'There are no wrong answers' when there really are

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I'm sure we've all taken those personality/aptitude tests for work or other reasons and you get told that there are no wrong answers but later on when we don't get the job or whatever, we find out the hard way after enough trial & error that the company saying they're looking for a specific type of personality basically means there ARE wrong & right answers! Anyone else here noticed this?

A corporate thing, a company thing, almost a little bit of adversarial relationship in giving the test.

For example one thing, if they ask 'Are most people honest?' The correct answer is Yes. It's very simplistic psychology. They're thinking, if you think the world is an honest place, then you will also be honest.

"Have you ever lied?" What the hell am I supposed to answer? The answer is yes, obviously, since everyone who's ever lived has lied at some point, but I don't want to answer no, because they'll know I'm lying. These kinds of BS questions are a part of why job interviews tend to be miserable. See also: "Where do you see yourself in five years?" If you're lucky, you'll get a manager who also thinks the questions are BS and will openly tell you this, and that they're only asking them because they're required to do so.

What pisses me off are the statements that you're outgoing and/or sociable. Unless it's a sales job (I don't apply for those), what the hell do they need to know that for? That's blatant discrimination.

I had a good laugh with a friend who was probably on the spectrum, too, when we saw a want ad for a "team player" who was also a "self starter.". Obviously, people tend to be one or the other. And even if some people can move back and forth, I'm pretty sure it tends to be different mindsets.

Who is writing these ads ? ! ?

Yes. That is why I ignore personality test results in the hiring process, relying more on a person's job-related knowledge, work history, and how well they get along with me during the interview process. I mean, imagine being asked questions in a way that seems like the person asking the questions is interrogating a suspect. This is how my interviewing technique has been described.

On top of that, I wrote the written technical test that my company administers to technicians and programmers - all first-year principles and maths. Some candidates fresh out of school have gone away in tears because they receive what would be a failing grade in academia (usually 50% or less). Even those who pass the written test usually fail the troubleshooting / debugging practical exam.

It's no wonder that most people would rather rely on their "personality" than their actual skills.

They also tell you you are legally entitled to a copy of your report, but then they never send it.

They only say, "no right or wrong answers" to be politically correct, or put you at ease, so you don't freak out during the testing, and they get the testing done quick.

As long as you are dealing with humans (no matter what the position or circumstance), there are ALWAYS right and wrong answers. You just have to put yourself in an employer's posiition, and ask yourself, what would I like to hear?

The workplace takes a certain kind of no-nonsense, head down, do as your told kind of person. Work with that image, next time you get a questionnaire.

When your in school, and the professor of a relativist course/topic (when there are no right or wrong answers in theory) says there's no write or wrong answer...well...

drum roll please...

There is always a wrong answer. It's all about telling people exactly what they want to hear.

A plant in my company had a problematic plant manager. Top management came in and held a meeting where anyone could discus their grievances with the plant manger without consequences. They were promised nothing they said would be held against them.

1/2 the employees spoke out against the plant manger, the other 1/2 kept quiet out of fear. All of those tho spoke up were fired within 1 month.

It took another year of the plant running very deep in the red before upper management finally let the plant manager go.


As House says, "everybody lies."

One time in an interview my logical side got the best of me so when they said "There are no right or wrong answers to the next question" I responded with "Well why ask it then?"

No I respond with "What are you trying to gauge with the question?"

I remember having to take the MMPI a few times when I was younger. What a pain in the a$$.

The statement that there are no wrong answers is in and of itself a lie. It's a trick to trap the simple minded into saying something that can be used against them.

Wow, that is classic dysfunctional behavior.

There are wrong answers. And some workplaces have a legitimate need to determine whether your personality is compatible with the workplace. This typically gets more difficult the smaller the organization is.

In a small group, if one person just doesn't fit, it can create a lot of friction. it can cause management to come to a potentially unwarranted conclusion that the odd one is not good at their job, and eventually lead to an expensive termination and replacement.

I work with one such individual now. Things are not going well for him, even though he is clearly doing his job in addition to annoying everybody.

Yeah, I always second guess myself on these. Plus I hate when it's like 15 pages of this crap and they ask the same 2 or 3 questions twice to try to trip people up.

I am good at becoming a different person for short periods of time.

I imagine I am someone else who is liked and popular and not as smart as me , how would he answer this question?

I can fake most tests and then I have to fight to not grin like hell when they go ver the test and help me interpret the results.

I already know the results, it's how I wanted it to be, it's how I think it should be to get the job. The real job is rarely like they make it sound anyway, you have to do it for a year to find out if you like it.

I play differnt personalities like cards in a deck. Different card for different situations. Dress neutral concervative in the middle non discript as possible so any behaviour could be plausible. I could be a casual upper middle class guy or a dressed up redneck, how would they know?