I failed a personality test (1037 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 0.53 on 17 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by indigogecko (View user info) at 2004-05-19 13:17:49 EDT
Like so many other students at this time of year, I am currently looking for a summer job. I applied to work with a certain food outlet chain, and was presented with a multiple choice quiz. Great. I get to spend the afternoon doing a test, and I'm not even on campus! So I settle down to take said test.
The first section was pretty much asking in a variety of different ways if you would steal from the company (no), if you would be late on a regular basis (no), if it was ok to do either of those (no), and whether you would cover for co-workers in a variety of situations (sometimes, but not if they were stealing).
The next section was just basic mental maths - you had tables of various information and you had to work out what to do in a variety of situations from these tables. I'm thinking with 2 maths A-levels I should be able to do *that* with some degree of certainty.
Finally there was a section on what you would do in a series of difficult situations, and I tried answering those as neutrally as possible, staying out of arguments was an option for most of them.
And I heard nothing.
I waited a couple of weeks, then got back in touch with them myself. They said yep, I'd probably got the job, they took my contact details. "We'll call you Tuesday to confirm."
And so it was Tuesday.
"We're sorry, but your quiz came up red."
Excuse me? So it turns out they put all my answers into a computer and let the damn machine see if I'm the sort of person they want working for them. Apparantly they couldn't tell me which part was bad, as no human ever actually looked at my form. The computer spits out either a green, amber or red flag and that's how they decide.
So let me get this straight.. a restaurant chooses who will interact with people and generally be human-shaped in their business by never actually talking to them, getting them to choose from formulated answers (so weeding out any creativity or inventiveness) and generally ignoring any part of them that might involve them being a person. How they end up with quite such bubbly staff members I have no idea. They seem human enough to me...
User Reviews
Submitted by indigogecko (user info) at 2004-05-20 10:13:19 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
thanks for that! :) You might be onto something there.
Submitted by Philst82 (user info) at 2004-05-20 07:46:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Clearly they saw your application form, saw that you were a female physics student. And instantly thought that you were lying.
Its ok i believe you.
Submitted by kai070169 (user info) at 2004-05-19 23:43:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
i think you're ok...
Submitted by LucidCognition (user info) at 2004-05-19 20:35:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
"Finally there was a section on what you would do in a series of difficult situations, and I tried answering those as neutrally as possible, staying out of arguments was an option for most of them."
That's your problem man, I did the same thing. They don't want you to answer neutraly, you have to get everything extreme that should be and others neutral. Fuck em, I got a better job than working at Michael's anyway.
Submitted by DarthAwesome (user info) at 2004-05-19 19:42:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
All the employees are acutally robots.
Submitted by Magicaddict (user info) at 2004-05-19 15:13:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Maybe being noncommital was the problem. A few strong views here and there might have got it.
Submitted by I_Have_a_Kristen_Fetish (user info) at 2004-05-19 15:02:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
It may have been smart to post again... The longer a post sets on the front page, the more chance it has of losing a perfect two. Posts with a high number of reviews have less chance of keeping a +2.
These tests are common for the customer service industry. About creativity, the employer does not want that. The want ability to follow directions, high tolerance for bullshit from both customers and management. The closer you are to a robot, the better. Creativity is a bad thing in their eyes.
While I'm on the subject, education and success are also consider bad by most fast resturants. Never attach a resume. Nothing says "I can get a better job" better. They want those who do not have a good chance at employment elsewhere. This way you have to take shit from them.
Submitted by lawryde (user info) at 2004-05-19 14:48:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
No Comment
Submitted by jimmiss <jimmiss.at.hotmail.com> at 2004-05-19 14:40:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
The tests provided by another, possibly the same, outlet chain to people applying to get a franchise liscence are actually DESIGENED to omit people who are creative.
Submitted by simplychilled (user info) at 2004-05-19 14:29:22 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Disturbing to think the computer that scored your answers rated it's own personality over yours...
And worrying to think how quickly the other posters sussed it was Pizza Hut, but did they pass or fail the same test?
Submitted by indigogecko (user info) at 2004-05-19 13:35:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
OK, I'm new so I didn't know.. I'll expect the negatives then.
As to allegations of Pizza Hut.. no comment.
Submitted by Sci-Fi_Man (user info) at 2004-05-19 13:33:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
Welcome to the real world buddy.
Submitted by BLITZKREIG_BOB (user info) at 2004-05-19 13:28:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
The site only lets you post once a day, so you can't clutter the index page with 50 posts. This is #2 for you, so expect people to be a bit nasty about it.
Submitted by dohnuts (user info) at 2004-05-19 13:28:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
I think you also just knocked your +2 post off the front page.
Submitted by youarsoghey (user info) at 2004-05-19 13:20:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
NOOOOOOOOO. Why did you post again when your last one had a +2?????
ONE POST PER DAY.
Submitted by BleedTheSky (user info) at 2004-05-19 13:20:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
You applied to Pizza Hut, didn't you.
Submitted by reallybored (user info) at 2004-05-19 13:20:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Maybe you shouldnt have answered neutral to wether Hilter was kind of neato.
Asshat.