What Rubbish.

These tests have been validated by their use.

I have usually got the job when many of them were used in the evaluation, so they must be working beautifully.

Of course the Navy put us trainee pilots, & many other groups through dozens of them to try to prove them. Our success or otherwise was used to evaluate the tests.

If you have a reasonably high IQ, once you have done enough of them, you can read the test, & supply a suitable answer, to achieve your desired result. You don't have to be a philologist to understand therm.

Hasbeen,you are obviously smart and unscrupulous enough to put down what they want to see, not what you actually are. Which proves that they are rubbish, but good on you for manipulating the system your advantage.

I was once in a management training course where we were required to do Myers Brigg in advance and were then labelled by our type by the trainer. If anyone tried to discuss anything he was presenting they were cut off with 'Well you would say that, you're an XYZ', as though being XYZ was an incurable disease. By lunchtime on day one we'd all had enough and got him kicked out. Best lesson ever in not tolerating b+llsh*t, and doing it early.

I was always honest in all the navy ones Candide, & I did hear that having qualified them with this use of existing trainees they could gauge the probable success or failure of new recruits in flying training.

I have no idea if any of it worked in other areas, or if they tried to use it in the selection process.

It used to worry me that the tests were mostly given by funny beady eyed little men, who breathed through their teeth. I'll bet it is mostly a ladies job today.

I always reckoned I was simply doing the prospective employer a favor. Anyone who was lucky enough to get me working for them was a major winner of course.

Hasbeen, we were just given the forms and told to fill them in by ourselves. No beady-eyed persons of either gender were involved. I think the trainer we booted was later found not to have Myer Briggs 'accreditation', whatever that meant beyond 'licence to print money'. I suspect there is a use for testing where there are very specific personality traits needed for a job(such as the military), but when it comes to blanket testing for desk jobs it veers into snake oil territory and can lead to clone recruiting.

I have to agree with the comments from some above about the rot setting in when 'personnel' became 'human resources' which was about the same time as economic rationalism was popularised.

When recruitment agencies use "a range of psychometric tests designed to identify people who are most and least likely to engage in unethical and illegal behaviour within organisations" I shudder at the idea. What they really mean is least likely to blow the whistle, so the possession of integrity is probably a downside if you want a job in the modern public service. The trick is to convince recruiters that you are a company man/woman and can be trusted to play the game. Yes I admit it sounds cynical but with good reason.

Many jobs now require these sorts of tests as well as security clearances in both the public and private sectors.

I doubt a whistleblower for example, would be viewed as an ethical assett in many companies or departments and one is more likely to be viewed as a potential problem rather than as an assett as regards issues of probity.

These tests seek out game players, ambition (less likely to rock the boat)and generally younger people. Over 50s can forget it, they have got to the age where they are no longer afraid to tell it like it is. One department I worked for actively sought to encourage older people to leave at about the same time as Kevin Rudd extended the retiring age which was ironic.

Thankfully if you are resourceful enough, or lucky enough most people can find something worthwhile to do even if it is not always found in the workplace. The workplace does not always have to be the 'great career' or the only place to find fulfilment. Downshifting can bring about great freedoms that are worth more than money, and where you don't feel like you have to sell your soul to be safe.