• Check your thoughts about yourself with someone who knows you well. A good friend or a family member may be aware of how you usually respond to situations, even if you find it difficult to say. If the person you consult sees you differently, try asking them to answer the questions at the end of the section on behavioural style about you. If you do not agree on the answers discuss this with the person to try to understand what you are really like.
• Avoid over-analysing yourself. If you generally spend a lot of time analysing your behaviour and thinking about how you feel about things, you may find it easier to answer questionnaires if you don’t focus on things in so much detail. Most questions are quite straightforward and do not require a great deal of self-analysis to answer.
• Collect what information you can about the role and the organization. The employer’s website may be a good source of information about the culture of the organization. If you know someone who works for the same employer or in a similar type of job, ask them to tell you about what they do. Use this information to decide how your personal style might fit the role.
Completing a questionnaire at the employer’s premises
If you are invited to attend a selection day but have not been provided with information about what it will entail, it is appropriate to contact the employer for more information. However, it may be the employer’s policy not to give out such information or they may believe telling one candidate something that is not shared with all candidates would be unfair. Although you may feel the lack of information reflects poorly on the employer’s processes it is probably not a good idea to press the point, because this may be seen negatively by the employer and reflect poorly on you throughout the selection process.
If you do know you have to complete a questionnaire there are a few important practical steps you should take. If you need glasses or contact lenses to be able to read clearly make sure you have these with you. Some people prefer not to wear glasses in public, but the danger of misunderstanding the questionnaire through poor vision is much more serious than any impact on your image of wearing glasses.
Plan how you will get to the venue in good time. Work out your route, find out the relevant transport options, look up timetables and so on. Employers will often send a map and details of how to get to their premises. Apart from the fact that arriving late is likely to create a poor impression, it can put you at a disadvantage in other ways. The employer may be working to a strict timetable and trying to see a number of candidates, and someone who is late can put the schedule out. You could find your interview time is shortened and you have less opportunity to impress the employer with your skills and abilities. If you are late, other applicants may already have started to complete questionnaires and tests, and it could be difficult to accommodate you.
You should also think of the impact on yourself of having to rush. You could arrive feeling hot and bothered, and if there is no time to calm down, you might end up having to complete the questionnaire, be interviewed or take part in another type of exercise while you are feeling flustered. This is likely to affect your concentration and therefore your performance. It is better to arrive too early and have to hang around for a bit than to rush in at the last minute.
Completing a questionnaire on your own
It is quite common now to be asked to complete a questionnaire in your own time before you attend for an interview with the employer, and some employers may send you a questionnaire in the post to complete. Usually, however, if you are asked to complete the questionnaire before the interview, you will be asked to do so on the internet. Typically, the employer will send you an e-mail with a link to a secure website where you can complete the questionnaire. You will usually be sent a username and password to ensure the security of the system.
If you are asked to complete a questionnaire on-line consider when and where you will do this and make sure that you set aside sufficient time to complete it. You should be told in advance about how long it will take, and it is important that you give yourself the best chance of completing it effectively. This means finding a quiet place where you will not be interrupted. If you have a computer at home this may be the best option. If you can, shut yourself away in a quiet room to complete the questionnaire, and warn the other people that live with you that you do not want to be interrupted. Switch off your mobile phone, music players, radios and TV, and if you can, switch off or unplug other phones. Alternatively, get someone else to answer the phone or let it go to answer phone.
Choose a time when you are feeling alert and ready to concentrate. It may be tempting to complete the exercise late at night or after you return from a night out, but think whether you are at your best. If you are tired or have been drinking, you may misread some of the questions or respond inappropriately. Make sure that you are seated comfortably. Get yourself a cup of coffee or tea or a cold drink if this helps you relax, but avoid alcohol or other drugs, which will alter the way you perceive yourself and could affect your responses.
If you do not have your own computer or internet connection at home or if the computer is located in a busy part of the house, think about an alternative place where you can use a computer in a quieter location. You may be able to use a computer at your place of work if you can find a quiet place. You will need to think about the appropriateness of using your employer’s equipment to complete a questionnaire as part of an application for a job somewhere else. If you are applying for promotion in your own organization or if you are being made redundant, your employer might be happy for you to use the organization’s facilities. Otherwise, it is unlikely to be appropriate.
Other places where you can access internet facilities include internet cafés, libraries and, if you are a student, colleges and universities. If you need to complete a questionnaire in one of these places consider the following:
• Find a quiet corner to work rather than somewhere where people are talking or constantly moving around. Certain times of day might be quieter and more conducive to completing a questionnaire.
• Make sure that the time you are allowed to use the machine is sufficient for completing the questionnaire. Libraries and colleges sometimes limit the length of internet sessions. Check if you are likely to be cut off in the middle. If necessary, explain why you need a longer time to an administrator to see if they can help. If you are buying computer time at an internet café make sure that you have enough to finish the questionnaire.
• Switch off your mobile phone so you are not interrupted while you are completing the questionnaire.
• If you have not used a particular place before you may like to check it out in advance to make sure it is suitable.
Try to complete the questionnaire well ahead of any set deadline. If you leave it to the last minute and you encounter problems, there may not be time to sort them out. Although most systems are robust, you might encounter problems connecting to the site for the questionnaire or you might have difficulties with your username or password. Equally, your own computer equipment could just choose that moment to be temperamental. If the deadline is looming there may not be enough time to find somewhere else to complete the questionnaire.
You will usually be given details of a helpdesk or person to contact in case of difficulty. Do take advantage of this service if you have a problem. Remember, however, that it may not operate a 24-hour, seven-day service. Try to start completing the questionnaire early enough so that there is time to get help if you need it.
Similar considerations are important if you are completing a questionnaire on paper. Find a quiet, comfortable place to do it, and make sure you will not be interrupted while you are completing it. Allow sufficient time, and if you have been asked to post your responses back, make sure you send the questionnaire off in good time in case there is a problem with the post. If you want to be sure, take a copy of your responses in case the original gets lost in the post.
Completing the questionnaire
First, read the instructions carefully. Check that you have understood what you have been asked to do. On a 1–5 scale is 1 ‘Strongly agree’ or ‘Strongly disagree’? You also need to read the questions or statements with care. It is easy to misread a word. People often fail to notice a negative word such as ‘no’ or ‘not’ in a statement and respond in the opposite direction. Consider the following statements:
I make no mistakes in my work.
I make mistakes in my work.
I like meeting new people.
I dislike meeting new people.
I rarely come to work on time.
I usually come to work on time.
A careless reader might miss the ‘no’ in the first statement and answer as if it was the second, giving an erroneous picture of themselves. Similar errors are possible with the other pairs of statements.
You also need to make sure that you are indicating your responses according to the instructions. A frequent source of error with paper answer sheets is to respond to a question on the wrong line of the answer sheet. You may be answering Question 35 but mark your response against Question 36. This will lead you to mark your next answer incorrectly, that is marking the answer to Question 36 against the next empty line, which is the one for Question 37. Check that you are answering against the appropriate question number as you are completing the questionnaire to avoid this. If you find you have gone wrong, go back and change your answers. Check the instructions to see how changes to answers should be marked. Should you erase it or cross it out? If you find you have been marking against the wrong number for a long time ask the administrator what you should do. You may be given a new answer sheet and asked to copy your answers across correctly.
When you are answering a questionnaire you are providing a description of yourself and how you typically behave and react to things. The questions just help you structure this and describe the aspects of your personality in which the employer is interested. There are no right or wrong answers to the questions. Rather, each person’s answer should reflect their personality. Therefore, you should think about yourself in relation to the question or statement. Is it describing something you often do or something you rarely do? Does the word describe you well or not?
It is important to answer all the questions, even if you are not sure how to respond to some of them. Your score on the questionnaire will be distorted if you don’t answer some of the questions. If you are responding on a computer it may not let you send your responses until you have answered all the questions. An administrator will check your paper answer sheet to make sure you have answered all the questions and ask you to go back and complete any you have skipped.
The majority of questions in questionnaires are quite straightforward, and it should be clear what is being asked, because questionnaire developers try to make the content easy to understand. However, you might find some questions ambiguous and not be quite sure what is intended. Do not worry about this if it is just the occasional question. Make your best guess at what is intended and answer accordingly. If you are finding it difficult to understand many of the questions, check the instructions to make sure you have understood correctly what you need to do.
Always try to answer questions honestly. This will provide the employer with the most accurate picture of you as a person to see how well you would fit into the job and the organization. By describing yourself as you are, you give a true impression of yourself. If you believe you are suitable for the role, this should come across in your responses. Don’t worry about providing the odd response that may seem quite negative. The employer will be looking at the totality of your responses rather than the answers to specific questions.
Don’t try to guess what the employer is looking for. This can make responding difficult, and it is, in any case, unlikely to help you make a good impression for a number of reasons. First, you may be wrong and make yourself look unsuitable for the job when you are, in fact, exactly what the employer is looking for. It is difficult to predict what sort of responses an employer might be looking for, so you could be giving exactly the wrong impression. Second, questionnaires often contain checks on response patterns, and these can flag up inconsistent or unusual answers. Third, if you distort your answers you cannot be sure what impression you are creating. Last, the employer may want to discuss your results with you and contradictions between your profile and what you say at interview will become evident and be potentially embarrassing.
Some people do find it difficult to respond to questionnaires and agonize about what to say. They can think of times when the statement applies to them and times when it does not, or they agree with part of the statement and not with another part. If you are having difficulty responding to a question try the suggestions below.
Hints on answering questions
Answer quickly
instead of thinking at length over a question. Your first response is likely to be your best answer and the one that reflects you most accurately. Brooding over a question may be what is leading to the confusion by raising too many possibilities. Questionnaires do not have fixed time limits, but it is better to work at a good pace than to spend a lot of time over individual questions.
Think about the question in a work-related context
. What is important is how you behave at work. If the way you are at home with friends and family is different from the way you are at work, consider how you would behave on a typical work day.
If you do not have a job at the moment, think about previous jobs you have had
. If you have never worked or if the jobs you have had are not really relevant, think about yourself in work-like situations. This might include studying in school, college or university, doing voluntary work for a charity or even completing tasks at home like housework. If you have a hobby that you spend time on or have worked with friends to organize an event, you can use this experience to think about how you behave when responding to questions.