So my wife is interviewing companies to work for when she finishes school, and the company that she's most interested in sent her a survey to fill out before they schedule a face to face. I thought the questions were interesting, so I'm reposting them here.
1. Whose opinion do you listen to?
2. Whose opinion do you value?
3. Have you ever translated a hobby into income?
4. What constitutes happiness to you?
5. Do you play to win or play to keep from losing?
6. Can you explain the difference between influence and control?
7. Where do you find magic?
8. Where do you find hope?
9. Where do you find beauty?
10. Do you like things that are “different” every time? For example, do you have multiple recordings of the same thing?
11. Is your memory as good as you think it should be? And what do you remember most often?
12. Have you ever witnessed theft? If so, what did you do about it?
13. Can you give us an example of something you believe that is phony or inauthentic?
14. How do you define service?
15. What separates good service from bad service?
16. How do you define the “moment of value” for a product or service; i.e. when does something have its greatest value for you?
17. Where do you find excitement?
18. Where do you find passion? Where do you find satisfaction?
19. What is your most common source of frustrations?
20. Whom do you respect?
21. What do you respect?
22. What magazines do you subscribe to or read?
23. What television shows do you regularly watch?
24. How would you describe the kind of music you most frequently listen to at home, at work, and in the car?
25. What is your favorite movie?
26. In which room of your home are you the most comfortable?
27. Are you more or less comfortable with people your own age?
28. What one possession of yours do you believe best defines you?
29. If you were going to learn or do something you’ve never done, what would it be?
30. If you were a time traveler would you rather live in the future or past? Or would you stay in the present?
31. If you had to describe your lifestyle in one word, what would that word be?
Now, what I found interesting about this is that a place of employment thought that these 31 questions were necessary to determine whether or not someone would be a good fit for their company.
Most of the pre-employment surveys I've taken had questions like -
1. Do you consider taking home company property one of the "perks" of your job?
2. Do you think you'd get along better with others if you didn't start so many fights?
3. Do people often refer to you as violent or aggressive?
4. If you knew a coworker was stealing money from the company, would you tell your employer or would you blackmail your coworker into splitting the take?
5. If you were asked to sweep the floor would you beat your boss to death with the broomstick?
For the most part, the questions I'm used to don't tell the employer if you're smart enough for the job, they just tell him if you're too stupid to hire.
On the other hand, the questions she recieved from this employer don't generally adress those issues, with the exception of question 12. Instead, they seek a deeper understanding of the applicant. Interesting.
-Rob
1. Whose opinion do you listen to?
2. Whose opinion do you value?
3. Have you ever translated a hobby into income?
4. What constitutes happiness to you?
5. Do you play to win or play to keep from losing?
6. Can you explain the difference between influence and control?
7. Where do you find magic?
8. Where do you find hope?
9. Where do you find beauty?
10. Do you like things that are “different” every time? For example, do you have multiple recordings of the same thing?
11. Is your memory as good as you think it should be? And what do you remember most often?
12. Have you ever witnessed theft? If so, what did you do about it?
13. Can you give us an example of something you believe that is phony or inauthentic?
14. How do you define service?
15. What separates good service from bad service?
16. How do you define the “moment of value” for a product or service; i.e. when does something have its greatest value for you?
17. Where do you find excitement?
18. Where do you find passion? Where do you find satisfaction?
19. What is your most common source of frustrations?
20. Whom do you respect?
21. What do you respect?
22. What magazines do you subscribe to or read?
23. What television shows do you regularly watch?
24. How would you describe the kind of music you most frequently listen to at home, at work, and in the car?
25. What is your favorite movie?
26. In which room of your home are you the most comfortable?
27. Are you more or less comfortable with people your own age?
28. What one possession of yours do you believe best defines you?
29. If you were going to learn or do something you’ve never done, what would it be?
30. If you were a time traveler would you rather live in the future or past? Or would you stay in the present?
31. If you had to describe your lifestyle in one word, what would that word be?
Now, what I found interesting about this is that a place of employment thought that these 31 questions were necessary to determine whether or not someone would be a good fit for their company.
Most of the pre-employment surveys I've taken had questions like -
1. Do you consider taking home company property one of the "perks" of your job?
2. Do you think you'd get along better with others if you didn't start so many fights?
3. Do people often refer to you as violent or aggressive?
4. If you knew a coworker was stealing money from the company, would you tell your employer or would you blackmail your coworker into splitting the take?
5. If you were asked to sweep the floor would you beat your boss to death with the broomstick?
For the most part, the questions I'm used to don't tell the employer if you're smart enough for the job, they just tell him if you're too stupid to hire.
On the other hand, the questions she recieved from this employer don't generally adress those issues, with the exception of question 12. Instead, they seek a deeper understanding of the applicant. Interesting.
-Rob
