Originally Posted by
Incipient
Yeah way overthinking this. It is, in fact, possible to want to race cars, but not like skydiving or not want to try it. Just because you like one kind of thrill, doesn't mean you like all of them. Just answer honestly- either you like skydiving or not. That's probably not the make or break question.
The truth is, I am an introvert, and I answered as such and still got past the Hogan just fine. You don't need to be extroverted, or be vanilla, or be whatever you think United wants, because I guarantee you don't know. The hogan was calibrated towards real people here that initially took it (and had nothing to lose). Just be yourself. I still would be the best version of yourself - no, you don't resent everybody and hate your parents, but do people occasionally **** you off? I mean hard to believe there's anybody out there that could truly answer no, and if you do, you're gonna trip it for dishonesty. Yes, we have all told a lie... don't overthink it.
The problem with the "just be yourself and be honest advice" is it does nothing for the people who know they are a good fit based on their experience with the company, recommendations etc and then fail this test. And prospective pilots hear these stories in preparation for their interview. Maybe you are naturally good at taking this test but that doesn't apply to everyone.
The thing about these personality tests is there are all sorts of different ways one could interpret a question like "I consider myself a risk taker." Absent a time qualifier like 'always' or 'never' it's useful to insert "most of the time" at the beginning of the statement to avoid getting lost in misinterpreting this question as some risk you took while in college or obscure moment in your life.
Another aspect of the Hogan (and many other personality tests for that matter) is it was designed with the premise that who you are in your personal life accurately reflects who you will be as an employee, so they try to ask personal questions like "I like going to parties" or "I enjoy reading a book alone." The problem is many of us are very different in our personal lives compared to how we conduct ourselves on the job. At work I care deeply about being organized, timely, and what people think about me. When I'm home with my kids I'll accept chaos, often be late and not sweat it and could care less about a neighbor seeing me in my yard work clothes. I'll echo the advice stated earlier of adding "at work" at the end of the statement. It won't work perfectly but when I read questions about wanting to be alone or being comfortable being the center of attention I look at those much differently while at work (where safety, teamwork, customer service, etc are all high priorities).
So you shouldn't lie in the test, you should answer honestly as it applies to YOU, not someone else or what you think United wants or your concept of a vanilla personality. But you should absolutely go in with consistent and adequate framing for the job you're applying for.
Signed, someone who passed the technical and HR but failed the Hogan on the same day. Then went on to pass other personality tests for other carriers.