This page was last updated on October 25, 2012.
Companies shouldn’t be psychologists; Rebecca Heitman; Beaver County Times; October 24, 2012.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“It seems to me that a major problem facing American workers is not just a lack of jobs, but the hoops one must jump through to obtain even menial employment.
“If you apply online for a retail or fast-food job, you will answers [sic] many psychological questions. Usually they are the same questions over and over again, but reworded. Some of what you are being asked borders on the totally illogical. I have been asked ‘Do you experience joy at work?’ and ‘Are you happy all the time?’
“If the application provided me with space to write my own answers instead of getting set choices, I would have written ‘I’ve never heard of anyone experiencing joy working at a fast-food restaurant’ and ‘If you are happy all the time, you are either a robot or you have a mental illness.’
“When company websites say they ask these questions to ‘select the best,’ I understand it really means they are looking for emotionless slaves willing to devote their lives to hawking cheap plastic junk and french [sic] fries for minimum wage so the company big shots can buy new Porsches every year, not good everyday people who just need jobs.
“If the government really wanted to put people back to work, they would prohibit businesses from playing psychologists and judging potential workers like this before they are even given an interview. There are millions of people who need work, but companies refuse to give them a chance to prove themselves.”
[RWC] Did anyone else notice this letter showed why an employer may want to pre-screen job applicants? If you look at a job as “hawking cheap plastic junk and french [sic] fries for minimum wage so the company big shots can buy new Porsches every year,” why would anyone want to employ you?
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