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I agree. It's possible that these tests do nothing to weed out unfavorable candidates and may actually make it more difficult for honest intelligent people to find work. I too have spoken to some who admitted to cheating so that they would look more desirable to an employer.
many have specific questions designed to identify these "cheaters". 3-5 questions that no one should answer strongly agree or strongly disagree to. These questions form a "social desirability" scale and a high score on that scale can flag a candidate to be removed.
"I always get along with everyone" is one of those types of questions.
Someone can easily anwser strongly agree to it if they are generally affiable and can't remember any long lasting conflicts. Just shows me how much junk science these tests are.
Someone can easily anwser strongly agree to it if they are generally affiable and can't remember any long lasting conflicts. Just shows me how much junk science these tests are.
That's why it is a scale not 1 item. I gave you an example of 1 item. They have hundreds of thousands of responses and understand the probabilities behind answering 4 out of 5 as strongly agree to be astronomically low. I guess they are willing to take the chance of a false negative 1 out of every 500 times to screen out the other 499 that are actually lying.
I wouldn't call statistics and probabilities junk science, but I guess to each his/her own.
Also, to be fair, I've never seen a job where the only thing you get are personality questions, so I can't really speak to this. All the jobs I've seen are combinations of situational judgment, past experiences, and some personality.
I have always wondered about those tests to. Are they really scientifically tested? Do companies really get any value from them. I would like to know if anyone really knows.
I have always wondered about those tests to. Are they really scientifically tested? Do companies really get any value from them. I would like to know if anyone really knows.
Typically they give the test to a couple hundred people in the same position you are applying for, then they ask each particiapnt's supervisor to fill out a performance eval on them. This way they can find which response patterns correlate best with the high performers on the job.
So I guess it depends on what you mean by scientific. If you mean do the response patterns correlate with high performance, then yes, most are. I say most, because some are poorly put together like many on here talk about where it just involves a group of people selecting "traits" they think will be most succesful in a position. That is not scientific at all.
Thank you. That's what I thought too. By the way, I am really bad at them and I do think it has something to with the culture I grew up in. For example, in my culture boasting of your successes are never acceptable. So I always have tendency to pick responses that shows me in negative light than others probably. At work, however, I am an excellent worker and never fail to get top scores at my performance evaluations. That's why I hate taking them for new jobs.
I'm sure for some jobs that it's appropriate for a personality test to be given. The only one I'm familiar with though is for Target. I think it is ridiculous of Target to give such a lengthy test, and rather arrogant. Since we are talking about a low paying store clerk job. They are lucky anyone shows up to apply, for a job with them in the first place.
I'm sure for some jobs that it's appropriate for a personality test to be given. The only one I'm familiar with though is for Target. I think it is ridiculous of Target to give such a lengthy test, and rather arrogant. Since we are talking about a low paying store clerk job. They are lucky anyone shows up to apply, for a job with them in the first place.
I agree. I also get them in some temp agencies too. Never figure out what they are good for.
I don't even think with a lot of the questions, it could be considered "lying" just because you pick the socially acceptable one or the one that sounds good. The questions are so vague and nonspecific that you can make them "fit" you anyway.
"I enjoy working with other people." - ok - sometimes I do. So I answer agree. (Sometimes I don't enjoy working with others - so what! Sometimes I do.)
We are all much more than one-dimensional. These tests are silly, IMO.
I don't even think with a lot of the questions, it could be considered "lying" just because you pick the socially acceptable one or the one that sounds good. The questions are so vague and nonspecific that you can make them "fit" you anyway.
"I enjoy working with other people." - ok - sometimes I do. So I answer agree. (Sometimes I don't enjoy working with others - so what! Sometimes I do.)
We are all much more than one-dimensional. These tests are silly, IMO.
I completely agree!
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