Personality tests (Grrrrr...)

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although i can't stand personality tests, im a student with no job experience so im confined to positions in big firms that can take unexpereinced people on. I've been reading a bit on the best way to answer them, and came across this guide:

http://www.ehow.com/how_4446746_pass-pr ... -test.html

A lot the sample responses he gave made a lot of sense, but Im interested if anyone would agrre with the vewipoint that these "people" who have some say in these tests are "out of touch with reality". im still confused about questions to do with honesty. for example, mcdonlds are asking you as part of there test to stronly agree/agree ect on the follwing statement "i have never done something i wasn't supposed to do". this has got me quite confused, is it simply to see whether or not your truthful, or are they really seeking to hire an impossibly "perfect emplyee"?

thanks in advance to anyone who can help me out

I tend to think they are trying to find out if you are truthful but I find the question sufficiently bizarre that I'm not sure either... If they asked you about your answers in a follow-up interview, I can see this would be a useful question for an interviewer to work with but I dont know if they do that for these tests

Yes, the test makers, and HR departments are out of touch with reality...there should be some dx for them in the DSM.

Apparently employers are looking for a person with AS who is extroverted, meaning a person who follows the rules all of the time and is also up beat, cheerful, and social butterflies...all of the time.

News to HR, these people got weeded out of the gene pool before people even existed.

They got killed...eaten, starved to death, whatever.

Which brings us to an interesting fact. Everyone who passes one of those personality tests, is, in fact, a liar. Just the opposite of the person the tests aim to find to hire. Which of course, is another example, of why liars exists and entirely honest people can't get jobs because you have developed traits that make you less sociable to protect yourself from getting killed due to your honesty.

This is why I would answer, "no" to "I have never done anything I wasn't supposed to do". I just find that question nonsensical.

I find that my AS makes my entire mindset essentially opposed to the basic corporate mentality. To the question above, I'd have to ask, "Supposed to as defined by whom, and for what reason?". You can't please all the people all the time. Therefore, by someone's definition, every one of us has done something we're not supposed to. It is almost like the "Every statement I make is false" sort of paradox. My head wants to explode when I think about it too long.

Of course, these tests are seldom designed for people who actually think. They're designed to be checked off by people who are lost in a mental fog, dreaming of their next big purchase / deposit into the corporate profit coffers. Corporate America, and the rest of the corporate world, really, wants robots, not human beings, to work for them. They are predictable, programmable, and replaceable.

Hmm, that does help me understand the statement a bit more, although i still can't figure out if they just want an honest answer (disagree) or mabye its one of those that your supposed to answer "not sure". but thinking about it lol, mabye the statement is meant to be interpreted as "i've never done something wrong that i know was wrong".

Its kinda what annoys me about these tests, they don't openly imply to "get into the coporate mindset" but to simply "be honest". ANother one even said that multiple questions are worded differently throughout the test so we know that your lying, so "honesty really is the best policy".

I wish I could help more. Unfortunately, I suspect those who have trouble with this are just screwed; they don't care. They say "be honest", but they want corporate bull****, like when they don't hire people because they aren't "excited" enough about becoming a low level corporate drone. If you are honest, and you're excited enough to satisfy them, you've got to be the victim of a lobotomy. But they pretend they are so wonderful people ought to be that excited, which puts pressure on those who understand this to lie - but they say they want honesty.

I have no trouble understanding what annoys you about these tests. I have trouble understanding how anyone could take seriously the people behind those tests. Urgh! I really do wish I could help you. You're trapped by stupid rules and expectations you had no say in. But, even if you get past this, I really suspect that the very fact it gives you so much trouble is revealing; that you'll just get tripped up by some other absurd factor of being a cog in a huge machine.

I don't know your situation, but have you considered trying to set up an independent career? It depends on what your talents are, of course, but there are supposed to be folks out there who make five figures a month from the web with little investment other than time. I can't make that stuff work, because I'm no good at marketing. Once I do something, I either figure it is good enough I shouldn't need to market it, or else I move on. Yeah, I know. But I haven't found a way to out-argue my own head on this yet.

Thanks, i appreciate the fact that you wish to help me.

Your probably spot on in saying that.

Well my situation atm is essentially that im a student trying to get through a-levels (a 2 year course with 3 subjects) with university being the most likely option afterwards. atm im looking at uni courses that seem appealing rather and havn't really decided upon an exact career yet. Funnily enough i was thinking how much easier self employment is in regards to these aspects, so i guess its something to keep in mind. although i don't think i'd want to start a career as a "low level drone" in one of these franchises who regard themselves so highly, more of a part time job im after. i should be offered a volunteering position at a charity shop soon, so that should help me.

Im curious what these "projects" you mention are. I've always assumed that some sort of marketing is essential if u want to get your product out there

The marketing thing you mention is strange to me

Mostly, I write. I have a few t-shirts online with a few services, stuff I did on the side. And now and then, I get ideas for odd things. A lot of the things I'm interested in aren't commercial at all - and my problem is that even the stuff that might be, I just can't get that into the marketing aspect. I've read about how its supposed to work, and you're supposed to "believe in your product". Well, I've written stuff I know I'd like to read and I'd hope some other people here and there, but how do I know if it's what you'd want to read? (Just using you as an example.)

In fact, I don't know if you know who Holly Lisle is (SF / fantasy author), but she made a good point in her last newsletter. It's easy to look at all the really crappy books that sell millions of copies and get all envious, but would I really want to have that fan base. Ugh, no. So my stuff would only appeal to certain people. I'm fine with that, but then how am I supposed to market it like it's just what everyone's been dying to read?

Sometimes, I think the more you really understand something, the more trouble you're bound to have with it. At least, that's the way it works in the NT world. If they'd take those of us with AS seriously, and let us use our talents, maybe together we could put together a world that might make a bit more sense. But that's like waiting for pigs to fly over the frozen wastes of Hell.

I've had problems with pre-empolyment assesment tests as well. Oncce while applying online for Walmart, I went through an assesment test, and failed.

Whilst at uni we were practicing work tests, failed them all in true aspie style!

Personality tests are pretty useless at determining the best person for a job. Ability tests are better, along with things like Critical Incident Interviewing and so on. Personality tests are too varied in their theoretical background, and do not related as much to behaviour as people would like to be safe thinking.

Ugh! I hate the personality tests places make you take. I've never been able to pass them. If I answer the questions truthfully I fail, if I answer the way I think they want me too I fail, if I just guess I fail, if I randomly select answers I fail. It gets really frustrating, the tests have nothing to do with my ability to do the job I'm applying to. I'm pretty sure their only true function is to weed out the "weird" people.

Let me say this: If there was an employment test that was as biased in favor of whites as personality tests are biased in favor of NTs, that test would go down in flames.

In the real world, I bite my tongue and play along nice because there is nothing else I can do. However, I doubt many personality tests really measure the worth of a potential employee, rather than seeing how much an applicant enjoys fluffy chit-chat and other mindless bantering.

Edit: I vote MooCow best answer, even though there is not a function like that on these boards, that's my vote anyways.