bendandsnack

Account Exec

Failing an automated personality test for a job

Hey guys,

I work at a big tech channel partner, and the reps/management I work with at said big tech company have been trying to get me on their team since July.

Something finally opened up in region, met with the Manager last week and they want me to take it. Then the Director called me and said that the rumor mill says a hiring freeze is coming, so they need me in now.

Both Director & Manager tell the recruiter they've already interviewed me(not true, but they know pretty well), recruiter says the final step will be a personality interview, but I have to take an assessment first.

5 PM on Friday I breezed through the assessment so that she could book the interview for Monday. Yesterday I received an automated email saying that I failed the assessment, and can't reapply for the company for 6 months.

I was shocked that I failed - do yall think I'm fucked here? Would you fight it? Has anyone ever done this and gotten the opportunity to retake it? Do you think I should go to the Director and ask for help here?

The recruiter is supposed to follow up with me this evening - any advice?

-------------------------------

Update - recruiting did try to kill my application, but the Director went to the recruiters boss and got my application through to the final round. Finished up the interview yesterday. TY for listening here, & fuck those stupid tests.

😄 Job Hiring

22

20 comments

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oldcloser

Arsonist

17

💀

Sometimes they’re searching for someone highly collaborative. Other times they’re looking for someone who works well in a vacuum. There’s no way to guess. I’ve been dropped from consideration after “failing” one of these dogshit tests.

The “you failed” email wasn’t automated. It was the recruiter assessing your fit. They hit the reject button because you don’t match the profile they’ve drawn up for the perfect fit. Here’s the thing. You’ve got 2 pulling for you from the inside. They’re taking your experience AND personality into consideration.

Call both of them. Laugh it off. “Obviously I have the right personality for this or I wouldn’t have achieved X,Y, and Z. And neither of you would be trying to bring me in. It’s probably due to your broken fucking test that you have the opening in the first place. Are we gonna work around this or do you both believe this test directly correlates with revenue- more than giving me a quota does? I don’t think so. When do I start?”

Do not quit. Those assessments are for lazy recruiters who have no idea what makes a successful seller.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

4

Sales Rep

Only thing to add is figure out where the disconnect is on the traits they were looks for and address it if needed

detectivegibbles

Politicker

3

Sales Director

OC nailed it. See if they can give feedback (probably won't respond but it's worth trying).

See if your two inside people can help.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

5

🦊

The flag I see is you say you rushed through it. These tests also grade you upon how long you take to answer a question. Fucking useless shit.

CRAG112

Valued Contributor

2

Account Executive

You can only fail these things if you don’t take it seriously, and it sounds like you did not.

You answer the questions based off of what a good salesperson would do, but also what’s perceived as a good sales person.

Someone that is personable. Works well with others. Has grit. Never gives up. Self assured. Team player. All that nonsense. And you make sure you don’t fall for the trap of asking questions that were asked 12 questions ago differently.

If you get to re do it, take it seriously and take your time.

Pachacuti

Politicker

2

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

I would look at this as a net positive. You would not have been happy there.

Justatitle

Big Shot

2

Account Executive

I have never passed these assessments, maybe it's me IDK

2

Director

You dodged a bullet. The fact that they told you a 'hiring freeze' is coming should be a Red Flag that something is NOT right. It's not even the end of Q1, and they are applying the brakes? Seriously? Doesn't pass the smell test.
Unless you are in a bad place, I'd say you stay. Suppose your inside contacts manage to get you hired despite the results. You are the last one in, and possibly the first one out if the business is hitting the breaks this early in the year.

oldcloser

Arsonist

0

💀

There’s a whole lot of truth in this right here.

ARRisLife

Politicker

2

Account Executive

First off- best of luck in your pursuit here. Im not laughing at your situation but hard to not find humor in such a moronic recruiting process.

I have my own bones to pick with using these types of assessments but in your case I've heard of companies using them as a first step to help filter high volumes of applications basically do you have a pulse but I've never heard of one being done as the final step.

bendandsnack

Politicker

1

Account Exec

No it's hilarious, and a story I will tell everyone forever and ever if I get in.
The whole team can vouch for me, but the bot caught that I'm a psychopath. Well played

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

1

☕️

How do you fail a personality test? As in you’re not a personality fit?

bendandsnack

Politicker

1

Account Exec

It's one of those different scenario strongly agree --> strongly disagree tests. They specifically test for bias towards action, teamwork, and how moral you are at work. I'm surprised that I failed, perhaps bc it was the end of the day & I was rushing through it

SalesBeast

Politicker

1

Sales Director

Screwed likely. Take your time next time on it.

Filth

Politicker

1

Live Filthy or Die Clean

I had one of those test tell the recruiter I was NASA smart so clearly they are easily manipulatable and therefore should be disregarded if you have actual inside supporters.

wwwb2b

Personal Narrative

1

AI Advisor

Congrats! As the adage says, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”

Beans

Big Shot

0

Enterprise Account Executive

Sounds like breezing through set off a red flag or two, i fucking hate those tests - talk to people like they're people man.

salesservant

Contributor

0

Director, Business Dev

I use assessments on all new team members. While assessment results are obviously subjective, a good sales assessment will show key indicators of highly successful reps and the traits are a balance of warm and personable/not oversharing, confident - but plays by the rules - but only to some degree, collaborative - but an independent worker. When the assessment moves to far to more than one side of these scales, it can indicate the individual is not an ideal SALES PERSON. It has nothing to do with their professional capacity, their intelligence, etc., only whether sales is the right job for them. Too many elements too far of central high performance indicators could mean they found you would not be coachable beyond them and that sales at their organization was ultimately not the right fit.
I hear a lot of reps say they want to answer in a way they think will please the final score, but it is truly best not to rush through them and be 100% honest - you would be surprised what rates in the range of high performer and what types of traits high performers carry that may not at first thought be "positive". If you tried to game the assessment, you shouldn't have as it would tip the scale wholly in the wrong way.

You should ask for a copy of your assessment along with the valuation of the personality indicators. Ideally, someone would be willing to walk you through it, but that is unlikely given it is pre-employment. You may be able to find an assessment professional willing to give insight into the results.

10XQLA

Politicker

0

Medical Sales Assassin

You are of course getting lied to.... they are looking for a "sales unicorn". Such bullshit keep your head up brother.

playerone

Politicker

0

Regional Account Executive

I took a Chally Assessment in February when I was interviewing for a new role. That coupled with a few other things made me decide to turn down that role. I’ve noticed companies that rely on these have high AE churn usually because of poor management

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