Really irritated at being asked to complete a nearly 2 hour questionnaire before I even go to the first interview?

[WideWebWitch]

I have a 1st job interview but in advance of the interview have been sent a link to 2 questionnaires, the first of which had 108 questions, (multiple choice, which is most and least like you) and the second with 21 questions, with multiple strongly disagree/slightly disagree blah blah of 5 questions on each of the 21 questions.

I have just done it, feeling more and more irritated by the minute. It took about an hour and a half, suspect it would have been longer had I decided to spend more time on it but I did whizz through it.

I have seen a job spec but no idea whether I'm interested until I meet the people, which will be sometime in the next 2 weeks.

As I am in a contract that I really like atm, with a great boss, reduced hours, (albeit long commute), 1 day a week from home and this goes until December I'm not sure the time is right to take a perm role anyway. In my mind I am interviewing them as much as they are interviewing me since I'm really not sure about a perm role.

AIBU? I don't mind taking tests btw, it's just that I'd rather take them once I've decided I DO want the job. I'm perfectly prepared to go to 1st interview for this one and find that I don't.

Out of order and off putting for candidates IMO. What do you think?

crikey, I didn't realise it was so commonplace now. I don't make people do them when I recruit but I guess, if you're getting hundreds of applicants, you've got to narrow it down somehow.

foxinsock - it is actually really useful - have a look here - I used to use these tests - one numerical and one personality (although it depends on the job there are also verbal tests)

We had people in the early days who were really good at interview and didn't pass the tests and we took them on only for them to fail miserably....

We ended up ditching based on tests first (bottom 60%) then next 10% had to perform really very well at interview to get taken on and top 30% had to perform well to get taken on. It worked for the 100 or so candidates we recruited over the year....

oh and the other thing was (making sweeping generalisations here I know but it works) with the level of maths we were looking for we could also weed out CV's on a-level results - A-C only else they would fail the high level maths test straight off.... so speaks a mathematician on testing

IMHO and experience as a recruitment consultant, this does put the right peope off applying tin the first place.

I would see this sort of testing as appropriate after the first interview. It is more timewasting to all otherwise.

Good luck though WWW you always have to keep your eyes open and they may love you so much that they will ppay for the privilage

What Xenia describes is what I found frustrating about applying for jobs earlier this year.

Apparently forcing you to fill in bespoke application forms allows all candidates to be presented on the same basis (but you still have to have a tailored CV just in case). The whole episode was frustrating and time consuming - and got me nowhere.

happynewmum2be, I see that but tbh companies need to attract good candidates too and this sort of thing puts some off.

It's not that I'm not interested, it's that I don't know HOW interested I am until I've been to 1st interview. And I don't think I need to demonstrate that I have the potential to be a 'company man' until after that 1st interview tbh.

I can sing the company song with the best of them ONCE I'm committed. And they DO need to realise that I'm interviewing them as much as they're interviewing me.

what a PITA

I applied for a P/T admin job in the public sector last yr.

It kicked off with an online application form (including 3 essay questions) and a 40 minute online comprehension test.

Then, a few weeks later, a half day of in-tray exercise, role play, written comprehension and interview.

All this for a P/T admin job

Wasn't like this back in 1986, which was the last time I applied for a job.

I agree with you, it is absolutely arrogant and awful of companies to expect you to do this until after you've met them and they've met you.

They may hate you, you may hate them. In which case, they didn't need you to waste 2 hours of your precious time on their tests.

Thanks for all the views here, much appreciated.

I've decided not to go for the job or interview because:

a) I am v happy where I am now and the contract's until November/December
b) This contract buys us freedom: by the end of it we will be able to afford to live on just dh's salary so I could take a few months off if I wanted to and there's no pressure to get another contract (although I will want one but it will be lovely that it's no big deal if I don't get one)
c) I like my current boss a lot
d) I have worked v hard and done the main stressful bit of this contract so feel I ought to reap the benefits of the less stressful bit which is the next six months
e) I like the freedom of being a contractor - I can leave at any time.
f) I like the money. A perm job would be a BIG drop in income and our no 1 priority is atm is earning as much cash as possible (until we have our 'freedom' as above, i.e. can live on dh's salary)
g) I like being able to take as much holiday as I want and HATE the thought of being restricted to 4 or 5 weeks (I think I will have taken 10 weeks odd by the end of this year)
h) the commute has just got better, and the one day from home I currently have is lovely
i) They can fk off with their 2 hour tests

Typing it out here has made it very clear to me. Dh agrees. Thanks everyone for listening!

www - absolutely, I am glad you have made your decision - you seem so positive about where you are now that the change doesn't seem worth it.

I agree with what you say, it does put people off applying and companies need to realise it. The majority of recruiters actually use their personal relationships and knowledge to match companies and candidates together and don't rely on them exclusively. I would say that it is a trend that comes and goes over time and with the fashion for outsourcing etc is popular as an efficiency / productivity improvement.

I am just in the process of becoming freelance after being made redundant and look forward to finding the sort of contract you have benefited from recently.

Good luck

Thank you happymum!

This morning I emailed the agency AND the company HR person to say I withdraw my application. I just realised also that the agency passed my personal email address to the co HR so they could send me the test without asking my permission. I then got an email from HR person, then THREE emails from the testing company, giving me passwords etc, then ANOTHER TWO emails on Saturday morning reminding me to take the test and reminding me there was a deadline. FUCK OFF!

I really feel like billing them

gosh WWW, what a hassle - and that was even before the first interview! All that would certainly have put me off.
what line of work are you in if you don't mind me asking?
my dh is tempted to do contracting (he is in IT) but I am trying to put him off, as it's a big risk and we can't manage on my salary alone (am 4 days pw atm).
It sounds like where you are is great and definitely worth sticking with.
2 hour tests? Most of my interviews haven't been that long, even for large IT companies!

PBear, I'm a finance manager, it's very boring.

Contracting suits me, I like the freedom. (especially if there's no concern about getting a contract or not, which will be the case from Sept ish)