The Inbetweener: Psych tests = pointless trash

You go for an interview. They decide they like you somewhat. And then they either send you a link to a website to sit a test or, if they're really cruel, make you go to their office to do one. I'm talking of course about the dreaded psych tests which most of us have been forced to undertake at some point.

These tests are not just for entry-level positions. I have friends who have sat them for senior management and investment banking jobs. The only job seekers I know who never do them are those who usually inflict the most damage on clients: salespeople.

I recall a joke from the dot.com days that the most successful stockbrokers in the US have the same psychological profile as serial killers. Great, that really puts my mind at ease. But do I need to know results from a personality questionnaire to realise that some people are just remorseless churners?

However, if a top performing salesperson sat a test and found out that indeed he has the mathematical aptitude of a year-10 student, or is prone to being an office psychopath, would that stop a bank from hiring him? I don't know of anyone not getting a job because they didn't know that "black is to white" as "up is to down".

I once had a manager tell me that his results were so below average that the firm didn't even give him any feedback. He still got the job. And then there is the urban myth about the guy who was ranked, based on such a psych test, in the top 0.0005 percentile, but lasted only five weeks before losing his job. Although he may have known how to blitz the test, he lacked the common sense to plan his day properly. And he also stole. The tests didn't pick up that one either.

Home (un)truths

Then there are tests which can be done at home. Why bother when the truly unethical are just going to cheat anyway? Has our society become so inept that gut instinct about a person isn't enough and we also need them to look good on test results? How can we judge how productive someone will be based on how good they are at multiple-choice questions?

I admit I fear taking these tests because I don't want to find out that despite all my years at university, I can't figure out a fraction within 20 seconds. But most people I know who have sat these "anxiety drivers" agree they are pointless.

Everyone claims they don't take psych tests seriously, so why do the majority of companies, particularly in financial services, require us to sit them? I have an acquaintance who works in HR who actually admitted that the only reason they mandate the tests is because every other firm in the industry does, so they have become a sort of "procedure". Is this the only reason? What do you think?

Do you know anyone who didn't get a job based purely on these tests? If you work in HR, do you actually take them seriously? Are they ever a deal breaker? Please someone assure me that these psych tests are actually used for something, apart from causing stress to those who have to sit through them for hours.