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I applied for a software role at FedEx and was asked to take a personality test

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Re: I applied for a software role at FedEx and was asked to take a personality test

#241

Post by Alupis »

shermantanktop wrote: post #237
Alupis wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it feels explicitly classist (which in the US probably means it produces racist outcomes too) Please elaborate...

You'll probably get better answers to questions about polo, golf, opera, and croquet on Martha's Vineyard than you will in South Compton.

There are wealthy and poor people all across the country that do or do not participate or relate to any of those named things.

You have identified a very specific type of economic class, which has nothing to do with "race" and/or ethnicity. I also doubt Canonical is only seeking people who "summer" in Martha's Vineyard, regardless of their skin color.

Re: I applied for a software role at FedEx and was asked to take a personality test

#242

Post by LanceH »

I've gone down the interview process on a couple of these just to see where it went. I was fortunate enough to not need a job at the time, so I wasn't worried about it.

There was one test with 18 statements and I was asked to sort them from like to dislike or good to bad. It was obvious that the statements were paired up somehow like "Nuclear war is a good thing" and "world wide peace is a good thing" (yes, some of the statements were that extreme).

I answered reasonable as possible, with the extreme statements closer to 1 or 18, and the pairings equally distant from the middle. The mild statements also mirroring each other toward the middle.

There was another part to that round, but it was more along the lines of that 4 quadrant personality test (can't remember the name for it) -- nothing crazy, or at least it was more mainstream.

I did not make it to the next round. There was no way in hell I was going to work for them, but I was still disappointed to miss the chance to look over their brand of craziness a little.

Re: I applied for a software role at FedEx and was asked to take a personality test

#243

Post by testless »

smcin wrote: post #110
spondylosaurus wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ha, I had a phone interview with MDB for a (contract!) technical writing gig, and they told me the next steps include (1) a one-hour critical thinking test, whatever that means, and (2) a one-hour writing interview. Not a take-home writing assignment, which would be pretty standard, but a live writing interview via Zoom screen share. Very unusual, but I don't have too many other things on the horizon right now, so I'…

Doing the writing assignment live and on-screen is simply to verify you didn't cheat/impersonate/get help/use AI/plagiarize.

Contract implies they hire a service, thus should not care how it was created, right?

Re: I applied for a software role at FedEx and was asked to take a personality test

#244

Post by zahllos »

UncleOxidant wrote: post #88
frfl wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine the tens of thousands of dollars saved if you had a 15 minute (okay 15 is a bit short unless someone vouches for you or you're a well known open source contributor etc, maybe 1 hour or 1.5 hour, hell even 2 hour) technical conversation and the other engineer is like, yeah this person's worth bringing onboard. Might not work in all cases, but really, if you're trying to sniff out a pretender vs someone who can…

Indeed, while it might not work in all cases you'd probably save enough time/money to make up for those cases where it didn't work out. I've often seen jobs posted that stay open for 6 months or more because some hiring manager and their team can't make up their minds on who to hire. Meanwhile, the project they want to bring someone in to work on languishes, or people who are already stretched thin burn out and go el…

This is very common where I am (Switzerland) and I agree entirely with your conclusion. It's not uncommon to see posts open for over 6 months and it often seems like this is because no candidate is good enough.

In the intervening time, a candidate not quite ticking all the boxes but with motivation and energy could have learned what they needed to and moved whatever the project is forward.

Re: I applied for a software role at FedEx and was asked to take a personality test

#245

Post by zoky »

squeaky-clean wrote: post #104
vundercind wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m convinced most use of these is actually testing for: 1) bright enough to answer to achieve just about any desired outcome (usually not a high bar), 2) socially/politically aware enough to realize which outcomes will be good, and which will be bad; and, 3) agreeable/compliant enough to go ahead and game the quiz to achieve a good outcome without raising a fuss.

I interviewed at Burger King in college, the manager told me I was the only applicant in their system to get above 80% on the personality test. It was incredibly easy things like, "How many minutes are acceptable to show up late for your shift? 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, being late is unacceptable". Or "If you knew there were no cameras able to see you, and no other employees around, how much money is okay to…

Well, I guess one way of looking at it is would you rather have the guy who truthfully told you that it was okay to steal $1 from the register, or the guy who lied about saying any amount was unacceptable?

Re: I applied for a software role at FedEx and was asked to take a personality test

#246

Post by kccqzy »

devops_palmer wrote: post #57

Before Covid I went for an interview at a remote-only company, which was a huge plus. We had the first interview over zoom (or zoom equivalent at the time) and everything went well - Then I get a follow-up email about github access and they send me a huge github repo where they want me to complete an example web application that can do x,y and z based on some of the example models included, and want it done in a week…

I was once on the other side. The hiring manager told me to design an open-ended take-home exercise for potential candidates. The exercise was to be flexible: you can take an hour to complete the bare minimum, or you can easily take many hours in an attempt to reach perfection.

I was so preoccupied in designing the test that I did not stop to think whether we should. In hindsight, it wasn't a good idea because of how open-ended it was: some candidates, we later learned, spent at least 20 hours on it.

Re: I applied for a software role at FedEx and was asked to take a personality test

#247

Post by pavel_lishin »

ooterness wrote: post #120
madeofpalk wrote: post #30

Bizarre really don't capture how other-worldly (other than the lets-not-be-racist purple people) this test is. Take the fourth image, of the person (or two people) with two emotions on the couch. How are you supposed to identify if that image as a whole is "me" or not? I would be baffled at how to respond to that. Some of the images I can kind of understand (watching TV while you have laundry to fold? LAZY!), but how…

You’re in a desert walking along in the sand when all of the sudden you look down, and you see a tortoise, it’s crawling toward you. You reach down, you flip the tortoise over on its back. The tortoise lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over, but it can’t, not without your help. But you’re not helping. Why is that?

What do you mean, I'm not helping?

Re: I applied for a software role at FedEx and was asked to take a personality test

#249

Post by 000ooo000 »

Simon_ORourke wrote: post #71

I had one company spring this health screener on my with zero warning, which included such questions as whether I had ever been pregnant or made anyone pregnant, and whether I had ever been depressed and how so. Very weird stuff, so I challenged it and HR responded that it was a required test for health and safety at work. It wasn't, it was some corporate type doing massive overreach into areas where they had no righ…

I've had the same thing happen. I challenged it on principle - why does a dev need a medical? But went to the centre anyway because I wanted the job. Once I saw the questionnaire and the consent to disclose form, I nope'd out. It wasn't a Dr evaluating me and saying 'fit' or 'unfit' for duty, it was a massive list of very invasive questions including questions about my parents' health, subtle pregnant or not questions, etc. Best of all, it was all forwarded to the company. Said no thanks and moved on.

Re: I applied for a software role at FedEx and was asked to take a personality test

#250

Post by phendrenad2 »

dgfitz wrote: post #58
syntaxing wrote: post #56

I once took an IQ test(?), I think it was called Wonderlic or something. I was desperate and it was my first engineering (unpaid) internship. Somehow I was a “genius” and they kept my test record as an example for the next couple years after my internship. I would probably walk out of an interview if someone handed me one today.

This one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonderlic_test ?

Ah yes Wonderlic. I took that test once, half was seemingly an IQ test (predict the next shape, logical reasoning, etc.), half was a standard MBTI-style personality test. They sent me the results of the personality portion only. I assume my IQ test results are out there on the corporate dark web and companies will be judging me by it from now on.
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