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Look at the personality tests investment banks ask, and reverse the scoring.

- How often do you go to parties?

- Do you find it hard to make friends?

- Are most people basically dishonest?

- Do you get a buzz out of taking risks?

etc.



I'm unfamiliar with these questions… Inverse the scoring? So what, going to parties is good or bad? How is this relevant to determine if you're good at your job?


Looking at typical integrity tests, they use either veiled or overt questions.

Overt questions are things like "are you dishonest".

Veiled questions try to be a bit sneakier. One of the factors they look for is risk taking behavior (going to parties, taking risks, etc). Traders, on the other hand should be keen to take risks.

Of course, there's a lot of other factors the veiled questions look for (asking whether other people are dishonest, looking at attitudes towards punishment) which aren't related to risk-taking.

Ironically, having a harsh attitude towards punishment can indicate dishonesty, possibly because dishonest people think other people are only deterred by the penalties.


The other classic bank question is "do you prefer cycling on an exercise bike or on the road"

I think the idea is that an excerisice bike means you are fitness and performance orientated and able to work toward a arbitrary goal without any obvious reward or it means you are willing to do pointless grunt work instead of something pleasant and interesting - either way you are supposed to say exercise bike


"Exercise bike because I'm somewhat terrified of being around cars, random people, and far away from home/office without a nice metal cage around me and a trunk full of storage capacity." Perhaps one of many reasons I don't work at a bank.




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