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Test for Dwindling Retail Jobs Spawns a Culture of Cheating

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Re: Test for Dwindling Retail Jobs Spawns a Culture of Cheating

#11

Post by jcl »

imgabe wrote: post #2

There are actually people who can't figure out the desired answers to those questions?

The answers to some of the statements are not totally obvious. If we assume the "answer key" mentioned in the article is correct (http://melbel.com), we are supposed agree with "You have no big regrets about your past" but also agree with "You look back and feel bad about things you’ve done". Likewise, we are supposed to disagree with "You are good at leading people" but agree with "You are good at taking charge of a group" and "You like to take the lead with others".

Re: Test for Dwindling Retail Jobs Spawns a Culture of Cheating

#13

Post by edw519 »

Reminds me of my favorite example of a prescreening personality test.

Southwest used to put a bunch of candidates in a room together and ask each one to make a short presentation. But they weren't observing the presenter. They were observing the audience. They figured that if you paid attention to your competitors, you'd probably pay pretty good attention to your customers.

Must have worked pretty well. But the cat is out of the bag by now.

Re: Test for Dwindling Retail Jobs Spawns a Culture of Cheating

#14

Post by whacked_new »

Dilpil wrote: post #5

The test succeeds in its purpose: weeding out those who cannot figure out how to deal with the immense amount of bullshit inherent to any retail position. If someone isn't savvy enough to tell their employer stealing is wrong, they probably aren't savvy enough to tell the customers the dress makes them look skinny.

This is an unfortunate stereotype, to think that retail implies a certain amount of bullshit. I am more inclined to say it's a result of dilution of good practice and good faith when intents and goals are misaligned. You'd probably agree, but the blame isn't all on retail per se.

Re: Test for Dwindling Retail Jobs Spawns a Culture of Cheating

#15

Post by scott_s »

jcl wrote: post #10
mdasen wrote: post #6

The real problem is that we don't have effective screens for employees. What is an hour-long interview going to tell you? Little. And you're going to have to do many of them. If you interview as few as 10 people at an hour a piece, that's $250 at $10/hr salary rates. Most likely, the person doing your hiring is getting more than that and so it could easily be in the $500-1000 range. And that doesn't even count the ti…

I found this interesting: "We see absolutely no evidence of any significant cheating taking place in the use of our assessments or that the cheating is substantially affecting the validity of the assessments," says David Scarborough, who helped develop the test and works for its owner, Kronos Inc. Of course, that's what he would say, but what if he's telling the truth? If anyone stands to gain from research into what…

It's also possible he's telling the truth because no one is looking for any evidence.

Re: Test for Dwindling Retail Jobs Spawns a Culture of Cheating

#16

Post by scott_s »

imgabe wrote: post #2

There are actually people who can't figure out the desired answers to those questions?

I can't, because in order to do so I have to guess how unreasonable the person assessing the test is.

Take the question "You have to give up on some things that you start." The answer you're supposed to give is "strongly disagree." But I strongly agree with that statement. Something I've noticed in research is that the most productive people know when to drop something and move on to something else. The opposite of this statement is a platitude - you should never give up. I think you'd have to be a moron to agree with it.

On the other hand, I know that saying, essentially, "sometimes you have to give up" sounds bad to some people.

So now it becomes a guessing game. Do I assume the person assessing the test is a reasonable person with a nuanced appreciation for the realities in life, or is the person a moron?

Re: Test for Dwindling Retail Jobs Spawns a Culture of Cheating

#17

Post by notauser »

jcl wrote: post #11
imgabe wrote: post #2

There are actually people who can't figure out the desired answers to those questions?

The answers to some of the statements are not totally obvious. If we assume the "answer key" mentioned in the article is correct ( http://melbel.com ), we are supposed agree with "You have no big regrets about your past" but also agree with "You look back and feel bad about things you’ve done". Likewise, we are supposed to disagree with "You are good at leading people" but agree with "You are good at taking charge of…

Also

"You don't give up on things you start" could be good or bad, depending on what it was you started!

Re: Test for Dwindling Retail Jobs Spawns a Culture of Cheating

#18

Post by zach »

mdasen wrote: post #6

The real problem is that we don't have effective screens for employees. What is an hour-long interview going to tell you? Little. And you're going to have to do many of them. If you interview as few as 10 people at an hour a piece, that's $250 at $10/hr salary rates. Most likely, the person doing your hiring is getting more than that and so it could easily be in the $500-1000 range. And that doesn't even count the ti…

"The real problem is that we don't have effective screens for employees. What is an hour-long interview going to tell you? Little. And you're going to have to do many of them."

A friend of mine who is a dentist told me that he was looking to hire a new assistant, and that the usual procedure is to have them do a working interview. That is, they work a day in their intended position.

I would find it hard to suggest a programmer do such an interview, but when you compare it to doing a dozen interviews over two or three days, for an hour or so each, in more contrived circumstances...

Re: Test for Dwindling Retail Jobs Spawns a Culture of Cheating

#19

Post by daniel-cussen »

zach wrote: post #18
mdasen wrote: post #6

The real problem is that we don't have effective screens for employees. What is an hour-long interview going to tell you? Little. And you're going to have to do many of them. If you interview as few as 10 people at an hour a piece, that's $250 at $10/hr salary rates. Most likely, the person doing your hiring is getting more than that and so it could easily be in the $500-1000 range. And that doesn't even count the ti…

"The real problem is that we don't have effective screens for employees. What is an hour-long interview going to tell you? Little. And you're going to have to do many of them." A friend of mine who is a dentist told me that he was looking to hire a new assistant, and that the usual procedure is to have them do a working interview. That is, they work a day in their intended position. I would find it hard to suggest a…

You could simply pay them for a day of work.

Re: Test for Dwindling Retail Jobs Spawns a Culture of Cheating

#20

Post by gravitycop »

daniel-cussen wrote: post #19
zach wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The real problem is that we don't have effective screens for employees. What is an hour-long interview going to tell you? Little. And you're going to have to do many of them." A friend of mine who is a dentist told me that he was looking to hire a new assistant, and that the usual procedure is to have them do a working interview. That is, they work a day in their intended position. I would find it hard to suggest a…

You could simply pay them for a day of work.

You could simply pay them for a day of work.

An easy way to do that would be to rent someone from an employment service.

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