Commentary by Timothy Horrigan; January 27, 2009 (last updated November 15, 2011)
Many of us find ourselves in need of whatever dumb job we can get. And one dumb job which is still reasonably abundant even in these bad times is "Big Box" Retail. Many of these stores use a seemingly inscrutable personality test called the " Unicru " test. Even though I tend to be good at standardized tests and have even worked in the testing industry for a while, I have flunked this one a time or two. Happily, I found one of several answer keys which is floating around the internet, and I tweaked it a little.
I do have an MBA in Marketing from the Marshall School at the University of Southern California, and I did work for the educational testing company Measured Progress for a while, but I am not a trained psychologist. This is a totally unofficial key, based on random materials which have been floating around the web for years. Use it at your own risk. I got the basic info from a blogger named "Yowling Cat" on an autism/Asperger's blog called WrongPlanet. He or she got it from someone named Daniel. I tweaked it by sorting the prompts by the expected answers— which are always "Strongly Agree" or "Strongly Disagree."
You have four options to choose from, when asked whether a statement applies to you or not. Supposedly, the right answer is always "Strongly Agree" or "Strongly Disagree":
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly Agree
There are (supposedly) 99 questions in this list. I have taken
this test several times, and I am pretty confident all these
questions are still in use, and I don't specifically recall any
other questions, though there I would not be shocked if new ones
got added. You will not have to answer all 99 of them, but you
will be asked about half of these questions.
If you get enough right answers, you go in the Green pile and you may be called in for an interview. If you get almost enough right answers, there is a Yellow pile, which is used if no one from the Green pile wants the job. If you get too many wrong answers, you go in the Red pile and the store will be unable to proceed with the hiring process.
The general drift of the test is to try to make sure that you are honest and hard-working but not too ambitious— and you must be cheerful all the time and enjoy being around people all day. The answers are mostly straightforward. The only surprising answers are that they think it is good if you think that "You are somewhat a of a thrill-seeker" and that it is bad if you think "Many people cannot be trusted." To quote someone who commented on Reddit.com a while ago: "I find all of these tests are best approached by answering all the questions as Ned Flanders."
The Unicru test is one of many HR-related products made by Kronos, Inc. of Chelmsford, Massachusetts.
Click here to read an job-application letter I sent them back in 2002!
Click here to learn more about applying to Best Buy & similar employers!
Click here to read about the 6 steps in the Kronos/Unicru hiring process
Question |
Answer |
Any trouble you have is your own fault |
SA |
It is easy for you to feel what others are feeling |
SA |
It is fun to go to events with big crowds |
SA |
It is maddening when the court lets guilty criminals go free |
SA |
When someone treats you badly, you ignore it |
SA |
When you are done with your work, you look for more to do |
SA |
When you go someplace, you are never late |
SA |
When your friends need help, they call you first |
SA |
You agree with people more often than you argue |
SA |
You always try not to hurt people's feelings |
SA |
You are a friendly person |
SA |
You are always cheerful |
SA |
You are careful not to offend people |
SA |
You are proud of the work you do at school or on a job. |
SA |
You are somewhat a of a thrill-seeker |
SA |
You avoid arguments as much as possible |
SA |
You can wait patiently for a long time |
SA |
You chat with people you don't know |
SA |
You could describe yourself as 'tidy' |
SA |
You do not fake being polite |
SA |
You do things carefully so you don't make mistakes |
SA |
You finish your work no matter what |
SA |
You give direct criticism when you need to |
SA |
You got mostly good grades in high school |
SA |
You hate to give up if you can't solve a hard problem |
SA |
You have always had good behavior in school or work |
SA |
You have confidence in yourself |
SA |
You have no big regrets about your past |
SA |
You have no big worries |
SA |
You ignore people's small mistakes |
SA |
You keep calm when under stress |
SA |
You know when someone is in a bad mood, even if they don't show it |
SA |
You like to be in the middle of a big crowd |
SA |
You like to plan things before you do them. |
SA |
You like to talk a lot |
SA |
You love to be with People. |
SA |
You love to listen to people talk about themselves |
SA |
You make more sensible choices than careless ones |
SA |
You rarely act without thinking |
SA |
You think of yourself as being very sensible |
SA |
You try to sense what others are thinking and feeling |
SA |
You were absent very few days from high school |
SA |
You work best at a slow but steady speed |
SA |
You would rather work on a team than by yourself |
SA |
Your friends and family approve of the things you do |
SA |
Your moods are steady from day to day |
SA |
It bothers you a long time when someone is unfair to you |
SD |
It bothers you when you have to obey a lot of rules |
SD |
It is hard to really care about work when the job is boring |
SD |
Many people cannot be trusted |
SD |
Other people's feelings are their own business |
SD |
People are often mean to you |
SD |
People do a lot of annoying things |
SD |
People do a lot of things that make you angry |
SD |
People who talk all the time are annoying |
SD |
People's feelings are sometimes hurt by what you say |
SD |
Right now, you care more about having fun than being serious at school or work |
SD |
Slow people make you impatient |
SD |
There are some people you really can't stand |
SD |
There's no use having close friends; they always let you down |
SD |
When people make mistakes, you correct them |
SD |
When you are annoyed with something, you say so |
SD |
When you need to, you take it easy at work |
SD |
You are a fairly private person |
SD |
You are more relaxed than strict about finishing things on time |
SD |
You are not afraid to tell someone off |
SD |
You are not interested in your friends' problems |
SD |
You are unsure of what to say when you meet someone |
SD |
You are unsure of yourself with new people |
SD |
You change from felling happy to sad without any reason |
SD |
You could not deal with difficult people all day |
SD |
You criticize people when they deserve it |
SD |
You do not like small talk |
SD |
You do not like to meet new people |
SD |
You do not like to take orders |
SD |
You do some things that upset people |
SD |
You do what you want, no matter what others think |
SD |
You don't act polite when you don't want to |
SD |
You don't believe a lot of what people say |
SD |
You don't care if you offend people |
SD |
You don't care what people think of you |
SD |
you don't work hard because it doesn't pay off anyway |
SD |
You don't worry about making a good impression |
SD |
You get angry more often that nervous |
SD |
You get mad at yourself when you make mistakes |
SD |
You have friends, but don't like them to be too close |
SD |
You have to give up on some things that you start |
SD |
You ignore people you don't like |
SD |
You like to be alone |
SD |
You like to take frequent breaks when working on something difficult |
SD |
You look back and feel bad about things you've done |
SD |
You say whatever is on your mind |
SD |
You show it when you are in a bad mood |
SD |
You sometimes thought seriously about quitting highschool |
SD |
You swear when you argue |
SD |
You would rather not get involved in other people's problems |
SD |
You'd rather not compete very much |
SD |
You've done your share of troublemaking |
SD |
Your stuff is often kind of messy |
SD |
Kronos views the hiring process (and yes, some people actually do get hired on occasion as a result of this process) as a six-step process. The Unicru test corresponds to steps 2 thru 5 of the following schema:
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November
14, 2011 Reddit thread
"Applying for a job at Macy's and I see this…"
Matt Burns's article "Personality Tests: Survival of the Phoniest"
80 people started working at Best Buy one day in 2006 without applying for a job first!
Hiring Success: The Art and Science of Staffing
Assessment and Employee Selection (Pfeiffer Essential
Resources for Training and HR Professionals)— the author, Dr. Steven Hunt, was for many years
a manager at Kronos/Unicru
undated (circa March 2009) Liekkisuki's Soapbox blog posting
My January 29, 2009 DailyKos diary (about the same as this article)
February 16, 2006 Chico News-Review article: "Cult of Personalty Tests" by Wil Morat
August 27, 2004 StorefrontBacktalk.com posting (Unicru's David Scarborough says here that the test was designed to catch potential thieves.)
January 2002 Fast Company article, later recycled as blog posting
Looks Good on Paper?: Using In-Depth Personality Assessment to Predict Leadership Performance (Columbia Business School Publishing) by Dr. Leslie S. Pratch (about how to identify executive job applicants with "active coping" skills and "high integrity," using a four-hour-long test)
The people who make the Unicru test possible— Kronos's Indian IT team— at Christmas time. (Yes, indeed, there is nothing quite like Christmas in Bangalore): |
I may regret this, but I have decided to split this page in two. The page you are reading now has the answers to the Unicru test, the second page has some information specifically about applying to Best Buy & other big box retailers. |