That was wonderful.
I took the sample test too. I got bored after Question 5 and simply started randomly clicking stuff. I then got to the free report but again I got bored after reading a couple of lines.
Some of the questions do not make much sense. For example what is this supposed to mean:
-
Are you drawn more to
overtones
fundamentals -
Which do you wish more for yourself
strength of will
strength of emotion
Imagine the scenario, you have a job which requires reasonably common skills, maybe yo even want to believe that the job is better than it actually is.
You recieve around a hundred applications, how do you select the best from that lot?
Thing is, there might well be 90% of applicants who would be suitable enough, you are not going to interview them all.
Take each application, and sort into 2 piles, odds and evens, making sure that they are strictly alternate, no chance of being accused of bias.
Throw one pile out, you are now left with 50.
Next, send out invitations with a very tight deadline, you’ll maybe drop another 20 or 30 through non-serious applications, found a differant job, couldn’t get it together in time.
You have maybe 25-30 applicants.
Now you start your sift, have the applicants filled out the forms correctly, that’'l get rid of a few, any messy one with lots of alterations, few more.
If anyone calls for more infrmation about the company, you can get an idea of whether to include them out or not.
You get to around 10 suitable applicants, they are all capable.
Put them through a meaningless test and pick the one who you wanted based on compliance, your likes, dislikes, whatever you want.
Voila, one succesful recruitment process for a non-critical job, make sure not to recruit someone who is possible future competition.
Borders has a similar test on it’s website. You can’t even apply in person anymore. And there’s this 20 page long multiple choice personality test (I almost said multiple personality choice test which is probably as accurate). The questions are barely relevant to any job let alone as a bookseller, and a colossal waste of time for both the employer and prospective employee.
PetSmart does the same. :(:mad:
To your first point, that was exactly my point. Sometimes managers have preconceived notions about what they’re looking for. The test in that case is just a means to an end, which is hiring someone who fits a manager’s preconceived notion of what makes a good salesperson. The alternative may be him interviewing you and taking his own best guess as to whether you are an extrovert. Remember, although HR is involved in the process, the vast majority of hiring decisions are made by managers, not HR folks. That is as it should be. It doesn’t mean some managers aren’t idiots.
To your second point, no. Once you have had a job that puts you in a position to hire people, particularly in a bad economy, you will see how unrealistic that is. You may receive hundreds or thousands of applications. For the hiring manager to talk to more than perhaps 5 people for a position is unlikely. An interview that actually accomplishes something will take longer than 10 minutes. The purpose of the application and tests are to allow the manager to spend time with the right 3-5 people to hire the right 1 person.
But the tests really do almost nothing to select the right 3-5, it might as well be random.
When I started reading this thread, I was thinking the “correct” answers would be obvious, and you could just give them those answers. Now I’m not so sure.