Discrimination down to a science

[Diggory]

So, as I fill out more and more job applications I am starting to notice that a lot of them now require you answer a 60-150 answer "questionnaire". I am no idiot and I recognize a mental exam when I see one. They ask questions that you might find on a depression test, the MBTI test, and countless other quantifiers of mental capacity. This would lead me to believe that we have moved into a new era of discrimination. An era where someone going through a rough time in their life is deemed not suitable to work, or where someone who may be bipolar or otherwise mentally different is also deemed such. Where will this lead us? What if one is suffering from depression because one cannot find work and this causes us to fail the exam for employment? What then? I think the vicious cycle and negative consequences of such testing are plainly visible to anyone who takes a moment to ponder what would happen in a society where certain personalities are not hired simply because of the way they think. To me this seems like discrimination brought down to a science. Penny for your thoughts? but only if you fit the bill...

[carbon cold]

And the science is English. I hate you.

That is all.

[earwax]

I know some bi-polar people.

I wouldn't want them working for me... Just sayin'.

[carbon cold]

I know some bi-polar people.

I wouldn't want them working for me... Just sayin'.

Oh, yeah. I knew this bi polar guy who shot off a desert eagle in his vacation rental home. When I asked him why (as he was telling me about losing the lease), he said, "I felt like it."

If you don't like being discriminated against on a test, become a better liar.

No, really, now that's all.

[zero]

i really wanted to agree but then i realized the number of puzzles and white board interviews that software engineers have to go through and then I thought..."this makes sense. I want someone to do their job, be good at it, and not let their feelings get in the way."

side: This may actually end up being a kind of natural selection.

[Diggory]

Don't fret about my testing skills, I got the job. Diagnosed bipolar, diagnosed ADD, diagnosed depression. I don't worry about myself I worry about the people who don't know how to take tests. Should test taking skills determine if you can do a job that requires no test taking? What about jobs where emotion is useful? Customer service ring a bell? Empathy is the most important thing when dealing with people. Empathy is all about the feelings.

[Diggory]

And please don't make this about the English language. This post will quickly deteriorate into something it is not supposed to be.

[zero]

actually faking a smile or even empathy is very logical in the work place...if it gets work accomplished


also it's not the test taking skills they are trying to asses...

i think i heard that smart people lie..smarter people lie best

[bass_n_treble]

Don't fret about my testing skills, I got the job. Diagnosed bipolar, diagnosed ADD, diagnosed depression. I don't worry about myself I worry about the people who don't know how to take tests. Should test taking skills determine if you can do a job that requires no test taking? What about jobs where emotion is useful? Customer service ring a bell? Empathy is the most important thing when dealing with people. Empathy is all about the feelings.

Meh, I don't agree. I worked customer service for a little while fresh out of high school, and I just stuck to the rules and procedures and maintained a professional calm. If anything, I completely lacked empathy for any of their problems.

[carbon cold]

And please don't make this about the English language. This post will quickly deteriorate into something it is not supposed to be.

Think about it for a second. Are you more likely to be employed with adequate English skills or with lazy disregard? What about essays?

[avolkiteshvara]

To them, you are capital production, a machine. They want a machine that works well, free of glitches, problems, or errors.


What you choose to put down is your choice. Pretend to be ESxJ for 30 min while taking the test and you should get hired.

[Melody]

this is a good thing you noob. do you realize how many people they can weed out with simple questions like:

which letter comes before B?

_ C
_ A
_ All of the above

these tests are good for weeding out people who are retarded. the more psychological ones are a different matter and it's probably up to interpretation... i don't really know what they might use them for. it's clear some of them are pretty much asking for EXXJs but i don't know if the test designers are stupid enough to think people are going to answer honestly. i would assume most people come out looking like EXXJs, so how do you differentiate things then? best guess... by weeding out the ones that answer honestly :)

[Anonymous]

If you can figure out how those tests work, which isn't very hard, you can manipulate the hell out of them. I forget his name, but one of the guys who designed a personality test was given his own test when put in prison, and manipulated it to get transferred to a low security prison, from where he broke out.

Then again, when you get to the interviewer, it'll be pretty obvious that you aren't actually an ESFJ unless you're great at conning.

[quantumzero]

Don't fret about my testing skills, I got the job. Diagnosed bipolar, diagnosed ADD, diagnosed depression. I don't worry about myself I worry about the people who don't know how to take tests. Should test taking skills determine if you can do a job that requires no test taking? What about jobs where emotion is useful? Customer service ring a bell? Empathy is the most important thing when dealing with people. Empathy is all about the feelings.

Those tests are a good indicator of wether or not a person has the presents of mind to fake it, and thats all they're really interested in. If you're too far gone to fake a test like that, prolly an indication you wont function well on the job. And thats fair criteria a prospective employee needs to meet.

[Diggory]

"Oh, yeah.(not a sentence) I knew this bi polar(one word) guy who shot off a desert eagle in his vacation rental home. When I asked him why (as he was telling me about losing the lease)(comma appropriate, parenthesis not), he said, "I felt like it."

If you don't like being discriminated against on a test, become a better liar.

No, really, now that's all."

We can fight about English if you really want to.

[pangolin]

re: English

For persons like INTP's who over think everything, such tests can come down to whether you interpret words the same as the test designer.

re: other stuff

These tests are designed by IO psychologists who, though technically maintaining "ethical integrity" are really just fooling themselves by handing over a tool like this to businessmen.

My present ISTJ partner basically said you should answer these as if you are Mr. Rogers, which is probably a reasonable way to go about it. Since virtually no one is really like this, they are really just testing how willing you are to lie. I am unfortunately compulsively honest, though I'm getting better on that count.

[Limey]

Performance or GTFO.
I'm getting ready to kick someone's ass back to the bay area for application lies and failing to deliver.
He has T minus 3 days to deliver me a single line item, instead of bitching to the project manager about document version control.

Enjoy not being able to pay your exorbitant, greedy fucking mortgage again, fucker!

[Lurker]

I just experienced some major frustration when I tried to correct the spelling in the title, but couldn't. Where's Rajah when you need her?