This is only a test ...

By Candace Doyle

It doesn’t seem fair, really. We went behind your back and tried to tap into your psyche without your permission.

To even the playing field a bit, I’m revealing here the results of a few online personality tests I took.

The free tests were found on www.testing-room.com; there were three tests, and I took them all (am I too self-involved?).

First I took the personality index test, which told me: “You prefer small gatherings with close friends to large parties with lots of people. ... It’s more enjoyable for you to watch and listen to others.”

True.

Then there was the career interest profiler. This is what it said about me, me, me: “You have a desire to be creative and imaginative in your work and to have the opportunity to design new products or deal with new ideas. ... While you enjoy creating, you also like working with people and putting those creative skills to work in helping people with their problems.”

True again.

And, finally, there was the career values test. Let’s talk about me: It said I like excitement in my work.

“In a highly structured workplace where work is routine and structured, you would likely become bored and dissatisfied. ... You put real value on fast-paced work, work where you can take some chances and do different things each day.”

Right on the money that time too.

Yet I’m guessing that most of the results of my tests apply to you too.

You’ve got to be imaginative in your work. What’s developing, designing and building if not creative?

And excitement? What’s not exciting about seeing the seed of a project germinate and bloom?

Some of the tests say I’m a risk-taker. And, in a small sense, a very small sense, we’re alike that way too. But the risks I take are with words and ideas. I’m behind a computer, not on a scaffold.

So what’s it all mean? Not much, really. Tests — and I learned this early on in school — are just someone else’s idea of what you know or, in this case, who you are.

And frankly, while my test results were accurate, had you picked up the phone and asked me yourself, you would’ve come to the same conclusion.