I chose lounge over space junk, cause it's a semi-serious question/concern to me; though I'm not sure how much there is or isn't there to talk about in the regards to this topic, yet, here it goes. So I'm now living in a new state, and as a result I'm job hunting. Turns out, to my surprise at first, more and more places are using Online Applications now. I've been mixed over the years about them, mainly due to the convenience to fill them out, but at the cost of not being able to look/talk/shake hands with a manager. Yet in the end, the biggest issue I encounter is the end of most online Applications that ask a certain 50+ questions with multiple answers commonly ranging from "Extremely Agree, Agree, so-so, Disagree, Extremely disagree". I wouldn't really care much about it, but in the back of my mind, if I don't get a call because of it... I feel insulted that such a ridiculous test is placed to judge a possible future coworker. I was originally torn to answer them honestly, which I thought mattered, and would stand out that this person isn't just spamming, "YES NO YES!" on silly questions. Yet I've heard they are used to filter out "ok" workers with ones that are extremely perfect at the job they're applying for, or at least say they are. My question is do you think these questionnaires matter to the potential interview/hiring in a small / large way? And if yes,(in regards to large enough it may limit your odds at getting a call/interview) what advise do your purpose in answering them to increases one chances to "score" high in them? I feel truthfully that I can sell my self in a sincere way in an interview, but I can't settle for this paranoid feeling that some ridiculous questionnaires will hinder my odds at getting an interview, so I'd rather cruise through them to know confidently I can at least offer a work-prone/trustworthy employee to them once they have an interview with me.
I wouldn't worry so much about the questioners.. unless the questions have to do with theft. No business wants to hire anyone who has any tolerance for anyone who steals, period. Whether it be a question about "Someone borrowing money then returning it a month later" screw it, he's a thief. If you have a low credit score, like I do, places like Best Buy will simply throw out your application for having a low credit rating.. even though it doesn't effect how you would do your job AT ALL. Start watching for "Federal Credit Reporting Act" on your applications and checking your credit rating. If its shot, these places aren't going to hire you, regardless of your criminal background. This is called credit discrimination, and with 10% of the US out of work, it will only get worse because of these unfair laws. Only some jobs should require a credit check, I don't think operating a cash register and stocking shelf's should be one of them. Only two states have laws against credit discrimination, I only know that one of them is Ohio. Getting back on topic, I feel the questioners are valid.. especially when in regards to store theft. After working retail for 7-Eleven Corp stores in FL for 3 years, I know how important it is to hire employees who don't steal and will watch for shop lifting. How you answer stealing questions can provide your potential employer with information on what you would do in situations and scenarios that they ask about. I felt, at least taking the Best Buy quiz last time I did, that almost all of the questions were very valid, and it was after working in management in a retail store.
Actually, some of them are trick questions. I've encountered most stating whacked questions like, "How honest do you believe most politics are?/Do you believe most people view politics as honest?" I've seen seen questions such as, "If people have the chance to steal, will they? / People are dishonest" where you can view it ether way as a lose/lose. In one case, maybe they want you to be concerned everyone is a thief, or on the other, perhaps it's a question that people who steal will openly announce others steal if given the chance....it's just annoying dealing with such riddles. - I'm not in bad with credit as I've never missed a bill or online payment, so I think mine is average at worse. But yeah, I could see that being a huge pet peeve if it affected my ability to get a job. In the mind set of someone filling these out though, theft questions aside, do you mark most in the "extreme" category? Or as someone hiring or rating the test, what would you look for, extreme answers or a healthy medium?
They need some way to chuck out 80% of applicants, if you get 120 people who would be fine for the job its this or a dart board. This experience comes from my dad who had to hire quite a few people over his career. His method was spelling or grammer mistakes, while unfair how else do you handle so many people who are suited for the job? I would look for a medium as it shows they are at least trying to look honest however I don't do psychology so i have no idea what crackpot scheme they set up for businesses.
I can see reason behind how it filters out mass applicants, yet you would hope it didn't phase out reasonable workers apposed to those just lying to get a chance at a job. Thing is, I doubt someone actually looks through each question answered. I honestly feel a machine/program does a % stamp on them, and the interviewer just stares at a 68% on the questionnaire on said persons application. So, would this program rate people higher in a medium approach? Or an extreme agree/disagree assessment?
I answer them truthfully myself. Since I've never worked in an HR center that uses them I can't really answer how much they matter. However, if the HR people were smart, they should probably be doing two things to weed out people: 1) Toss any overtly negative (for personality/fit/morality questions) respondents and any overtly unqualified respondents. Keep middle of the road or very positive responses. 2) Toss any respondents with a lot of inconsistent responses. Part of the reason those questionnaires are so long is they are really asking some of the same questions in slightly different ways, the purpose of which is to gauge your consistency and how reliable the answer is. I'm not sure if I should write this, and I hope I'm not offending anyone, but these kind of questions are usually used for unskilled or less skilled positions, and so in a way they might have more validity there at weeding people out in a useful fashion. Higher level positions usually use what they call KSA questions (knowledge, skills, abilties or aptitudes...forget which) and are more useful when you are trying to perform an initial weeding out of candidates by their sheer technical ability to do the job, with narrowing based on fit/personality being part of the interview stage for the smaller/cut-down candidate pool.
I agree with those 2 points in regards to what the purpose is, half of those questions quite simply are reworded, but are asking the same thing. Meh, you could call it the ugly truth, though personally I've never applied for what I've considered in my mind as a job rending such a questionnaire out of place, to be apart of the application process; or in a less confusing way to put it, I've only encountered it for the jobs you claim they are for. Though it's not dreadfully embarrassing applying for these jobs, it just turns out that unless you go through a higher level of education, or have a family/friend(s) in high places...you have a difficult chance scoring an otherwise promising job. Hence why these jobs would have such high amounts of incoming applications.
I remember when I tried to apply for a job at Albertson's. I was filling out a computer application and when I got to the questionnaire, I answered one of the questions and the whole thing crashed. It might be a coincidence and there was a glitch, but it might have been done on purpose.
To be honest I just hate online applications. Half the time I don't even get a yes or no from the company, I just get nothing.
