How would you answer this question?

[suninvited]

this is from a pre-employment assesment test I took today.

Which best describes your feelings at the workplace?

A. Impatient
B. Indifferent

You have to answer one of these two choices, and neither are good. Which would you pick?

[Chan790]

1. A, definately A.

B implies you don't care about your job, A implies you're passionate about your job even if that passion is not being correctly/appropriately applied.

[suninvited]

2. that is what I picked

I felt the same way you did.

I just thought it was a crazy question.

[elshiva]

5. I'd go with A, too.

If you are impatient, you care about what is going on.

[MajorChode]

3. I would be more inclined to hire someone who picked B.

It would be an indicator of honesty. The reality is most people work to live rather than the other way round, and the vast majority of people just don't get all that passionate about what they do even if they prefer their job over others. There's nothing inherently wrong with that so long as they can get their work done effectively. Sometimes the biggest pain in the ass is someone who is too passionate about what they do.

But a lot of managers value employees who tell them what they think they want to hear. I'm the opposite. I'd rather someone be candid and honest.

All in all it's a bullshit question and sounds like an attempt to replace an effective job interview conducted by a competent manager with an "assessment test" that has about as much chance weeding out the good from the bad apples as Washington has of winning the pennant this year.

[Chan790]

6. While I agree with you in reality...

it's a standard psych assessment question on a battery exam for employability and B is the "wrong" answer according to the answer matrix, the one that carries a negative point value. It's not a question being graded by a human who thinks like one.

Another one is "I fake being polite when I'm angry." (Never mind that it's impossible, one cannot fake being polite...one is either polite to customers even when pissed-off or not. Politeness is an action, not an emotion.)

[MajorChode]

7. Yes, I agree and therein lies the problem with psych assessment tests

Everyone tries to out psych them so you never get honest answers. It's the same thing with a job interview, but a skilled interviewer can ask different questions based on the applicant's answers and get past the BS and you also get a feeling for what the applicant is really like which you can never do with a cookie cutter test.

[suninvited]

9. I really tried to answer everything honestly

I am rarely indifferent.

I failed the assessment test by the way. They may have been looking for indifferent. That was only one of 175 questions however.

I think what got me continued employability. The reason I gave for being most likely to leave a job was boredom. I also stated that I would leave a job with a stable company for a job with better pay and room for advancement. I was just being honest.

After getting home and reading on the internet, it seems a lot of people are mystified as to why they would fail the Sears test. I couldnt find anyone who said they passed it, but if they did pass it I assume they wouldnt be at home looking it up on the internet.

[MajorChode]

10. Why there are still employers that use those damn things is beyond my understanding

Basically what they do is compare your scores to those who are supposedly the best fit for the job in question. If your answers match up to those people's answers, then you're determined to be the best fit. So there's no real way you can tell what is the right and wrong answers to most of the questions. Forget that it's junk science. The people who sell such evaluation services have already convinced the employer that they work so that is that. I doubt anyone has ever studied how many highly qualified candidates have been turned away from such tests and how many worthless employees have been hired because employers relied too heavily on them.

[Ptah]

4. What industry?

I work in manufacturing, so impatient suggests a
desire to get thing done more quickly than the current
schedule implies.
I just know it can be made faster, and I don't want to squander
the opportunity.

[suninvited]

8. customer service

call center for Sears. Taking phone orders pretty much.

[KG]

11. stupid question.

companies love this kinda crap since in takes anything like real involvement and work out of the process of hiring.

[krispos42]

12. "Short and long term anxiety due to declining wages, job security, and employer/employee loyalty

With a healthy dollop of nervous horniness 'cuz of that dark-haired diety on the 3rd floor. My god, give me ten minutes in the copier room, just the two of us..."


You won't get the job, but you'll be the talk of HR for a month!!!

[suninvited]

13. lmao!!