GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR :curse:

Have been really excited to have secured a series of interviews for a great job in almost every single way with 1 exception - it is admittedly with an employer who stands for the opposite of my personal belief system. My thinking has been to give it a go, it would offer me great Canadian experience.

Was happy today to be invited to complete the final stages of the selection process, online psychometric testing.

The 2 hour long process consisting of 150 questions was, for the majority, OK BUT.....

.....the final two sections, about 40 questions were about personal value and belief systems asking me my personal thoughts - on a scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree - on things like:

"money is to be spent to gain power and status"
"the most important thing for young people is to develop some self discipline"
"money should be saved"
"I spend money to express myself"

So after completing the test, I have just sent an e-mail to the recruiter providing some feedback - namely, the final sections stink and are culturally skewed and so potentially discriminatory - though more eloquently versed.

:curse::curse::curse:

Guess i may have blown my chances at the last hurdle but hell, if 4 interviews, a personality test and verbal, logical and numerical reasoning tests aren't sufficient for them to make a decision, they can kiss my #$^&*^$#&"*&

:curse::curse::curse::curse::curse:

Money and age are NOT important in how well you can do a job - excluding the obvious exceptions of course, I am better now than I was at the age of 6 months.

sigh & shoulder slump



Kelly

Having done about every psychosometric test known to mankind (I did a study on them at University) I can only agree. There are certain type of tests which are so old and outdated that they are indeed illegal under current legislation. IN the United Kingdom for example, some psychosometric tests cannot be given because they might discriminate.

The last bit yu went through sounds like a personality inventory to me. Those tests assess your personality and how you might react in different situations. Usually have no right or wrong answers and are often used to see if you would fit into the company culture.

Money must be an important part of their culture

Blimey I think if I took those questions they would think I was a shopaholic ie

the most important thing for young people is to develop some self discipline

Strongly agree with a note to say that if you can't discipline yourself to buy a new pair of shoes each week you should remove your toenail with a blunt spanner

"money should be saved"

Agree - note to say that not all money should be saved - you need to put some aside for the January sales woohoo

I spend money to express myself

Strongly agree - you can hear my self expression in Timbuktu


Seriously though if you have answered them truthfully then if you have blown it then its not for you. Can't see it going to the wire based on those answers really though so chin up you will be fine (I for one would admire your forthrightness ((if thats a word!))

Thanks for the responses folks. Really, really appreciated.

Hubby just had an absolute, total and utter whinge at me saying:

"I am really disappointed, we need an income, you should not have sent them the e-mail giving feedback, why would you want to blow your chances?"

HE however is not the one going through the whole blinking process - thanks for the support Mr.

As far as I am concerned, I did the best I could and then provided them with some positive and constructive feedback. It feels especially crap as I'm going for a HR job and being asked discriminatory questions! OH says "having professional and ethical scruples is pointless, I just need to get a job, no matter what".

I think it's one thing to dance with the devil but another thing completely to sell my soul. AAARRRGGGHHH!!

But then, maybe I am being too "sensitive"...?

Anyone looking for a potwasher?

K

Stepping out onto the thin ice here.

I'm with your husband.

Why on earth would you possibly blow your chances by doing what you did when if you are successful you will be working in that department and would have the opportunity then to "correct" things?

<Shakes head and wanders off muttering incoherently>

Yep I agree it's hardly like you're being asked to embezzle money, work for the Angels, promote under age sex, manage a transgendered brothel or such.

You sound a bit uptight. How wide is your cultural and work experience ? This is Canada, things are different. Sometimes better, sometimes worse. Ya have to just hang with it all.

And be warned, you may be able to correct things and make improvments. Or, possibly more likely, you may be required to STFU/kiss ass and get on with the work you are paid to do. Like the 1960's, sort of thing. Especially with a HR background, if you;re expecting politically correct progressive UK style HR, in many cases, forget it. It's rare. This is a much more undeveloped, rustic, get'er'done, unfussy ('cept the admin and beaurocracy) business/HR culture. You ought to read some of the work/workplace threads on here. Suggest you go do some research.

R.

I have to disagree with the other posters. Yes. You need the money. No. It's YOU who has to spend most of your waking life in the damn job - it should be YOUR choice.
You really don't need a job that, from the start, you don't want to get up in the morning for. That should come after six months or so!

I'm on your side,
Since being over here i have encountered a few companies that are using this practice, though i have to state that a friend of mine from Germany has been through several of these and he did exactly the same as you.
He found the questions irrelevent to the job and he expressed those feeling direct to them.

My advice for the future, don't send the email next time, bite your tongue, but i fully understand why you did.

Nigel

I'm in the middle. I have walked out of the those tests (especialy one where they asked me thinly disguised questions from the bible or questions clearly designed to screen out non-whites or ESL bods) said what I thought and...of course never got the jobs. What I have found over the long and tedious years here, is that if you need a job, you shut up, do the job and go home, until you find something that is more to your tastes. You smile sweetly, get the much vaunted Canadian experience (which does not amount to much more than learning administrative differences if this is not a CEO position, but humour them). The employment practices you are used to simply do not exist here. You will see nepotism, open discrimination, bullying, sexism, attitudes from the Ark in the workplace. There is bugger all you can or should do about it as the new foreigner, if you ever want to work in town.

Your email will go flying around to more people than you intended; your name could become known for all the wrong reasons and it could have hiring implications. I have recently done something similar, albeit this time with full knowledge of the likely consequences ( I don't care anymore, I've had enough and I'm leaving, not staying). I applaud your stand, but fear for your employability when word gets around. This is not the UK, ethical stands mean nothing to a potential employer, except trouble. If you want to change what an employer does and how they do it, wait until you are in and established, and then start chipping away. You can do far more from inside than outside. Best of luck.

WOW, YIPPY, YAY!!!! Thank god for that

These tests are the ultimate stupidity.

I have been forced to endure them and I never did get the job. Maybe they did not like my answers and attitude?

However they are used extensively unfortunately.

No wonder, to many the 'HR' in the corporate hierarchy, stands for not for human resources but human remains.

Thank God my days of job hunting are almost over!

Realtor is coming tomorrow...see you soon.

I've been asked questions that I didn't like in an interview (in the UK) and didn't pursue the opportunity. I agree that those questions give you an idea of the company culture and make you think if you would be a good fit. Over here you often here employers saying they're looking for a 'culture fit'.

Is it sold yet.......

Maybe I'm being really thick here but...

From what you have said, the company didn't not express their values in those questions, but were asking for your opinions. Why the reaction? Surely, you just answered in accordance with your opinion and, until you sent off that e-mail, you really didn't know how they were going to react to your answers.

Instead, you appear to have shown them that, in your opinion, they are a bunch of *&*&&. I agree with Dingbat - very best of luck with your job search