Thread: Worth it?

Originally Posted by Bruno

The tests are made to make is near impossible to game them, and they have a very high level of reliability.
Is this done in the US as well?

I always love it when they say that!! Being a student of human behavior (with the degree to prove it) with an extensive statistics background being able to slant personality test results in my favor is fun for me. It also is a skill many who go into sales are very good at.

Do you do personal interviews as well.

My wife landed her last job mostly because she has animal training, and customer service skills, as well as leadership abilities.
Her job is part secretary (thus customer service) part data anaylisis and part collecting data from stubborn consultants (thus the leadership, and animal training seriously!!!). Her technical experience only accounts for one third of her current job, and she was lucky the president of her company looked at a different application for a skill thats almost so off the wall it almost didn't make her resume.

Just thought I would point out that you should do diffrent things depending on your goal after college. Forexample, if you are heading to law school grades and LSAT scores are the most important things to consider. Followed by your personal statement, and then finally your extracuriculars (honor societies etc). Law schools want to see that you did somthing other than exist and school, but they don't really care what it was. You need to be able to put somthing in every box on the application. However, it sounds like you plan to head straight into the buisness world.

My advice for that would be to build a network of reliable friends, show potential for leadership, comunity service, and that you are intelligent. Do what you enjoy the rest of the time. Make sure you hit all the classes that you can in the area you want to go into, get the braodest and deepest edjucation possible.

Originally Posted by Wildtim

I always love it when they say that!! Being a student of human behavior (with the degree to prove it) with an extensive statistics background being able to slant personality test results in my favor is fun for me. It also is a skill many who go into sales are very good at.

I wholeheartedly agree! They're not that hard to see through if you know what to look for, and then you can make that test say almost whatever you want.

Honestly, I think personality tests are somewhat of a crock and waste. If your interviewer is so bad that they can't see someone's personality through some questions, it's time for a new interviewer.

To chime in on the hobbies, you never know when you might get lucky. I know a guy who put down that he did mountain biking (even though he'd only just started), and it just so happened the boss did so as well. They had a common ground that wasn't too common, and he got hired. I'm not saying that you should try to "rig" the hobby section, but take care in choosing. People always think it's fascinating that I fence, even though no one else does it.

My reaction was initially the same for the personality test, but this one was different.
With each answer you had to choose between positives, all the time. It's just a matter of different positive traits with each question. This makes it a lot harder to game them.

It's not like I want to defend this method, but the US way is just as easy game-able. You just engage in certain activities as resume filler so the fact that you were e.g. in student government doesn't mean anything. It might mean that you just went though it all just to put it on your resume. Not because you cared or were a leader / people person / ...

It is the same with being allowed to go to one of the prestigious universities where they also qualify on community stuff. So you have scores of students just going through the motions of pretending to care about the community, just to be allowed into princeton.

Being an RA is something that has great responsibility, but can also be a HUGE amount of fun. I know that at my residence when i was in University, they would get free room and cable/phone services (food was not an option as we didn't have meal plans there).

As for the other option of Honours, I would also agree with Bruno and the others. It is something that sometimes can look good on a resume but many companies don't want to see you follow the path with other (sheep if you will) but to carve your own path and strive to do something different that will make you noticeable and stand out to them.

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

I have hiring authority for my company. I have to read about 30 resumes a week. Our company hires one applicant for every ten applications. One of the reasons I would probably not hire someone is them thinking some college honors society is a logical thing to have on a resume.

Thats almost as bad as a college kid applying to my company for a "management" position.

I really don't need frat boys running any portion of our company.

Be cautious about what you put into a resume. I knock a lot of guys out because they put things into a resume that shouldn't be in there. In other words, if they had said less they would of atleast got themselves an interview.

So, ceteris paribus, you would disqualify a qualified applicant for a position because he/she listed being a member of a national honor society or a fraternity?

Originally Posted by Berticus

As some of you know I'm an undergraduate student, finished my first year in college. I've been getting quite a bit of mail to join honors societies. I already joined National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS). There was a one time $70 fee or something like that. I know I can't get any of the scholarships - don't meet the leadership and community service requirements yet - but I joined because it said it would be a great addition to my resume and my friends who were invited joined. I asked my peers - we have this school-wide thing where everybody on campus can talk to each other - if it was worth joining and all that was said was, "anything that's a resume builder is worth it!" Is this true? Should I join the other honors societies? The National Honors Society in high school was pathetic and totally wasn't worth joining, so I'm just worried that I'm sort of wasting my parents' money if I may not actually get anything back. Which ones will actually get noticed?

I'm planning on getting some leadership experience and community service. I know those will be great resume builders.

What's your major?

Originally Posted by Jonedangerousli

What's your major?

electrical engineering.

Originally Posted by Berticus

electrical engineering.

hey... so was mine

Greg Frazer

I am in Software Engineering. Though there is not honours society really for me around my area or in my school.