Pre-employment personality tests
Today’s job market is tight, typically there are more than a dozen applicants for every posted position. How do employers find out who is the best candidate for the position? He used to be hired based on his resume, his previous experience, and a personal interview.
Now, due to the downsizing of most human resources departments, applicants are required to take a pre-employment personality test. This test is typically administered online, is timed, and once you answer a question or finish a multi-question section, you cannot go back and review your answers.
You are told to answer each question as honestly as possible and are assured that there are no right or wrong answers. They are required to make this claim, but once you take one of these tests and don’t get the job, you start to hesitate. Did they tell you the whole truth?
Types of questions on a pre-employment personality test
Most personality tests are multiple choice or true and false. Here’s a tip to help you improve your scores on this test.
In any section where you have options for Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Somewhat Disagree, Neutral, Somewhat Agree, Agree, Strongly Agree, you should be careful.
Most people who answer honestly will not choose between Strongly Disagree or Strongly Agree.
Why is that? When we apply for a job, we don’t want to make waves. We want to be seen as a person capable of getting along. Having strong feelings for or against an idea or topic seems rude. We might even worry about appearing aggressive, aggressive, or even rude.
Right?
Therefore, you will take the more passive approach. You don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. You will choose anything BUT Strongly agree or Strongly disagree.
AND YOU WILL GET THAT BAD ANSWER!
Questions strongly agree and strongly disagree
Any section that has options ranging from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree should be viewed as True or False. Ignore all the options in between!
That’s right, ignore them!
Because they are wrong.
If you agree with the statement, mark that you fully agree with it. If you do not agree with a statement, mark that you strongly disagree. There are no other correct answers. The statement is true or false. There is no gray area in these questions. If you want to get a better score on the personality test, this one change will make all the difference.
Answer as honestly as possible, but stop trying not to hurt the feelings of the test. After all, it is just a test.
Did you find this article helpful? Totally agree!
Best wishes on your future job searches. I guess they’ll hire you a lot faster now.