Psych profiles after job interviews.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
*** disclaimer I have a "friend" who is applying for new jobs because his current job hasn't been treating him that well. I personally am completely thrilled with my job and would NEVER be looking for new opportunities. So anything you read in this posting is DEFINITELY not about me, I just wrote it from my point of view.
Blog.
The other day I had a job interview with a company that would be an excellent company to work for. They're an exectuive staffing firm with great pay/benefits. I had a phone interview and the lady was really excited about me. She was telling me all of the next steps to get ready for round two and really gave me the impression that I would have my second interview. Before I could get scheduled for that interview I had to fill out a "personality profile" questionairre. I don't know if it was a psych profile or just to get a feel for the type of person you are, but they asked incredibly vague questions about yourself...then they asked the same questions worded slightly differently...then they did this again.
Now I know HOW to fill out these questionairres, but I'm also a fan of sticking with the truth. One of the questions is "is stealing ever okay". This is definitely a loaded questions and the answer they wanted was clearly "never". I couldn't help but thinking about my favorite musical "Les Miserables"...the main character was jailed for stealing some bread to feed himself. I feel that most people would agree that if stealing is a neccesity it isn't completely wrong.
Then they asked "have you ever gotten upset when you didn't get your way". I understand that you're supposed to say "no", but can anyone out there honestly say that you've never been upset when you haven't gotten your way? I do believe they asked a similar question that said "when you don't get your way do you always get upset" that I answered "no" to as well.
Here's what bothers me about these questionairres: "They are open to interpretation". Questions are never black and white and I certainly hope they don't want employees who view life as black and white to be working for their company. Although they are part of corporate America, so maybe they do want mindless drones.
In the meantime I'll (and by I, I clearly mean my friend who this story is about) continue being a mindless drone at another company. Armed now with the knowledge that a good interview is no longer enough.
