I've never crossed the street when the light was red".

Well I've walked streets at 2 or 3 AM where there were no cars in sight for miles, I wouldn't sit there and wait for the light to turn green. If I put disagree are they going to consider me to be not very ethical?

Posted: 6/16/2009 1:59:11 PM EDT

[#6]

i hate psycholgical evals in jobs. For a job requiring top secret ultra sensitive clearance? yes, it makes sense, but for workin at wallyworld? get real.

I had to fill one out when I applied to Staples. They asked me questions like:

"How many times did you get into fistfights with coworkers at your last job?"
"How much money did you take from your last emloyer without authorization?"
"Do you have any regrets?"

Posted: 6/16/2009 2:03:53 PM EDT

[#7]

I checked yes for "Do you get angry when you get wet?"

Posted: 6/16/2009 2:05:37 PM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
I can't stand some of the dumb questions. I got one that was "I've never crossed the street when the light was red".

Well I've walked streets at 2 or 3 AM where there were no cars in sight for miles, I wouldn't sit there and wait for the light to turn green. If I put disagree are they going to consider me to be not very ethical?

Questions like that could be part of a social compliance or lying scale.
Almost everyone has crossed the street when the light was red or took extra sugar from McDonalds.
If you answer no to too many of these items your trying too hard to look good and your other answers are suspect.

Posted: 6/16/2009 2:06:12 PM EDT

[#9]

On opinions you don't want to be on the extreme end of the spectrum.
Stay consistent with your answers. Keep cool alot and learn if your tests have those as answers.

ETA-just read my post and it doesn't make sense. I aint changin it.

Posted: 6/16/2009 2:08:43 PM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:

Quoted:
I can't stand some of the dumb questions. I got one that was "I've never crossed the street when the light was red".

Well I've walked streets at 2 or 3 AM where there were no cars in sight for miles, I wouldn't sit there and wait for the light to turn green. If I put disagree are they going to consider me to be not very ethical?

Questions like that could be part of a social compliance or lying scale.
Almost everyone has crossed the street when the light was red or took extra sugar from McDonalds.
If you answer no to too many of these items your trying too hard to look good and your other answers are suspect.

This question right here is a good example of why these tests are fucking stupid and un-scientific. Too many assumptions. That question right there, for example, could assume that I believe crossing the street when the light is red to be unethical or a form of deceit, but only do so because no one is looking. Who says how I feel about that particular law?

I took one of these once. It was a fucking joke.

Posted: 6/16/2009 2:09:42 PM EDT

[#11]

I took one of those and it asked at least 5 times in differently worded ways: Do you wish you were a woman?

Posted: 6/16/2009 2:16:18 PM EDT

[#12]

Answer them honestly. The way I see it, if they don't like you, you would have been a poor fit and/or miserable there, anyway.

Posted: 6/16/2009 2:27:28 PM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:
I took one of them. It said i was a racist.

Did you tell them you didnt vote for Obama?

Posted: 6/16/2009 2:40:10 PM EDT

[#14]

i think most of these are based on the MMPI (i think thats what it was called) test, which is a test that looks for certain traits like faggotry (did you like playing hopscotch or war when a child), schizoprenia (do you hear voices) etc. It has certain indexes that its looking for so you will see repetitive questions over and over. Most also test for someone trying to trick the test, like if u find a quarter would you keep it.

the way i understood it is that they took fags, schizos and other undesirable diagnosed people and had them take these tests, then looked at these test results from them, i guess they have characteristic answers.

if someone answer some of the same stuff the same way it can show you have these traits.

Posted: 6/16/2009 2:42:28 PM EDT

[#15]

No matter what, FIRE DOES NOT FASCINATE YOU!

Posted: 6/16/2009 2:45:35 PM EDT

[#16]

I hate those things. What happened to the "Good old days" where you came in, did your job and went home. It wasnt a concern if you liked your job or were emotionally satisfied. It was a fucking job and you just did it.

Posted: 6/16/2009 3:02:37 PM EDT

[#17]

I have no idea, but I've answered over a thousand of this questions in the past 4 days, looking for a job.

It has become extremely tedious.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Who knows the psychology of pre-employment personality surveys

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