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One of the results is an "honesty" result. If your questions show an overly-positive attitude your whole test is flagged as probably being false.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't 
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As someone knowledgeable about personality test profiles; to get good results, decide the kind (type) of person that would be a "good" employee, then answer each question as he/she would. Don't try to psyche out the test (e.g.; try to answer very similar questions the same way.) Many of these personality inventories (e.g.; MMPI) are criteria referenced and therefore almost impossible to skew unless (or, perhaps, even if) you are a sophisticated psychologist/psychiatrist. These inventories were not developed for screening applicants for employment; used in the right situation they can be very helpful. Hopefully this post will further my objective of thwarting the use of psychological testing this way.
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R. Giskard Reventlov wrote: You have to give them the answers they are looking for.
One of my favorite questions was "Have you ever lied to your employer?"
Marc
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That has to be the stupidest question ever. They are looking for controllable drones with zero personality - you clearly are not one.
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Related question to someone, already a manager, aspiring for a senior management role:
"Have you ever lied to your subordinate?"
if (yes) {
You are in
} else {
Remain wherever you are :-)
}
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Surely it should've asked two questions, have you lied to your employer for your own benefit; have you lied to your employer for their benefit? The answer's still yes to both, but at least it differentiates between the intents. lol.
Who seriously could get through one of those tests successfully, except for a sociopath?
Er, I can't think of a funny signature right now.
How about a good fart to break the silence?
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"unlikely to set challenging work goals, and may exert a low level of effort toward achievement of goals"
The best developer is a lazy programmer - why create more work for yourself when you can design systems that are easy to maintain and easy to scale(eurgh horrible buzzword!).
"may not persist when faced with difficulties or obstacles, or when success seems unlikely"
Why keep banging your head against a wall when they are alternative ways of doing things such as using google?
"have little interest in volunteering for or taking on new work responsibilities or challenges"
As if a developer has any time to take on anything else.
"Appear to have little or no interest in taking charge, or directing and leading others; may be hesitant to offer opinions"
Opinions in the software development world are cheap and it's rare for someone to listen to our opinions because,after all, they know all about how to design software.
"May not be consistently pleasant, good-natured, or cooperative"
See point above...
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
modified 21-Jan-16 13:20pm.
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GuyThiebaut wrote: The best developer is a lazy programmer
The laziest always find the easiest way to get it done
GuyThiebaut wrote: Why keep banging your head against a wall when they are alternative ways of doing things such as using google?
Don't forget the QA and "gimme code plzzz, it's urgent"
GuyThiebaut wrote: As if a developer has any time to take on anything else.
Did you forget coffee, bacon and beer?
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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GuyThiebaut wrote: The best developer is a lazy programmer
Agreed (and on the rest), and that's the thing, I answered the questions based not just on context but the lessons learned over 35+ years of programming.
Marc
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Good points well made, definitely not appropriate questions to ask a developer!
Developers don't work like the other meat sacks. Our brains have been repeatedly smashed by trying to solve the riddles of obscure programming languages and code written by others...
Er, I can't think of a funny signature right now.
How about a good fart to break the silence?
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Remind me not to socialize with you in the future, you seem to be a negative influence 
Seriously though, in this case it's not you (well not entirely) who suffers from this test.
Suppose you were a serious candidate and this company rejects you based on these test results.
The company just missed a major opportunity!
I had something just like it once.
A company I wanted to buy from wouldn't sell me their product because somehow some financial bureau decided I was not worthy of credit!
I am a lot, but I've never missed a payment in my life 
The company missed out on revenue and I shopped somewhere else.
Later I found out that it was because I just moved and the person who lived in the house before I did was a notorious defaulter... So all they really did was an address check, absurd! 
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My God! You must've gotten my results...
Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
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The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
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I'd just like a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.
Me, all the time
modified 20-Jan-16 12:11pm.
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Low energy, can't be president.
it ain’t broke, it doesn’t have enough features yet.
modified 20-Oct-19 21:02pm.
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Perhaps it reflected the state of mind you had at the time, and you weren’t really interested in the job to start with when you took the said stupid test.
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ledtech3 wrote: Perhaps it reflected the state of mind you had at the time, and you weren’t really interested in the job to start with when you took the said stupid test.
No, I answered the questions quite honestly -- not just honestly, but based on real world experience. So, when there's a question like "you are happy to drop what you are doing and immediately help a coworker that is having a problem", my answer was "disagree", because it depends on what I'm doing, and whether the coworker can figure it out on their own and learn something, but they're just asking me because they know I know the answer (happens all the time!)
But because I "disagree", I'm now marked as an antisocial cretin.
Marc
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I think i would have had to dissagree with that one too.
That is not a yes/no question, it is a "It Depends" question.
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Was this for an interview at Capital One by chance? Looks pretty much like the same stupid SAT-like test they expected me to take. I refused.
"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music."
-- Marcus Brigstocke, British Comedian
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Sounds like you were applying to some unionized civil service department.
The questions I remember (resource industry) were:
- Do you prefer a clean desk or looking at a pretty girl
- How much do you drink per week
Don't remember the rest, but got the job.
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Isn't it just funny how ASP.NET just showed off everything in their first or second week? I mean, I was myself very much eager to try out the new things in ASP.NET 5, however, I did write a few articles and blogs when I was sharing "how-tos" on CodeProject etc.
Now, team has said that ASP.NET 5 is dead and well, ASP.NET Core 1.0, .NET Core 1.0 are available and they would be used.
ASP.NET 5 is dead - Introducing ASP.NET Core 1.0 and .NET Core 1.0 - Scott Hanselman[^]
The sh*t I complain about
It's like there ain't a cloud in the sky and it's raining out - Eminem
~! Firewall !~
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That's a misleading headline. A more accurate headline would be: ASP.NET 5 renamed to ASP.NET Core 1.0
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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But the suspense is gone. 
The sh*t I complain about
It's like there ain't a cloud in the sky and it's raining out - Eminem
~! Firewall !~
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Yes Richard, correct. 
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OP was just reusing the lesser Scott's heading.
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I know, but that doesn't change the fact it's misleading.
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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