THOSE RIDICULOUS LITTLE PRE-EMPLOYMENT TESTS!

[katie kaboom]

Hmm, a couple weeks ago i applied to Ann Taylor loft and they have you take one of those tests online. Guess i was too brutally honest, cause i never heard a word from the place. ah well, their loss.

incidentally, i had to take one of those tests when i applied at Macy's....and sure enough, they hired me anyway.

[Racket_Man]

during my long periods of unemployment (up to a year several times), I took SOOOOOOOOOO many of those "PI tests". I got so good a reconizing them for what they were

1. some were clever like ACTUALLY reading the instructions (this one said to read through the test FIRST THEN call some persons extention number to report this) failed on that one

2. the others were sooo stupid that they looked like they were written by a freshman psychology student ie repeated questions worded different.

there was one that I remember very well. I started into the test and noticed that there were 2 or 3 layers of paper stuck together. thinking that they can accidently given me a couple of copies of the "test" I attemped to seperate the pages. well I discovered carbon paper in the middle and the bottom page had little lines and boxes that cooresponded to the fill in circles on the top page. clever but I already had the test pegged since I had the experience and a couple of semesters of college psych (we took and designed these tests in 2 of the classes)

[Dreamstalker]

Those tests are a monument to mediocrity in the marketplace.

Agreed *mourns the 'old days' when the manager asked me how well I get along with people and how efficient I am and that was basically it* That's most likely to still be the norm in smaller companies, but in a crunch the smaller companies are the ones less likely to be hiring anew.

If you are honest (I'm the sort of person who doesn't take office supplies home; I just ask for them), you will fail.

I think I once stuck a pen in my pocket and didn't find it until I got home. Those sorts of questions are horribly open-ended...would free, store-branded pens for customer use that are bought by the case be considered office supplies?

I would think that companies would want honest people who won't rob them blind, will work hard, etc. Sadly it all seems to be about brown-nosing these days, which I don't/won't do.

I can recall Sears Hardware, Best Buy, Circuit City, Service Merchandise, Wal-Mart having those tests. I'd fail each of them.......so redundant those tests are...

Borders has them too, and I'm betting B&N does as well.

I still fail to see what the whole point of those things is...

[tollbaby]

*snicker* on Friday, I went to an exam session for a job I'm DESPERATELY trying to get. FOUR hours and three exams later, I had taken an aptitude test (none of the questions had ANYTHING to do with customer service, but they were supposed to be "problem-solving skill-tesitng" questions. I skipped the three geometry questions, since I really suck at that, and since I never took geometry in French, I couldn't really make out what they were asking.... also a personality test (200 questions where you had to answer "I agree, I strongly agree, I disagree, I strongly disagree or "i have no opinion"), and a French language test, which I think I did pretty well on.

Pretty intensive testing for a phone rep job But I think I did pretty well and I REALLY hope i get it

[Pezzle]

I really wanted to work for CCity. But I took the Unicru part of the app in stride.

When it said something along the lines of "I often prefer to work slowly" i put down Definately Agree or something. And when it said "It is ok to take a break" and "I often cannot stand it when people insult me" I said definately agree. There was another referring to "speaking ones mind freely" to which i also agreed.

And yet I get hired. My test basically shows I like to work at my own pace and won't take shit from customers to keep a sale, yet I get hired.

Win.

[KellyHabersham]

I remember filling out one of those tests online when applying at Sears, and whatever my results were, it got me basically a "We're sorry, but you're not qualified to work at Sears" message. I think such tests are probably also the reason Target, HollyWood Video, and perhaps Bath & Body Works didn't hire me. I have been told though, that some of the stores who use those tests won't even consider any applicants who score below a certain level.....whatever that may be.