Introverted Pessimists Against Discrimination

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Since employers seek out workers on the basis of criteria such as being optimistic to the point of being delusional and being as extroverted as a carnival salesman, it follows that the opposite character traits are considered disqualification criteria. Pessimism and introversion are, often, treated as somehow sinister and evil even.

So that makes you an "I.P.A.D."!?

Yes. Similar in job market demand as the iPad is on the customer market. In other words, not very. "You look like something from Star Trek, but I prefer laptops."

i've got hope for the tablets that will follow.

i have to agree with you on this, though. it seems "knows what he's talking about" is quite a bit lower, on the list of priorities, than "has a favorite sports team" and "watches must-watch-tv."

i hope things work out and you get your foot in the door somewhere stable, soon. that, or that the money fairy visits us both with tuition. that'd be nice too. i'm back to cleaning carpets. i like the exercise but i feel like my brain is sitting in a corner, pouting.

A friend an colleague working long ago on a certain language identified a feature whose use correlated with pre-planned speech.

Published a paper.

The government found it and actually implemented it in job interviews to weed out candidates who were working from scripts and thought out positions, not talking off the top of their head.

Friend was upset by this application.

My sister tells me answer personality quizzes on online job applications like a tool.

I view personality quizzes as a violation of privacy however, I would prefer they where outlawed for job applications.

as if the quiz is a tool, or as if you are a tool?

like a person who is a tool, or like a person who could be describe as a tool.

Lol!
I was trying to figure that out too.

They're a waste of time. Like any other personality test: you can easily tell where the quiz is leading to so you can just cheat it to get the results you want.

Yeah but there's something to be said for work chemistry between co-workers. The better the chemistry, the better the workplace, the better quality of work.

Actually, with regard to college, I'm quitting Rasmussen since I think it falls under the category of "degree mill" or perhaps even "overpriced degree mill", so I'm cutting out acquiring more debt and no longer am going to act as a money funnel for their "institute of lower learning" in which the Intro To Astronomy class's textbook is a picture filled coffee table book and the very title of their lame "College Algebra" class is Introductory Algebra which barely even scratches the surface of "applying the quadratic equation" and yet it's an extra $2000 of funding required by the college for every unfortunate student to take so that they can feel like they're both wasting time and money for no reason whatsoever (or, more likely, to ensure a certain amount of cash funneling at low cost to them at every student's expense.) I'm kinda in a mood where I think the character of Will Hunting had it right when he said in a scene "In fifty years you'll finally start doing some thinking and you'll realize that... you dropped 150 grand on a college education which you could have gotten for $1.50 in late charges at a public library." Also, I think that if Nathaniel Bowditch, Author of the 1802 American Practical Navigator who taught himself algebra, geometry, calculus, Latin, French, Spanish, physics, etc, and was - later on in life - even awarded an honorary degree from Harvard, if he had actually been able to attend Harvard I think he would have lost his love for learning rather than have it grow independently of a college contract for funding college in a timely manner.

Hey, you're probably making more money than I am by cleaning carpets. I've found that I can actually be sent out to work through Paid Daily places and select which jobs I accept and pick the days I work by making myself either available or unavailable - which is nice when recovering from mild hypothermia not to be afterward informed of termination due to taking time to recover health. It's my intention to work when I can and make, save, and invest as much money as possible. I've calculated that it will take around 4 to 5 years to earn enough in monthly dividends to replace the current level of income. I find that a fairly good deal as compared to continuing college and incurring about $20,000 in student loan debt per year just to get a degree which might be worth just slightly more than toilet paper. During the time I wait to be sent out to work at paid daily places, I alternate between reading sci-fi novels and reading textbooks - and without the arbitrary deadlines of a cost college to hinder me I'll get to have time to actually study the material prior to completing the homework. So, even without college, you can still learn as much as you like. Go to a used book store, find a textbook that interests you, buy it, study it when you have the time and alertness to both comprehend the material and enjoy learning.

If you don't feel like you're getting your money's worth at your college, you'd be wise to get out. It sounds like a crappy school anyway. Not all schools are crappy, and I don't think cost is always representative of quality. I had a good experience at both a community college and a state school. My husband had a not-so-good experience at a highly regarded private school.

College isn't for everyone and the student loans are indeed a b*tch. 4 years at 20K each could by a small house outright in some towns. It can be really hard starting out buried in debt.

While there is some truth to the Will Hunting philosophy (love that movie, btw), for most career paths, the piece of toilet paper makes the difference between your resume actually being read, or just being tossed out. But then again, there are plenty of professions in which it really doesn't matter, or you could be creative and start up your own business.

My (unsolicited) advice would be to try to focus on what your goals are and what it is you'd actually like to do for a living, and go from there. Sometimes interests don't always translate well into careers. Sometimes they do. Maybe a technical/training school would be a better fit. Maybe just some hard work and saving is in order so you could start a business. Or maybe you would like to do something in which a degree is necessary, but you need to find a better and, hopefully, more affordable school.

Pessimism is seen as bad because pessimists tend to give up where as optimists don't.

The vast majority of the world's problems, IMHO, come from the pessimist's mantra/self fulfilling prophecy: I can't make a difference.

Not with that attitude you can't.

Some amount of introversion when combined with basic social skills is preferable for jobs where a low amount of social interaction is typically expected; extraverts would tend to go crazy with such jobs. Pessimism, skepticism, and doubt are useful in certain jobs too.

Yes, merely imagine the kind of person the employer would probably want for the job you're applying for and don't try to sound unrealistically good (e.g., never told a lie in your entire life). Then you just have to remember to keep your answers consistent (that's why you should imagine an ideal type and answer accordingly) so that you don't trigger the test's lie scales. Most of the time, the "right" answers are pretty obvious. For most jobs and for most employers, employers want an emotionally stable, affable, conscientious employee with a strong work ethic, good people skills, and good technical/analytical skills (employers want it all). They want a docile employee who will do the assigned work, but then they also what the employee to be proactive and "take initiative" in actively solving problems (unless it's a low-level grunt job like fast food where they prefer mindless automatons).