Anyone know how to crack these things?

[Boozy]

So I was offered a new job, accepted it, and gave notice at my current job. Then the big boss at my new job hands me one of these Keirsey Temperament Sorter tests (personality tests) to do "as a final hurdle before we make it official".
Umm....I thought it WAS official. What part of "You can start the first week of December" did I misunderstand?
So I'm going with the assumption that the job offer doesn't rely on how I do on this thing. Which is good, because I have been historically graded as "undesirable" on these sorts of tests in the past. Husband says that I'm perhaps too much of an independant thinker to answer the questions in the manner deemed appropriate for corporate culture.
Has anyone else out there had to do these things before? Any advice would be appreciated.

[Sunsetsky]

I hate those personality tests. I had to take one at an interview. They told me they didn't want to hire the wrong type of people.

[powerboy]

Yeah, I had one of those before. Just answer it, how you think best fits it. Thats what I did

[NightAngel]

One of the main keys is consistancy. They ask the same questions several times in different ways to see if your answer changes.
I always score high, "very desirable", whatever, because I can remember what I marked on previous answers to the reworded questions.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Never had to take one, but I'm willing to bet my wiping my nose with it and turning it in otherwise blank might sort me into the "undesirables" category, too.

I've seen those things on the internet. Pretty sure I wouldn't want to work for someone who would have me take one.

[Rahmota]

I hate , LOATHE those things and think that they should be outlawed, banned,m burned and then something permanently bad done to them and the nimbulbs who think that they are a good idea.

Even though I answer consistently my consistent answers are usually not in the right style or area the company thinks is desireable or spineless enough I guess.

[Worker-Intellectual]

Lie like a bastard, but keep track of your lies.

[Misanthropical]

It's the same question asked a hundred different ways. Just answer the questions the way you think they want you to and you should be fine.

[MadMike]

I can't imagine that these things would be of any value. Of course, you might weed out a few really stupid people who don't know to lie, but most people know how to tell people what they want to hear.

[Rahmota]

I dunno what to do either though. I gave up lying on those thigns since that didnt seem to be working. Trying to tell them what they wanna hear doesnt seem to be working. And telling the truth sure as heck aint workin.

Between these stupid things and credit checks as part of the hiring process its like its a war to get a job of any kind in america. The sooner those two insults to decent people are outlawed the better off things will be.

Sorry I am rather bitter about this as I have had several jobs where I was very qualified, interviewed well told I was right for the job only to be denied the position due to poor credit or one of these ugly tests.

[Rapscallion]

Poor credit stopped you getting a job?

"Sorry, but you can't afford to pay us enough to hire you."

Rapscallion

[TNT]

Poor credit stopped you getting a job?

I once took a job in an outsourced call center for a satellite TV company. Apparently because I was going to make a whopping $7.50 an hour, I had to undergo an extensive background check that would last a month. A month? The good news is that they let me work as a temp for that month -- but I wouldn't get benefits.

A month passed. I went to the boss and asked what was up. He told me not to worry and that everything would be fine.

Another month passed. This time the boss said, "I can't discuss it with you, but yes, there's a problem. It's going to be okay."

Another month passed. "I'm still working on it. Don't worry."

Another month passed... "Good news! You're hired. You wouldn't believe the number of people who had to sign off on this."

"What did I do?"

"I shouldn't tell you this, but apparently you've an unpaid utility bill?"

"You cannot be serious."

Later, I got a job working in the mental health field where I had to clear all manner of background checks... State Police, etc. That one took just a few days.

[wagegoth]

In California, an employer can do a credit check, but they can't deny you employment based on the results, unless they can show it would directly affect your job or your ability to do it.

But, come on, you know all they have to do is tell you they hired someone more qualified. The companies who do this seem to go through very high employee turnover. They're regularly churning through employees that I think they don't even care if the person could do the job they just go by the background report.

It seems to be that the lowest paid of employees undergo the most background checks. And they're usually not in positions where they could even steal. The ones who steal millions, the officers of the company, are almost never checked out. Then it gets really embarrassing and expensive when they find out the officer lied on his CV (e.g., claiming Masters degrees from schools that don't even offer them, listing prior experience as VPs when they were only managers).

However, I did work as a temp for a banking company (I finally left when they kept putting off hiring me), and I was setting up accounts for and ordering Mastercards and Visas. I could easily have put through several fake accounts and they wouldn't have known it for months. They might have been able to track it later, but they would have had to go through all kinds of records to see who was entering accounts at that time. Or I could easily have put through an "approved" application that someone else entered, and it would have been this close to impossible to track it to me. While I was there, I also was handling all types of support for checking and savings accounts, including access to funds.

They are so f***ing lucky I'm honest. I could easily see someone not so honest, upset because they weren't being hired, and just generally poor taking advantage of their blindered complacency.

[TNT]

And they're usually not in positions where they could even steal. The ones who steal millions, the officers of the company, are almost never checked out. Then it gets really embarrassing and expensive when they find out the officer lied on his CV (e.g., claiming Masters degrees from schools that don't even offer them, listing prior experience as VPs when they were only managers).

Or, like the family that ran the Adelphia cable company... into bankruptcy by looting a billion dollars from it. I think it was a prosecutor who said, "They used the company as their personal ATM."

[dispatch]

some freinds of mine applied at a cable and internet provider on a day when they were having open applications, all three of them went in, filled out the personality test, handed it to them and asked for the rest of the application, they looked at the results of the tests and were told to leave immediately and not come back, they were PISSED!
a freind of my mom's was denied a casheiring job at an electronics and furniture store because of poor credit, they told her flat out "people with poor credit are more likely to steal from the drawer"
horseshit like this is legal and they won't even raise the federal minimum wage??