Heard a hiring manager say they use a personality test to screen applicants

I was grabbing coffee at a place downtown and overheard two HR folks talking. One said her company uses a personality test before any human even looks at a resume. She claimed it filters out people who "won't fit the culture" in the first 5 minutes. I sat there thinking about how many good candidates probably get tossed for something totally unrelated to the job. A buddy of mine got rejected from a warehouse gig last year because his test said he was "too independent." That algorithm probably didn't know he ran his own lawn care side hustle for 6 years. Has anyone else seen these tests screw over someone they know?

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kaigibson1h ago

My buddy dodged one of those tests when he applied for a maintenance job at a school district. He just asked the HR person straight up what kind of answers they were looking for, and she basically told him to be more agreeable and less independent. He retook it, answered like a team player, and got the gig. It feels like cheating the system, but if the test is already rigged, why not play their game.