Remember the days in school when you had a test?
I remember middle school more than anything else, and I didn’t like having tests. Now I’m not going to say that I never looked on someone else’s paper when we had tests, but my parents raised me that you just didn’t cheat. Period! And I did my best to always follow that teaching. Still do.
Seems like that’s not the case in every situation – especially difficult ones like finding a job in today’s competitive job market.
The Wall Street Journal reported today “Test for Dwindling Retail Jobs Spawns a Culture of Cheating.”
The key point of this news item is not that the [tag]personality test[/tag] has created a culture of cheating, it’s that employers are using more, and better tools (good) to give them better [tag]business intelligence[/tag] to determine which candidates to hire. They just aren’t using the ones that get the best results (bad).
Here’s the problem with a test that has a “right” answer. As quoted from the WSJ:
Finish Line Inc., like many other retailers, makes applicants take a personality test before it will consider interviewing them. The test asks whether they agree or disagree, and how strongly, with 130 statements. But thanks to a little digging on the Internet by a friend, which turned up an unauthorized answer key, when Mr. Smith took the test in late 2007 he had a good idea what the employer wanted to hear. (emphasis added)
When you use a test that has a right answer, someone will give you the answer you want to hear, whether that is how they would really think or act, or not.
The more critical the test has become to getting a job, the more applicants are trying to game it. They do so by repeating the test several times, by comparing notes, by consulting an online cheat sheet or by having a friend take the test for them. (emphasis added)
The alternative is “assessing” a person as they are. No wrong answer; no right answer. Theoretically, I can tell you I agree or disagree with any statement. Behaviorally, I’m generally going to act in a certain way. This starts to get to the root of [tag]performance management[/tag].
Statement: “You have to give up on some things that you start.” Suggested response from the cheat sheet: “Strongly disagree.”
Another statement: “Any trouble you have is your own fault.” Suggested response: “Strongly agree.”
A better way: Instead of asking the theoretical questions of giving up, or causing trouble, ask questions that assess a person’s persistence or how they deal with troubles.
A Word of Caution
Don’t make up your own assessment. Lawyers and agencies don’t like that. Use a validated assessment. I recommend these tools.
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