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RETAIL MANAGEMENT TRAINING & WORKSHOP MANAGING FOR HIGHER RETAIL SUCCESS
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I am an assistant retail manager with 8 years experience. I used to work for a major "big box" chain. When hiring employees for our store we have this test- a "personality" test of sorts. It is supposed to gauge the skill, honesty, work ethic etc. of our applicants. The first thing we do after a cursory examination of an applicant's resume is to put them on an in-house computer so that they can take this test. This test is pass/fail. If an applicant "fails" this test- that is it. They cannot under ANY circumstance be hired by our company, EVER. We have had some very promising applicants, but we have no choice but to make excuses to them that they have not been hired because (insert excuse here). The company does not want us to reveal that this test is pass/fail because they are fearful of discrimination lawsuits. We have on many occasions had to "scrape the bottom of the barrel" and hire substandard applicants because... well... we needed employees in a bad way and they were the ONLY applicants to pass this test. Some were bad apples- they stole from the company, they were not dependable, etc. So it didn't really seem to us hat this test excluded the bad apples as much as it excluded the good ones, but we had to live with it. Now I am on the other side of this, and it is extremely frustrating. I have no reason to lie to you, I am very good at what I do. I am honest, hard working, dependable and a good coach. I lead by example, and I am skilled and trained in almost all aspects of retail management. I am excellent with customers (even the angry ones). I also have excellent references (if it ever got to that point). Twice now I have been denied a job because I "failed" these tests! They hee and haw about the reasons not to go forward with my application but it is clear to me what happened as they sweat and make excuse- like I used to do (one HR rep did hint to me it was the test). The frustrating part is that I KNOW I can excel at those companies and run circles around most managers they have. So I am asking for advice on how to approach these test so I can pass them. If for argument's sake you take my word about my true abilities- then being "honest" on them simply does not work. Sorry this was so long... PS- a sample question from the last test- "I am more often angry than nervous" (?). Thank You, R. J. Hello Richard, We completely understand your frustration and it is not uncommon. Some tests being conducted probably do serve a purpose and are used as one of the tools that recruiters can use in their hiring decisions. The pass/fail tests are not very useful unless they are designed so that there is no margin for error which is not likely to happen. Unfortunately, we do not have a method for you to pass these tests. We suggest that you look for retailers who still use a human approach to hiring. Frankly, retailers who rely on these tests to make the decisions for them, are missing out on some good people as they are weeding out the so-called 'bad' ones. To us, that says they do not take hiring the right people seriously. They simply want the quick approach and they are willing to take their chances with the results. As you said, you have no reason to lie about your experience and abilities and we have no reason to doubt you. So don't lose heart about these missed opportunities. They may not have been good opportunities for you and, at some point in the future, you will probably be happy that you didn't join those organizations. Target retailers you would like to work for and find out about their methods. Good Luck, Bobbie
Dear Bobbie,
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