Frazz by Jef Mallett for May 25, 2023

As a transfer student, I once was forced to take a “personality assessment” test by some actually sadistic University bureaucrats. The questions were very strange (“Do you ever fear your bowel movements?”, “Have you ever been in a high place and wanted to jump?”, “Does wearing a hat make you feel vulnerable?” …) and very repetitive, probably 1000 questions or so, each to be answered on a 1-5 scale from 1=“never” to 5=“always”. I answered the full 1000 questions with this sequence: 1,2,3,4,5,5,4,3,2,1,1,2,3,4,5,…

I never heard another word from that set of sadists.

Caulfield would take liberties with the sign pole if he thought it would get him noticed.

If by “take liberties with” she means “write in answers that won’t fit their pigeon holes…” Never cared for those tests myself.

Will hw be known for quality of his character, or just as a character?

There are tests and tests. Upon enlisting in the USAF, I was trained to Ft Holabird, Md. Enlistees in all services were herded into a test room and given a 100 question, multiple choice, mixed subject test.

As I was diligently reading the questions and filling the little circles, I noticed the sound of someone behind me constantly clearing his throat. Got my attention. Then I saw the Army recruit next to me erase one answer with each cough, and mark another. Every time the cough sounded, he would change his answer. Happened all the way through the test period. A glance back showed me an Army shirt with MSgt stripes, doing a little ‘coaching’ for his recruit. From all the coughing I thought he should have applied for a medical discharge.

Tried not to laugh at the time but got a good one when the recruit’s score came back about 2 points lower than mine. That was 1957. Wonder what ever happened to the guy.

There’s more to his character than a propensity to take liberties with questionnaires.

When I joined the military, I took a personality test. Two weeks later, they made me take a different one, because they thought I somehow cheated on the first. Both tests determined that I didn’t have a personality.

I once took a personality test, but it came back negative.

I once failed a pre-employment assessment for testing as “too honest”.

Caulfield wouldn’t take liberties with the questionnaire, he would think of creative excuses for not turning it in.

HR “personality tests” are, unfortunately, very likely to be based on (or, to be more honest, stolen from) the “Myers-Briggs Type Indicator,” an instrument (the creators explicitly said it was not a “test”) that (as said explicitly by its creators) should NOT be used to select people for jobs and/or promotions.

MBTI is based on Jungian archetypes and there is little or no objective scientific evidence that it is of any value whatsoever in matching people to jobs. No wonder HR departments love it…

I once applied for a job where I was asked questions including, “How many times have you seen your father drunk?” Well there was no alcohol in the house when I grew up, so of course I checked NEVER. I don’t remember the rest of the questions, but they were of the same general type, which the testers couldn’t possibly know the answers to. Afterword, I was told, “This test was to find out how much you lie”!!!