Trevor Dailey's Weblog

For many years, I have struggled and survived with temporary contract and seasonal jobs. Finding work is hard for me, and some employers make it even harder. One of the most annoying procedures some employers make applicants go through is a pseudo psychological claptrap test. ***

It is my opinion that these tests are absolutely worthless, but more and more major employers seem to use them as some kind of magic wand way of finding the best employees. I do not believe these tests, although perhaps trivially interesting to the Human Resources personnel, are of any scientific value, and especially not when administered over the Internet. Most important, the test is not administered by a competent trained professional in psychology. A single Internet test will determine nothing about an applicant's suitability for a employment position, and the test is highly questionable.

The first thing that is usually told to the applicant about the test is, "there are no right or wrong answers". If true, to this I reply, “Then why are you giving me the test?" There are "right" and "wrong" answers, otherwise the test would not be given. It is clear that if one does not pass the test an employment interview is not granted regardless of anything else the applicant submits that is relevant to the position, such as a résumé, cover letter, references, or credentials. In my view, the test is also flawed because I can cheat doing it.

When reading the questions asked on the multiple choice test that has answers that are vague ("strongly agree, somewhat agree, agree, neither agree or disagree, disagree, somewhat disagree, strongly disagree")  one can easily determine which answers are "right" and which answers are "wrong" based on what the applicant knows the employer wants to hear. This is not difficult as it takes only some common sense. One can presume that if one randomly answered the questions each time one took one of these tests, one will likely eventually answer enough of the "right" questions to proceed in the application process on chance alone. Finding the identical test for different employment positions in unrelated employment sectors further erodes the credibility of these tests in my mind. ****

Finding a job is a difficult task for me. I understand the problems employers face in hiring new people; however, there is no magic solution to my finding employment, nor is there any magic solution to an employer finding a good new employee.