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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

#321

Post by yvan-eht-nioj »

kemayo wrote: post #312
yvan-eht-nioj wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or, someone might also have a sense of karmic justice, whereby $0.02 is the same as $200 in the ethical context of returning a lost object to its owner. The manager sounds like they'd be happy to steal your wages, as long as it was "only a small amount". You dodged a bullet there.

I mean, from the perspective of the manager, you really don't want an employee who's going to run out of the store to return an amount of money that won't matter to the customer. One can understand a peculiar value system, and also think that the conclusions it reaches are bad for your situation. (See also: "it's okay to take money from the cash register if I need it".) I also think that going from that question to t…

I suppose it depends if you believe in principle over pragmatism.

Personally, for me the amount is irrelevant; action and intent is what matters, so in some contexts $0.02 would absolutely matter to me.

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

#322

Post by gregw2 »

vundercind wrote: post #147
bluefirebrand wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Answering in a way that is not consistent with what you truly feel or believe is dishonest. I don't think it's an amoral dishonesty, as you say, you've been forced to play this dumb game. There are many cases where being untruthful is not morally wrong Thank you for this reply, I couldn't have said it better. It's important that people realize 1) Representing yourself falsely is dishonest 2) Dishonesty isn't an esp…

It took me a while to get that interviewers aren’t really looking for honesty when they ask stuff like “why do you want to work here?” I mean maybe they are, but they’re gonna be very unhappy with the most-honest answer from 95+% of candidates for the vast majority of employers and jobs. So of course, you’re supposed to be… quite a bit less honest. And I guess maybe there’s some value in filtering out people who don’…

I ask why people want to work here (or similarly “what do you want from your next position”) as a basic check of whether their and my motivations are aligned and how strong their motivation might be. Sure people can lie, but it also helps clarify if you both have the same ideas about what the role involves short or medium term.

There is not a right answer, but there are some wrong ones that indicate a disconnect that do come up sometimes.

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

#323

Post by Brananarchy »

strken wrote: post #307
Brananarchy wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If a coworker can't handle a woman wearing pants instead of a skirt, can't handle a black person wearing their hair in a way that's comfortable, or can't handle a queer coworker dressing in queer ways... They're the problem. Not the person who's "unconventional". All of those things have been called "unprofessional" as a way to oppress minorities.

Covertly flirting with your female colleague in ambiguous ways after she asked you not to and then pretending you didn't do anything, asking your black colleague if he "knows any rappers", and wearing a dress to a company dress-up party when you are in no way trans then claiming to be "trans until tomorrow" and laughing loudly are also all unprofessional.

How is any of that related to the issues I raised? I never argued that any of that was acceptable.

I'm not arguing that anyone should be able to do anything in the workplace, and that is a bad-faith reading of what I said.

People are assholes. And assholes need to be dealt with. But the term "professional" is consistently abused as a tool to oppress people.

I am arguing that the general (American) expectations of "professionalism" are deeply influenced by hateful people, and we should question those standards.

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

#324

Post by Brananarchy »

kube-system wrote: post #317
Brananarchy wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If a coworker can't handle a woman wearing pants instead of a skirt, can't handle a black person wearing their hair in a way that's comfortable, or can't handle a queer coworker dressing in queer ways... They're the problem. Not the person who's "unconventional". All of those things have been called "unprofessional" as a way to oppress minorities.

There are lots of ways that people can be unprofessional, regardless of their identity or beliefs.

That doesn't address my assertion that "unprofessional" is used as a cudgel to abuse minorities.

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

#325

Post by [deleted] »

Brananarchy wrote: post #282
JohnFen wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I entirely disagree with that being what the concept of "professionalism" is based on, but I'm also not entirely sure what you're alluding to here, so grain of salt.

Primarily, I'm alluding to it being considered "unprofessional" for queer people to be themselves in the workplace, as that is the particular thorn I've been pricked with. But there are other fun ways "professionalism" has been used to oppress people - from the way Women are expected to dress, to Black hair being treated as unacceptable.

[deleted]

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

#326

Post by ImPostingOnHN »

WalterBright wrote: post #300
billy99k wrote: post #2

I once had a SW interview with a job that had a 2-hour long personality test. No tech questions. Just random questions to test my personality. It started out simple, like 'what was the last book you read' to more in-depth situations that had nothing to do with the job. The manager interviewing me (who admit he basically just started managing a month prior) told me he just read a 'great book on management' and wanted…

> what was the last book you read "How To Become the CEO of the Company You Work For"

“Well, the last one was 'How to Parent', but before that was 'The Bible', and before that was 'HR law for dummies', why?”

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

#327

Post by kube-system »

Brananarchy wrote: post #324
kube-system wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are lots of ways that people can be unprofessional, regardless of their identity or beliefs.

That doesn't address my assertion that "unprofessional" is used as a cudgel to abuse minorities.

Yes, but the topic above was social filtering -- things people say and do -- not identity or minority status. When I say 'professionalism' in the context of social filtering, I am talking about the things people say and do to each other in the workplace.

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

#328

Post by QuinnyPig »

FigurativeVoid wrote: post #186

FedEx has always been really weird for me. When I was first getting into tech, I interviewed at FedEx. The first interview went really well, but I totally bombed the second interview--some remote coding challenge. After my poor performance, I didn't really pursue the position further because I knew I hadn't done well. You win some, you lose some. 8 months later I received an email with an offer letter.

An 8 month delay is surprisingly on point for some of their deliveries.

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

#329

Post by starttoaster »

justinclift wrote: post #308
dylan604 wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess if you don't know what a phrase means, there's always the internet to look it up before jumping to conclusions. https://duckduckgo.com/?va=c&t=ha&q=bedside+manner&ia=web

Interesting. Good point about that phrase for doctors . :)

Hi Justin, the phrase "bedside manner" is very common, and was taken out of its original context for all kinds of uses because of medical drama TV shows. It basically means, "general human politeness for people you're caring for that are currently not in a confident position." This can apply to a medical professional that takes care of their patients, or a teacher watching over their students, or the person at Best Buy's Geek Squad explaining why your computer doesn't work. Rather than continuing to rile up the other user for no really good reason, perhaps you can accept that your lack of knowledge regarding common English idioms frustrated that other user, and forgive them for being mean to you. In the future, rather than make pedo jokes, maybe you'll give the phrase a look on Google to see if its been used before, because it likely has. Thank you for your time.

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

#330

Post by gosub100 »

vundercind wrote: post #48
niceice wrote: post #36

You can take it here: https://fedexdataworksprod.traitify.com/assessment/31449c4a-... Each one has a title like "Starter Not a Finisher", "Frequently Change My Mind", "Always Wonder Why", "Easily Offended", "Art Isn't My Thing", "Unstoppable", "Make Friends Everywhere", "Good Enough", "Not My Job", "Tend to Feel Sad", "Volunteering", "Believe the Best of People", "Hard to Start a New Task", "Loves the Social Scene",…

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 think its insurance against discrimination lawsuits. There is no obligation for the employer to reject an application for failing the test, but if an applicant is rejected, there is a good chance they can use the test as something to point to that gave them doubt.
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