Comment by Valentino Martinez on June 16, 2011 at 1:30pm

Jerry,

 

You make a good point about people with bad attitudes working in jobs with customer contact, particularly in the airline industry where the customer has a vote in repeating the experience, or not.

 

I also value testing on matters of technical or skill competence--those makes sense, but psychological profiling has a BIG BROTHER tinge to it that I've never quite embraced.  It also has a tendency to favor skilled "test takers" who can manipulate a test to predictable outcomes.  Yes, there are test designers who claim their tests can capture the essence of a person, but I beg to differ.

In my experience customer service oriented professionals have a little quirk that distinguishes them from others--they smile a lot, even in the face of the grim reaper.  And they find a way to delight their customers.  These are skills that are readily recognizable at fifty paces.  Testing for them is not necessary when you can make time to observe them in action--or validate input from others who have.

My view of a personality test is as follows...(apologies to those who have already seen it in other postings of mine).

Comment by Mat von Kroeker on June 17, 2011 at 12:54pm

Although I agree with your theory in principle-- in reality, an interpretation of one's "attitude" (at any given moment in time) is purely subjective, and doesn't take into account the past or present variables that could account for said "bad attitude".  When was the last time you stood on your feet for hours at a time-- and tried to keep a Polly-anna "attitude" for the duration?  How do you know there wasn't a gaggle of very difficult passengers prior to you walking onto the plane?  I have many friends who work food service, hospitality, customer service-- and regardless of how much we'd like to think the best of all people, all the time?  It isn't-- and they certainly aren't.

Comment by Valentino Martinez on June 18, 2011 at 5:24pm

Mat makes an important observation about contributing circumstances to "good" or "bad" attitudes employees display on the job--to also include:  a hostile work environment, a dead-end job; and or job "Burnout"--or the combination of such factors, coupled with personal problems, all feeding on each other can pull any smile down to a frown.

The consummate professional can mask such feelings from customers, but in the end we're only human.

Comment