求职路上的新关卡：奇怪的人工智能性格测试
纳美版的西格妮·韦弗（电影《阿凡达》系列中一位女配角——译注）要让位了：现在有更出名的蓝色形象。如果求职者申请几家大公司，可能就会发现类似沃尔玛（Walmart）版迪士尼（Disney）宽眼动画的蓝色形象，这并不是公司的吉祥物；而是入职测试的一部分。
几家大公司的招聘过程中，蓝色形象会出现在漫长又混乱的性格测试里。很多求职者感觉蓝色形象不仅奇怪，还有点侮辱人。
蓝色形象由Paradox.ai提供，该公司的客户包括多家数十亿美元的大公司，比如麦当劳（McDonald’s）、Wendy’s、Citizens等。值得注意的是，并非Paradox.ai的每家客户都采用了人格测试，Citizens、3M和CVS Health的多位发言人都证实了这一点。不过人们还是在社交媒体上表示疑惑，既然不少公司都声称人员短缺，那么为什么要给求职者设置额外障碍，而且还是冗长又奇怪的性格测试。
“现在去Olive Garden（一家美国休闲连锁餐厅,专门提供意大利美式菜肴——译注）应聘洗碗工还得做一家人工智能公司的性格测试，测试中要对60多张与蓝色外星人艾什（Ash）相关的幻灯片做出反应。”埃玛努奥尔·迈贝格发推文称，他在404 Media一篇更详细的文章中首次提到该测试。
员工和求职者原本就对工作状态感到紧张悲观，再碰上这种测试感觉就像压死骆驼的最后一根稻草。尽管经济学家们坚称当前的就业市场偏紧张，但如今的招聘流程比过去更长也更麻烦，部分原因就是不相关的测验和面试。根据Josh Bersin公司和AMS的数据，2023年招聘员工的平均时间达到了44天的历史新高。
Workplace Intelligence的管理合伙人丹·肖贝尔将当前的情况与2008年经济衰退后的就业市场进行了比较。
申请Olive Garden工作漫长而曲折的蓝色道路
如果有人去Olive Garden求职，映入眼帘就是名叫奥利维亚的人工智能聊天机器人（名字与Paradox创始人的未婚妻相同，也使用了其肖像）。
在回答几个筛选问题后，求职者会看到性格评估弹出窗口，还有奇怪的蓝色机器人形象。性格测试说明称“不存在正确的答案”，但要求看图片回答问题，根据蓝色机器人的描述与自己行为或感受是否符合选择“是”或者“不是”。面试中有一堆类似幻灯片，其中蓝色机器人描述各种场景，例如其他人没有动手之前拿比萨，或者从事艺术活动等等。面试最后，人工智能系统列举出求职者的五个主要性格特征。不少人在迈贝格的推文下发表评论，讨论性格测试的反乌托邦感觉。有些人建议考试中不要诚实回答，因为可能会影响评估结果。
整个流程主要看求职者的态度是愿意当一颗螺丝钉，还是愤怒反对。公司经常筛掉性格不符合要求的申请人，“因为公司不希望招聘的新员工寻求改变，最希望新人能够保持现状。”肖贝尔说。
Traitify by Paradox（人格测试的官方名称）的首席IO心理学家希瑟·迈尔斯告诉《财富》杂志，人格测试不到两分钟就可以完成，还声称该公司测试的竞争力水平“明显高于”其他评估，Paradox客户公司的人员流转率减少了25%。迈尔斯表示，Paradox的目标是“简化招聘流程，为求职者减少阻碍”，虽然自动化并不意味着彻底抛弃人力决策过程，但能够帮助消解困境，打造更高效的工作系统。
不过，Paradox努力降低雇主不满的同时，激起了员工的不满，恰好对应公司的名字——“矛盾”（该公司名Paradox直译即为矛盾——译注）。肖贝尔称，该测试只是筛选求职者的一种方式。他补充道，测试可以通过“让个人经历挑战”来了解谁真正想要这份工作，还解释说该过程“会淘汰很多人”。
“Paradox之所以诞生，完全因为我们自己也很不满意找工作的经历。”Paradox的总裁兼首席产品官亚当·戈德森表示。“所以，我们非常理解求职者的看法。”他补充道，很多公司招聘过程中存在太多的摩擦和障碍，而我们可以消除障碍和冲突。
但是，如果劳资关系当中有一方非常不满，显然是出了问题。“目标是让雇主和员工都满意整个招聘流程。”肖贝尔表示。“如果只对一方有利，就是有问题的匹配系统，或者有问题的招聘系统。”他补充道，流程冗长会造成更强烈的挫折感，因为精疲力竭的员工等待帮助期间压力过大。
员工短缺还是雇主挑剔？
尽管Paradox一再强调本意，但性格测试却似乎引起了人们偏负面的共鸣。
一位求职联邦快递（FedEx）的软件工程师在Reddit上发布了Paradox“奇怪性格测试”的截图，表示“这种事明显带有偏见”，之后在平台迅速传播。这位求职者表示已经撤回申请，认为测试结果称自己还有进步空间的说法不够准确。
另一位用户发布了Olive Garden相同的入职测试。“老大，我只想当洗碗工。”他说。评论区里有人断言：“只说个人观点，但企业把标准定得这么高，似乎没有人能够符合标准，以后再也招不到人了。”
事实上，公司增加性格测试“有自己的原因，主要是因为没有什么影响。”肖贝尔说。他解释道，即便企业喊着人手不够狼来了，求职者人数还是足够企业筛选。这意味着无论是白领还是蓝领，申请流程都越发漫长而且令人疲惫。这并非没有后果。他引用过往研究补充道，体验不佳的求职者很有可能不愿意再申请，转而去社交媒体抱怨，个人生活中也会避开该公司。
过去几年里，零售和酒店业（Paradox在该行业拥有多家客户）公司一直抱怨员工不够。大辞职潮（Great Resignation）期间，不少员工选择离职，寻找工作压力更小、薪水更高的机会。
但是，抱怨很难招聘也很难留住员工的公司并未对求职者更友好，连薪水都没有竞争力，招聘还设置了一系列问题、测试和面试。美国消费者新闻与商业频道（CNBC）Make It的专家称，面试过程总体上变得更长。至于招聘经理，“也许太挑剔了。只是他们自己不觉得。”肖贝尔说。
Olive Garden方面表示，这只是流程的一部分。“这是本餐厅领导者评估求职者，确保由合适的人担任合适岗位的方式之一，有利于团队成员取得成功为顾客提供良好的体验。”Olive Garden母公司达登餐饮集团（Darden Restaurants）的发言人向《财富》杂志提供的声明称。
尽管如此，身心俱疲的求职者还是会因为被迫假装想去某公司工作而有点愤怒，也可以理解。“有些人可能不知道，现在找任何工作都是地狱难度，这就是为什么有一半美国人（包括我）付房租都困难。”有人在推特（Twitter）上引用迈贝格的帖子说。
“我认为劳动力市场很快就会濒临崩溃。招聘方完全走偏，人们又疲累不堪。”推特上的一位用户声称。美国人一边对工作心灰意冷，一边看着漫长的就业市场。总之，各种性格测试让人们感到，嗯……满心沮丧。（财富中文网）
译者：梁宇
审校：夏林
纳美版的西格妮·韦弗（电影《阿凡达》系列中一位女配角——译注）要让位了：现在有更出名的蓝色形象。如果求职者申请几家大公司，可能就会发现类似沃尔玛（Walmart）版迪士尼（Disney）宽眼动画的蓝色形象，这并不是公司的吉祥物；而是入职测试的一部分。
几家大公司的招聘过程中，蓝色形象会出现在漫长又混乱的性格测试里。很多求职者感觉蓝色形象不仅奇怪，还有点侮辱人。
蓝色形象由Paradox.ai提供，该公司的客户包括多家数十亿美元的大公司，比如麦当劳（McDonald’s）、Wendy’s、Citizens等。值得注意的是，并非Paradox.ai的每家客户都采用了人格测试，Citizens、3M和CVS Health的多位发言人都证实了这一点。不过人们还是在社交媒体上表示疑惑，既然不少公司都声称人员短缺，那么为什么要给求职者设置额外障碍，而且还是冗长又奇怪的性格测试。
“现在去Olive Garden（一家美国休闲连锁餐厅,专门提供意大利美式菜肴——译注）应聘洗碗工还得做一家人工智能公司的性格测试，测试中要对60多张与蓝色外星人艾什（Ash）相关的幻灯片做出反应。”埃玛努奥尔·迈贝格发推文称，他在404 Media一篇更详细的文章中首次提到该测试。
员工和求职者原本就对工作状态感到紧张悲观，再碰上这种测试感觉就像压死骆驼的最后一根稻草。尽管经济学家们坚称当前的就业市场偏紧张，但如今的招聘流程比过去更长也更麻烦，部分原因就是不相关的测验和面试。根据Josh Bersin公司和AMS的数据，2023年招聘员工的平均时间达到了44天的历史新高。
Workplace Intelligence的管理合伙人丹·肖贝尔将当前的情况与2008年经济衰退后的就业市场进行了比较。
申请Olive Garden工作漫长而曲折的蓝色道路
如果有人去Olive Garden求职，映入眼帘就是名叫奥利维亚的人工智能聊天机器人（名字与Paradox创始人的未婚妻相同，也使用了其肖像）。
在回答几个筛选问题后，求职者会看到性格评估弹出窗口，还有奇怪的蓝色机器人形象。性格测试说明称“不存在正确的答案”，但要求看图片回答问题，根据蓝色机器人的描述与自己行为或感受是否符合选择“是”或者“不是”。面试中有一堆类似幻灯片，其中蓝色机器人描述各种场景，例如其他人没有动手之前拿比萨，或者从事艺术活动等等。面试最后，人工智能系统列举出求职者的五个主要性格特征。不少人在迈贝格的推文下发表评论，讨论性格测试的反乌托邦感觉。有些人建议考试中不要诚实回答，因为可能会影响评估结果。
整个流程主要看求职者的态度是愿意当一颗螺丝钉，还是愤怒反对。公司经常筛掉性格不符合要求的申请人，“因为公司不希望招聘的新员工寻求改变，最希望新人能够保持现状。”肖贝尔说。
Traitify by Paradox（人格测试的官方名称）的首席IO心理学家希瑟·迈尔斯告诉《财富》杂志，人格测试不到两分钟就可以完成，还声称该公司测试的竞争力水平“明显高于”其他评估，Paradox客户公司的人员流转率减少了25%。迈尔斯表示，Paradox的目标是“简化招聘流程，为求职者减少阻碍”，虽然自动化并不意味着彻底抛弃人力决策过程，但能够帮助消解困境，打造更高效的工作系统。
不过，Paradox努力降低雇主不满的同时，激起了员工的不满，恰好对应公司的名字——“矛盾”（该公司名Paradox直译即为矛盾——译注）。肖贝尔称，该测试只是筛选求职者的一种方式。他补充道，测试可以通过“让个人经历挑战”来了解谁真正想要这份工作，还解释说该过程“会淘汰很多人”。
“Paradox之所以诞生，完全因为我们自己也很不满意找工作的经历。”Paradox的总裁兼首席产品官亚当·戈德森表示。“所以，我们非常理解求职者的看法。”他补充道，很多公司招聘过程中存在太多的摩擦和障碍，而我们可以消除障碍和冲突。
但是，如果劳资关系当中有一方非常不满，显然是出了问题。“目标是让雇主和员工都满意整个招聘流程。”肖贝尔表示。“如果只对一方有利，就是有问题的匹配系统，或者有问题的招聘系统。”他补充道，流程冗长会造成更强烈的挫折感，因为精疲力竭的员工等待帮助期间压力过大。
员工短缺还是雇主挑剔？
尽管Paradox一再强调本意，但性格测试却似乎引起了人们偏负面的共鸣。
一位求职联邦快递（FedEx）的软件工程师在Reddit上发布了Paradox“奇怪性格测试”的截图，表示“这种事明显带有偏见”，之后在平台迅速传播。这位求职者表示已经撤回申请，认为测试结果称自己还有进步空间的说法不够准确。
另一位用户发布了Olive Garden相同的入职测试。“老大，我只想当洗碗工。”他说。评论区里有人断言：“只说个人观点，但企业把标准定得这么高，似乎没有人能够符合标准，以后再也招不到人了。”
事实上，公司增加性格测试“有自己的原因，主要是因为没有什么影响。”肖贝尔说。他解释道，即便企业喊着人手不够狼来了，求职者人数还是足够企业筛选。这意味着无论是白领还是蓝领，申请流程都越发漫长而且令人疲惫。这并非没有后果。他引用过往研究补充道，体验不佳的求职者很有可能不愿意再申请，转而去社交媒体抱怨，个人生活中也会避开该公司。
过去几年里，零售和酒店业（Paradox在该行业拥有多家客户）公司一直抱怨员工不够。大辞职潮（Great Resignation）期间，不少员工选择离职，寻找工作压力更小、薪水更高的机会。
但是，抱怨很难招聘也很难留住员工的公司并未对求职者更友好，连薪水都没有竞争力，招聘还设置了一系列问题、测试和面试。美国消费者新闻与商业频道（CNBC）Make It的专家称，面试过程总体上变得更长。至于招聘经理，“也许太挑剔了。只是他们自己不觉得。”肖贝尔说。
Olive Garden方面表示，这只是流程的一部分。“这是本餐厅领导者评估求职者，确保由合适的人担任合适岗位的方式之一，有利于团队成员取得成功为顾客提供良好的体验。”Olive Garden母公司达登餐饮集团（Darden Restaurants）的发言人向《财富》杂志提供的声明称。
尽管如此，身心俱疲的求职者还是会因为被迫假装想去某公司工作而有点愤怒，也可以理解。“有些人可能不知道，现在找任何工作都是地狱难度，这就是为什么有一半美国人（包括我）付房租都困难。”有人在推特（Twitter）上引用迈贝格的帖子说。
“我认为劳动力市场很快就会濒临崩溃。招聘方完全走偏，人们又疲累不堪。”推特上的一位用户声称。美国人一边对工作心灰意冷，一边看着漫长的就业市场。总之，各种性格测试让人们感到，嗯……满心沮丧。（财富中文网）
译者：梁宇
审校：夏林
Step aside, Na’vi version of Sigourney Weaver: A new blue avatar is becoming famous. If you apply to one of several large corporations today, you might see a blue guy that looks like the Walmart version of Disney’s wide-eyed style of animation. No, it’s not a company mascot; it’s actually part of your evaluation.
The blue avatars are part of a long and confusing personality quiz in the hiring process at a handful of big companies. Many applicants find their presence not only bizarre, but also a bit insulting.
The blue people are courtesy of Paradox.ai, which boasts several billion-dollar companies as clients, including McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Citizens, and more. It’s worth noting that not all of the clients of Paradox.ai use the personality test feature, as different spokespeople from Citizens, 3M, and CVS Health all confirm. Still, many have taken to social media to express their confusion as to why this extra hoop—a long, bizarre personality test—is being placed in front of applicants considering many of these same companies claim to suffer a staffing shortage.
“Getting a dishwashing job at Olive Garden now requires a personality test from an AI company where you respond to more than 60 slides featuring a blue alien called Ash,” tweets Emanual Maiberg, who first reported on said quiz in a larger piece for 404 Media.
Already strung out and cynical about the state of work, employees and job applicants found these types of assessments to be the final nail in the coffin. Although economists maintain that we’re in a tight job market, the hunt is longer and trickier than it used to be in part because of extraneous quizzes and interviews. Just last year, the average time it took to hire an employee reached a record high of 44 days, per Josh Bersin Company and AMS.
“Companies are quick to fire and then are very slow to hire,” says Dan Schawbel, managing partner at Workplace Intelligence, comparing the current situation to the job market coming out of the 2008 recession.
The long, winding, blue road to an Olive Garden job
Let’s say you decide to apply for a job at Olive Garden. One of the first things you’ll see is an A.I. chatbot named Olivia (named after, and using the likeness of, the Paradox’s founder’s fiancée).
After answering a couple of screening questions, you’ll get a pop-up for the personality assessment, illustrated with weird blue humanoids. The personality quiz itself will tell you there’s “not one right answer,” but to look at the picture and either click “me” or “not me” if the depiction of the blue avatar describes how you might act, or feel. You’ll see a bunch of slides like this, featuring the blue avatars in situations like grabbing pizza before others partake, or engaging in artistic endeavors. The process culminates with the AI system telling you your Big 5 personality traits. Many have commented on Maiberg’s tweet to discuss how dystopian these tests feel. Some suggest not being honest on the tests, as answers can be used against you.
Part of the whole process is seeing if you’ll be a willing cog in the machine or rage against it. Companies often shirk applicants that aren’t personality fits “because they don’t want this person that they’re hiring to shake things up. They really want someone to fall in line with the status quo,” says Schawbel.
Dr. Heather Myers, chief IO psychologist at Traitify by Paradox (the official name of the personality test), tells Fortune the personality test can be done in under two minutes, claiming the competition rates for their tests are “significantly higher” than other assessments and that turnover has decreased by up to 25% for Paradox’s clients. Myers says Paradox’s goal is to “simplify the hiring process and remove friction for job applicants,” and that while it’s not meant to eliminate a company’s human decision-making process, automation can help neutralize dead ends and create a more efficient job system.
But in attempting to alleviate employers’ frustration, Paradox is stirring employee frustration—it’s a bit of a paradox, if you will. The test is a way to filter out applicants, according to Schawbel. Adding that it’s a way of seeing who really wants the gig by “put[ting] individuals through the gauntlet,” he explains it “weeds out a lot of people.”
“Paradox was created entirely because we were frustrated by the experience of finding and getting jobs, too,” Adam Godson, Paradox’s president and chief product officer says. “So, we fully appreciate the job seeker perspective.” He added that there’s been too much friction and obstacles in the hiring process at many companies, and that Traitify is a way to take out those obstacles and conflict.
But if one side of the relationship is this irritated, obviously something is wrong. “The goal is, how do we make the entire hiring process good for employers and employees,” says Schawbel. “And if it’s only good for one party, then it’s a broken matchmaking system, or broken hiring system.” He adds that a long process creates more frustration, as burnt out employees are overburdened while they wait for help.
Worker shortage or picky employers?
Despite Paradox’s asserted intentions, the personality tests seem to have struck a chord with people, and not in a good way.
A prospective software engineer for FedEx went viral after posting screenshots of Paradox’s “bizarre personality test” to Reddit, voicing their frustration about “how blatantly prejudicial this type of thing is.” The applicant said they withdrew their application, having felt unrepresented by the results and areas of the test saying they had room to grow.
Another user posted about the same test that Olive Garden gave them. “Man I just want a dishwasher job,” they said. Someone in the comment section asserted, “this is just my opinion, but companies cant [sic] find anyone to hire anymore because they have set their standards so stupidly high that no one seems worth while.”
Indeed, companies are adding these personality tests “for a reason, because they can get away with it,” says Schawbel, explaining that, even if they cry hiring shortage wolf, they are getting enough qualified applicants to want to filter some out. It means that both within the white-collar and blue collar fields, application processes are feeling increasingly long and tiring. And that doesn’t come without consequences. These candidates who have a bad experience are also more likely to be deterred from applying again to the company, to complain about it on social media, and also avoid said company for services in their personal lives, he adds, pointing to past research and studies.
Over the last couple of years, companies in the retail and hospitality sectors (the sectors in which Paradox has many clients) have complained of staffing issues. During The Great Resignation, many workers left their jobs to find opportunities with less stressful working conditions and greater pay.
But the companies complaining it’s hard to hire and retain right now aren’t making applicants’ lives any easier as they deliver a slew of questions, quizzes, and interviews for jobs that don’t even offer competitive wages. Interview processes have gotten longer in general, according to experts from CNBC Make It. As for the hiring managers, “maybe they’re being too picky. But they don’t think they are,” Schawbel says.
It’s just part of the process, if you ask Olive Garden. “This is one of many ways our restaurant leaders assess candidates to ensure they have the right people in the right roles — which sets our team members up for success and provides great guest experiences,” a spokesperson for Darden Restaurants, which owns Olive Garden, said in a statement to Fortune.
Still, tired job applicants are understandably feeling a bit bristled by having to take the time to pretend to want to work somewhere. “Just in case you’re wondering, it’s absolute hell trying to get jobs of any kind out here, and that’s why half of America is struggling to pay rent (including me),” one person said, quote-tweeting Maiberg’s post.
“I think we’re going to reach a breaking point in labor soon. employers have gone completely off the rails and people are exhausted,” a Twitter user claimed. Americans are feeling disenchanted by their jobs and staring down the barrel of a long job market, these personality tests are all enough to leave us feeling, well … blue.
