Posted: 1/11/2011 12:26 AM
Post subject: Unicru Personality Assessment Cheat Sheet / How to Get Hired
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Antoids
Joined: 8/27/2009
Posts: 159
Location: California
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10692406/Unicru%20Personality%20Assessment2.html -- Webpage http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10692406/Personality%20Assessment%20for%20Job%20Applications.rtf -- RTF I found a year-old document of this on the internet, and the owner is no longer updating it, so I decided I'd take up the mantle. Anyone interested in helping can find my contact details within at the beginning and end of the document. Basically, Unicru is a company that many major businesses facilitate their hiring process through, and they have, as part of the application process, a personality test that looks for a very specific kind of person to hire. you are asked about 75 questions to which you can respond 'strongly agree', 'agree', 'disagree' and 'strongly agree'. Based on your answers, you are placed in one of three piles: green (will be interviewed if positions are available), yellow (may be interviewed if they run out of greens), or red (will almost certainly not be interviewed). I feel that this is an intolerable form of discrimination that needs to be fought against, and, as such, I am heading a fight. To do so, I am distributing the answers to the questions, and making the system useless as a result. The base of this document contains answers that were leaked by an employee (a programmer working on the test), who disagreed with its morality. Using these answers as a base, I have made headway on further questions added to the test. I'm posting this here to get a little more widespread knowledge of the document, and am also posting to a few other internet communities. You can help by passing this document on to anyone who is, will be, or knows someone who will be applying for entry-level positions to just about any major business at any point in the future. So pretty much anyone under 25 or so. Thank you for your time.
Posted: 1/11/2011 1:53 AM
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Kuwaga
Joined: 10/20/2006
Posts: 1248
Interesting. Is it just my impression or could pretty much anyone get a good score on that test just by applying common sense and lying? (even without that sheet)
Posted: 1/11/2011 3:13 AM
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Patashu
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Thanks for making this. I'll keep it in mind.
My Chiptune music, made in Famitracker: http://soundcloud.com/patashu My twitch. I stream mostly shmups & rhythm games http://twitch.tv/patashu My youtube, again shmups and rhythm games and misc stuff: http://youtube.com/user/patashu
Posted: 1/11/2011 5:45 AM
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moozooh
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These ones are my personal favorites:
You act quickly without worrying too much about whether you are doing the right thing Your stuff is often kind of messy
Dis shit here be messy, yo. And the other one is like a formal prerequisite to joining the dark side.
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
Posted: 1/11/2011 6:02 AM
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pirate_sephiroth
Active player (308)
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New systems TAS of 2009
hey that looks like a good test. I don't see what's this discrimination you talk about. What kind of employee would you prefer? Someone with a great curriculum but a sociopath, or someone with an average curriculum but a pleasant personality? Learn to think by yourself...
"Genuine self-esteem, however, consists not of causeless feelings, but of certain knowledge about yourself. It rests on the conviction that you — by your choices, effort and actions — have made yourself into the kind of person able to deal with reality. It is the conviction — based on the evidence of your own volitional functioning — that you are fundamentally able to succeed in life and, therefore, are deserving of that success." - Onkar Ghate
Bisqwit wrote:
Drama, too long, didn't read, lol.
Posted: 1/11/2011 6:23 AM
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Derakon
Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
I'd prefer an employer who asks questions that are pertinent to the job at hand and is capable of judging my personality and skills in an interview and a short assignment, instead of relying on a standardized test. That said, I've never encountered this test in any of my job hunts.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 1/11/2011 6:29 AM
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pirate_sephiroth
Active player (308)
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New systems TAS of 2009
Even in an interview, you're judged more by your personality than by your skills. If they like you, you're in. The interviewer is human.
"Genuine self-esteem, however, consists not of causeless feelings, but of certain knowledge about yourself. It rests on the conviction that you — by your choices, effort and actions — have made yourself into the kind of person able to deal with reality. It is the conviction — based on the evidence of your own volitional functioning — that you are fundamentally able to succeed in life and, therefore, are deserving of that success." - Onkar Ghate
Bisqwit wrote:
Drama, too long, didn't read, lol.
Posted: 1/11/2011 6:41 AM
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Warp
Banned User, Former player
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pirate_sephiroth wrote:
I don't see what's this discrimination you talk about. What kind of employee would you prefer? Someone with a great curriculum but a sociopath, or someone with an average curriculum but a pleasant personality?
Political correctness always overrides practicality, efficiency and common sense.
Posted: 1/11/2011 6:45 AM
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Bag_of_Magic_Food
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And now it is politically correct to be politically incorrect, so there's no pleasing some people!
put yourself in my rocketpack if that poochie is one outrageous dude
Posted: 1/11/2011 6:50 AM
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pirate_sephiroth
Active player (308)
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New systems TAS of 2009
Political correctness: making life miserable since the 90's But this is not the point here. We're talking about building rapport with the interviewer and passing the image of a friendly and trustworthy person. Not according to society's or the company's measures, but thinking about the interviewer only.
"Genuine self-esteem, however, consists not of causeless feelings, but of certain knowledge about yourself. It rests on the conviction that you — by your choices, effort and actions — have made yourself into the kind of person able to deal with reality. It is the conviction — based on the evidence of your own volitional functioning — that you are fundamentally able to succeed in life and, therefore, are deserving of that success." - Onkar Ghate
Bisqwit wrote:
Drama, too long, didn't read, lol.
Posted: 1/11/2011 8:04 AM
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Patashu
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Joined: 10/2/2005
Posts: 4017
But the test serves no purpose if the worst kind of person can pass it by memorizing what to put down. Unless you intend to procedurally generate tests, it is inevitable.
My Chiptune music, made in Famitracker: http://soundcloud.com/patashu My twitch. I stream mostly shmups & rhythm games http://twitch.tv/patashu My youtube, again shmups and rhythm games and misc stuff: http://youtube.com/user/patashu
Posted: 1/11/2011 8:09 AM
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pirate_sephiroth
Active player (308)
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New systems TAS of 2009
It's never gonna happen because people are dumb and will always believe you get a good job thanks to your education.
"Genuine self-esteem, however, consists not of causeless feelings, but of certain knowledge about yourself. It rests on the conviction that you — by your choices, effort and actions — have made yourself into the kind of person able to deal with reality. It is the conviction — based on the evidence of your own volitional functioning — that you are fundamentally able to succeed in life and, therefore, are deserving of that success." - Onkar Ghate
Bisqwit wrote:
Drama, too long, didn't read, lol.
Posted: 1/11/2011 9:51 AM
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nitsuja
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Kuwaga wrote:
Interesting. Is it just my impression or could pretty much anyone get a good score on that test just by applying common sense and lying? (even without that sheet)
It seems that way, which means they are selecting for good lying skills at least as much as anything else. Although some of these are quite counter-intuitive, for example, you lose points unless you say you "strongly agree" that you are a "thrill-seeker", which I would normally expect a company to interpret as "I enjoy getting myself into trouble". Also, I would have expected feeling "strongly" about everything to be a bad thing on these tests instead of a requirement, because anyone who feels strongly about absolutely everything is probably either a habitual liar or so opinionated that it would get in the way of their job. One more thing: "When people make mistakes, you correct them" + "When someone treats you badly, you ignore it" = "It is correct for people to treat you badly"?
Posted: 1/11/2011 1:47 PM
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moozooh
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nitsuja wrote:
Also, I would have expected feeling "strongly" about everything to be a bad thing on these tests instead of a requirement, because anyone who feels strongly about absolutely everything is probably either a habitual liar or so opinionated that it would get in the way of their job.
Probably too much of a hassle to account for, at least in a way that doesn't seem completely arbitrary.
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
Posted: 1/11/2011 1:57 PM
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Dada
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Yeah, I think simply by answering as your employer would probably want you to answer, you can most likely ace this test without too much trouble. It's a dumb test, that's all I can say about it. As a company you should not rely on it. No multiple choice test can ever replace or even serve as a very helpful addendum to a good interview.
Posted: 1/11/2011 4:23 PM
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Derakon
Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
pirate_sephiroth wrote:
But this is not the point here. We're talking about building rapport with the interviewer and passing the image of a friendly and trustworthy person. Not according to society's or the company's measures, but thinking about the interviewer only.
If you're going to test people skills, you should actually test people skills. Not the ability to guess what a person with good people skills would say. More than that, at any job you need to be able to get along with your coworkers. This is why you get interviewed by your coworkers (and are in turn interviewing them!). In short, multiple-choice tests are practically worthless in this setting. They have little value in most settings, for that matter.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 1/11/2011 7:52 PM
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Ferret_Warlord
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Well, considering just how many applicants they get, there needs to be *some* sort of way to filter people out if you're not taking resumés. After all, the people there can't interview each and every applicant to an unskilled job. Yeah, I have to question the validity of a test like this, but to describe it as "vile" and "morally reprehensible" is a bit much. I'm not necessarily defending this current test, but I can see its function in this sort of setting.
A hundred years from now, they will gaze upon my work and marvel at my skills but never know my name. And that will be good enough for me.
Posted: 1/12/2011 3:35 AM
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pirate_sephiroth
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New systems TAS of 2009
The best option is to try to be honest during this kind of test. You'll save everyone's valuable time.
"Genuine self-esteem, however, consists not of causeless feelings, but of certain knowledge about yourself. It rests on the conviction that you — by your choices, effort and actions — have made yourself into the kind of person able to deal with reality. It is the conviction — based on the evidence of your own volitional functioning — that you are fundamentally able to succeed in life and, therefore, are deserving of that success." - Onkar Ghate
Bisqwit wrote:
Drama, too long, didn't read, lol.
Posted: 1/12/2011 3:50 AM
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Patashu
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Posts: 4017
Predicated on the assumption that the exact kind of person that the test is looking for is the exact kind of person that will be best for each and every workplace that uses the test.
My Chiptune music, made in Famitracker: http://soundcloud.com/patashu My twitch. I stream mostly shmups & rhythm games http://twitch.tv/patashu My youtube, again shmups and rhythm games and misc stuff: http://youtube.com/user/patashu
Posted: 1/12/2011 5:05 AM
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Kuwaga
Joined: 10/20/2006
Posts: 1248
Well, I see the test mainly testing for traits that really would be most useful in almost any job. They're looking for someone who is submissive but highly motivated, well suited for team work (carries on motivation to others) and emotionally stable. Those employers who don't look for people like that would hopefully be smart enough not to use that test, so I don't see any problem in that regard, only with cheating. I am submissive only as long as it's in my interest to be submissive (else I switch to avoidant), depending on the task I can either be ridiculously highly motivated or the laziest bum in the universe (delay till deadline approaches), in teams I like to work behind the scenes (observe and only say something out of the ordinary out of bordom or if I feel it's important) and I'm totally unable to carry my motivation on to anybody else. So, I'd probably deserve a yellow or a red card. But if I was to fill out that test, I wouldn't give honest answers, but those which would be most beneficial to me and yet still defendable (never 100% the opposite of the actual truth). I'd probably get an easy green card in the end and imo, that's the real problem with this test.
Posted: 1/12/2011 10:49 AM
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Patashu
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It also relies on people self-reporting accurately, but very often people over or underestimate things, or pretend to be something they're not. A better test would involve interaction to see how well they cope in an actual situation related to their job, and that can't be standardized.
My Chiptune music, made in Famitracker: http://soundcloud.com/patashu My twitch. I stream mostly shmups & rhythm games http://twitch.tv/patashu My youtube, again shmups and rhythm games and misc stuff: http://youtube.com/user/patashu
Posted: 1/12/2011 4:31 PM
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Warp
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Joined: 3/10/2004
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Location: Finland
Patashu wrote:
It also relies on people self-reporting accurately, but very often people over or underestimate things, or pretend to be something they're not. A better test would involve interaction to see how well they cope in an actual situation related to their job, and that can't be standardized.
Perhaps the purpose of the test is to eliminate the pessimists and emos.
Posted: 1/13/2011 3:54 AM
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pirate_sephiroth
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New systems TAS of 2009
Yeah Warp! At last I see a sensible reply in this thread.
"Genuine self-esteem, however, consists not of causeless feelings, but of certain knowledge about yourself. It rests on the conviction that you — by your choices, effort and actions — have made yourself into the kind of person able to deal with reality. It is the conviction — based on the evidence of your own volitional functioning — that you are fundamentally able to succeed in life and, therefore, are deserving of that success." - Onkar Ghate
Bisqwit wrote:
Drama, too long, didn't read, lol.