Some Answers to the Unicru personality test

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":

  1. Strongly Disagree

  2. Disagree

  3. Agree

  4. 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. 



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:

  1. Source: Branded career site

  2. Apply: Legally compliant application

  3. Screen:

  4. Assess: Assessed for behavioral traits and job fit

  5. Interview:

      • Hiring Manager Console

      • Behavioral Interview Guide

  6. Hire & Onboard: (which actually happens about 2% to 4% of the time):

      • Pre-populated forms

      • Electronic onboarding

      • HRIS integration








See Also:

  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.