job applications just keep getting weirder…..
pro jobseeking tip: never answer these surveys honestly
also a tip: if they have a question like “Everybody steals from work sometimes” answer “disagree.”
I found this out when i was working as a hiring manager and the company i worked for started instituting these tests for managerial hires or promotions. My boss and I were promoting someone and she failed the test because she answered that question as “slightly agree” which in the results tells them that she is someone likely to steal because she believes everyone does it. When we asked her about her answer, it turns out she picked what she did because she’s cynical and does assume that people steal but didnt agree with them doing so. she almost sued the company for not promoting her based on that but chose to leave instead. We lost a good employee because corporate decided these tests were a good way to screen for “good” employees.
tldr these things are poorly designed, ambiguously worded, and structured in ways that are designed to eliminate people because the intention of the questions is never made clear. these tests are evil.
this sounds like an ableist disaster for people who aren’t neurotypical and who struggle with reading signals
When I went to get diagnosed with ADHD, the neuropsychologist couldn’t figure out what was going on, because on paper I’m apparently floridly psychotic. No, the questions are imprecise, and I am hyper-literal and extremely honest.
“Do you often see things that other people do not see?” Yes.
The question I was answering: “Are you especially observant?”
The question the test was actually asking: “Are you having visual hallucinations?”
“Does your environment ever have special messages for you?” Yes.
The question I was answering: “Does the sudden sight of a rainbow during a bout of doubt and self-loathing make you feel as though the world is trying to cheer you up?”
The question the test was actually asking: “Do you believe that your toaster is trying to convince you that the neighbors are spying on you?”
Five years later, I bombed a psych eval for a park ranger job for the same sort of thing. Tread carefully, darlings.
^^^^ that is actually such a huge issue with diagnosis!!!! and I’ve thought I didn’t experience symptoms for ages that I actually clearly had all along because of things being phrased super weirdly and confusingly 😦
And this is why McDonald’s never called me after I applied
Yeah, this is why this kind of thing in job apps needs to be illegal. A lot of discrimination is well hidden.
yeah they gave me a neuropsyche test and there were depression questions and they were confused because my answers were inconsistent.
Well no shit you asked for them IN GENERAL (I ASKED the person giving the test if I should do just depression symptoms or at all even) and I happen to have PHYSICAL disabilities too. So anything about heart rate, fatigue, being able to do stuff, was all over the place because the shorter depression tests they give at the PCP I can end up checking all the “yes” boxes off WITHOUT FACTORING IN MY MENTAL ILLNESS AT ALL.
Seriously.
Like they didn’t take into consideration stuff like MAYBE having to start using a wheelchair would effect my ability to go out for example. Or that POTS might cause heart racing. Or that Mitochondrial myopathy might cause fatigue.
They then proceeded to blame anything else on the test on the depression that was 50% not depression and ignore stuff like “suddenly regressed literally 10 years in several subjects such as reading and math” so I to this day have no diagnosis or treatment for that because the only treatment I was offered after the test was stuff for the depression that I already tried and it didn’t work.
For me, I have an issue with lying on these things because intent is so confusing to me. I think, oh, okay, this answer is obvious, and it turns out that it isn’t. OR, I think that the ‘obvious’ answer isn’t possible, so if I answer it, I get paranoid that they know I’m lying. I have never gotten a call back from any place that used employment tests, EVER.
These tests are extremely distressing and should be illegal.
Kirkwall Was Totally Built On a Hellmouth 