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Testing Times

Once upon a time in our glorious industrial past, if you wanted work it was simply a case of turning up and presenting yourself to the gaffer of your chosen job, be it the coal mine or the ship yard, whereupon he (possibly she, although less likely in those days) would then hire you on the strict understanding that you work vigorously and secrete buckets of sweat in exchange for a meagre wage packet. This was a simple arrangement which required very little formality or paperwork. In those days, Equal Opportunities was a technical term for sharing out the workload amongst the eager grafters, and there was no such thing as compensation for accidents in the workplace. In fact if you fell over or tripped up, chances are you would be given a clip round the ear for messing about and told to get on with some real work, rather than receive a cash handout with the help of a parasitic no-win no-fee claims advisor.

As is always the case when looking back to the past, our viewpoint is clouded by an element of rose tinted spectacle syndrome, however I believe that the world of work has actually changed for the worse in many respects. It has become obsessed with administration and process, to the point where booking a day's holiday takes a total of three weeks to organise, involving up to Seventeen people along the way. The process of applying for the average job is now so taxing that even the Job Centre appears to have lost interest, replacing the old job card system with an incomprehensible, often broken, and frankly unhelpful computer interface. The system was relatively new when I was last searching for work and may perhaps have slightly improved over the last Eighteen months; however at the time I felt that the staff would rather I didn't concern them with my search for a job, and instead sign obediently for my Jobseekers Allowance before returning home in time for Trisha.

A recent trend among employers is to use Psychometric Assessments to 'profile' potential employees and ensure that they get the right person for the job. It does seem a tad foolish to assume it is possible to dissect and classify somebody's personality from what is often no more than a handful of questions, especially when the questions are usually subjective, involving multiple choice answers. Worse still is that these tests can be the deciding factor in a person's application for a job. If Miss Happ wants to be a telemarketing consultant, then it goes without saying that she must know whether she is a team player or a strong minded individual. However she must also know what position she lies in just before she goes to sleep, and whether she folds her arms before, during or after a conversation. Nobody really cares if she can string a sentence together, or whether she is a hypochondriac who will spend six months of each year off sick, and the other six looking like she should be off sick. Truth is the test knows best.

The first attempt to scientifically measure the differences between individual mental abilities was made by Sir Francis Galton in the 19th Century. He tried to show that the human mind could be systematically mapped into different dimensions. He looked at how people differed in terms of their ability to discriminate between stimuli, and by collating the results he devised a system which would allow an individual's abilities to be compared to those of others. This system is still in use today, although it has evolved somewhat over the course of history. It is now possible to take an online personality test to see which soap opera star you most resemble (site address available on request). I am sure Sir Galton would be delighted to know his work has contributed to such a worthy cause.

Personality Assessments have become central to almost any job application. In order to become a shelf replenisher at ASDA it is necessary to take one, and should you answer it honestly, as opposed to ticking the answer you think is most appropriate, chances are you will fail. I am reliably informed by a former member of staff that indicating that you are 'easy going' is akin to suicide in this scenario, even if it's true. A simple wander round any ASDA (or similar supermarket) store will prove how effective the tests are at filtering out the less-than-ideal applicants. Have a look next time you are there at how many 'like-minded adaptive team players who respectfully challenge authority whilst displaying excellent customer skills' you can see. It is possible you may not see any, although please do not fret; chances are they are busy backstage being forward thinking and dynamic, whilst filling out the latest Employee Satisfaction Survey.

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