AIB Bogus Aptitude Test

zcorpian88

Wrote a somewhat cheeky response to a Dear John letter I got today from AIB, I went to Dublin last Friday to do their Morrisby aptitude test for a Direct Sales Customer Advisor job they were offering in Naas, the test starts out easy and it gets more complex as you go through it. I wrote to them just to get a point across that I noticed on my exam booklet during the test here is what I said.

"A little advice, next time you round up applicants for this very odd test that 4 people also thought was odd, some say to be stupid and irrelevant in fact.

It might be a good idea to hand out booklets that don't have the answers marked in with pencil already, those 4 people as well as myself got them. Would remove the concept of cheating and moving to the next stage more effortlessly than others.

I mean the credibility of a test is somewhat ruined if the test papers have been marked with a pencil by previous candidates, meaning it’s not about who knows what but who has the better paper to cheat with, gain the interview and probably end up getting the job. Invest in a rubber."

If they can’t do something right, don’t do it at all. I’d have been seen as enemy #1 if I had said during the test, like a young lad telling a forgetful teacher “Sir what about the homework?” These HR people couldn't even make sure their test is legit to everyone taking it so it can be about who knows what, not who won the little lottery of the best test booklet to scam your way into a job. Wasted well over €30 on that pointless trip to Dublin.

Just livid over it now, I had an interview up there 2 years ago as well and there was no test that time, thought I'd be in with a shot this time.

looksee

How do you know there were only 5 booklets with answers, and how do you know those answers were correct? And if you are going to advise them, as in, give them a little advice, make sure you know which word you mean.

zcorpian88

looksee wrote: »

How do you know there were only 5 booklets with answers, and how do you know those answers were correct? And if you are going to advise them, as in, give them a little advice, make sure you know which word you mean.

I had spoken to a few people that took the test and they had said their booklet had either x's or like a little underlining on them highlighting correct answers, I had checked mine and the answers marked on mine were right, I didn't just go and write the marked answer on my answer sheet, I checked to be sure. Not all my booklet was marked but a good bit was. For all I know the others probably had a booklet marked more so than mine and they could be favoured more so for the job and they may not have checked their answers at all.

So is that what the test is about? Cheating? That's bulls**t in my mind.

Panda_Turtle

What do you mean by "Dear John" letter, was it a PFO?

zcorpian88

Panda_Turtle wrote: »

What do you mean by "Dear John" letter, was it a PFO?

Yes it was a PFO. They were always called Dear John's in my world.

Panda_Turtle

zcorpian88 wrote: »

Yes it was a PFO. They were always called Dear John's in my world.

Feic them so, they told you to PFO, move onto better things.

Tarzana2

Marks being in the booklet isn't on, but why are you miffed that you had to do an aptitude test? They need to cull somehow.

A 'Dear John' letter is a letter that ends a romantic relationship.

the_syco

zcorpian88 wrote: »

It might be a good idea to hand out booklets that don't have the answers marked in with pencil already, those 4 people as well as myself got them. Would remove the concept of cheating and moving to the next stage more effortlessly than others.

Were all the answers correct, or were one or two wrong? The reasoning behind Aptitude Tests can be fairly odd, as it's not always how many answers were correct, but which answers were answered correct.

zcorpian88

Tarzana2 wrote: »

Marks being in the booklet isn't on, but why are you miffed that you had to do an aptitude test? They need to cull somehow.

A 'Dear John' letter is a letter that ends a romantic relationship.

Not miffed that it had to be done but I don't see it's relevance to gain a basic sales job where the wage isn't particularly mind blowing.

Thought Dear John's were described for both things. Never heard of the PFO acronym. I have a giant pile of pfos in a box in my room, have to add this one to the pile also.

When I get let down like that it just puts me in bad form for a while, I don't get that many opportunities, even worse when I had to throw away money that I don't have to travel for the test.

Tarzana2

zcorpian88 wrote: »

Not miffed that it had to be done but I don't see it's relevance to gain a basic sales job where the wage isn't particularly mind blowing.

I know, but even that basic sales job likely got a landslide of applications. I don't think passing a aptitude test would give much indication of sales skills but it's probably just a crude test to eliminate a chunk of applicants.

zcorpian88

Tarzana2 wrote: »

I know, but even that basic sales job likely got a landslide of applications. I don't think passing a aptitude test would give much indication of sales skills but it's probably just a crude test to eliminate a chunk of applicants.

There were a good few applicants, during the test I attended there were about 20 people sitting it. There was another group of I'd imagine the same size in before us. Could well have been more after us. It was for the same position but in two locations which were Swords and Naas. I was after a Naas slot, don't like the idea of working in the Dublin area.

Thought it was a bonkers test, I thought I was the only one that thought that until I talked to a few people afterwards, they said the same thing and that their book had a few answers marked on it. I was just thinking "Feck sake, how is that fair?" Getting the foot in the door by cheating really.

ACANDROID

zcorpian88 wrote: »

Wrote a somewhat cheeky response to a Dear John letter I got today from AIB, I went to Dublin last Friday to do their Morrisby aptitude test for a Direct Sales Customer Advisor job they were offering in Naas, the test starts out easy and it gets more complex as you go through it. I wrote to them just to get a point across that I noticed on my exam booklet during the test here is what I said.

"A little advice, next time you round up applicants for this very odd test that 4 people also thought was odd, some say to be stupid and irrelevant in fact.

It might be a good idea to hand out booklets that don't have the answers marked in with pencil already, those 4 people as well as myself got them. Would remove the concept of cheating and moving to the next stage more effortlessly than others.

I mean the credibility of a test is somewhat ruined if the test papers have been marked with a pencil by previous candidates, meaning it’s not about who knows what but who has the better paper to cheat with, gain the interview and probably end up getting the job. Invest in a rubber."

If they can’t do something right, don’t do it at all. I’d have been seen as enemy #1 if I had said during the test, like a young lad telling a forgetful teacher “Sir what about the homework?” These HR people couldn't even make sure their test is legit to everyone taking it so it can be about who knows what, not who won the little lottery of the best test booklet to scam your way into a job. Wasted well over €30 on that pointless trip to Dublin.

Just livid over it now, I had an interview up there 2 years ago as well and there was no test that time, thought I'd be in with a shot this time.

You only seem bothered because you didn't get it. Why didn't you say something in there? Also how do you know they don't deliberately write on the books to throw people? And you say the answers were all correct yet you didn't get called back for an interview.. I'm confused by the point you are trying to make

zcorpian88

ACANDROID wrote: »

You only seem bothered because you didn't get it. Why didn't you say something in there? Also how do you know they don't deliberately write on the books to throw people? And you say the answers were all correct yet you didn't get called back for an interview.. I'm confused by the point you are trying to make

Every question didn't have markings on it but a few did, I answered it as well as I could considering the very short time they give to answer each page of the booklet, all they gave was 8 minutes each for two parts and 12 minutes each for the two other harder parts.

At the end of it I don't think the test is relevant to gain an interview, I and others thought the same thing. Just interview people and stop wasting time, I didn't have to do a test last time I applied there, just got an interview straight away. Still didn't get it but at least it was straight forward.

kildaremum

Was this test in relation to positions advertised about two weeks ago - just asking because I applied but haven't heard anything back

zcorpian88

kildaremum wrote: »

Was this test in relation to positions advertised about two weeks ago - just asking because I applied but haven't heard anything back

Well I applied before Christmas but I believe they left the advert up well after Christmas. It was the 7th of January by the time they invited me up to do the test.

StoryChief87

zcorpian88 wrote: »

Every question didn't have markings on it but a few did, I answered it as well as I could considering the very short time they give to answer each page of the booklet, all they gave was 8 minutes each for two parts and 12 minutes each for the two other harder parts.

At the end of it I don't think the test is relevant to gain an interview, I and others thought the same thing. Just interview people and stop wasting time, I didn't have to do a test last time I applied there, just got an interview straight away. Still didn't get it but at least it was straight forward.

Yeah I went to the same aptitude test on the Friday and found it unusual that there was markings on the answer booklet as well as pages falling out. A little unprofessional.
But it does seem that it's really only getting to you because you didn't get beyond that stage. Don't let it get you down. Keep applying. It's experience if nothing else.

The cost of interviewing every candidate for these jobs would be sky high Id imagine judging by the amount of people they test. Maybe Google search why psychometric tests are important to companies. It's a good way of getting high volumes of candidates whittled down based on their ability and what the company looks for.

zcorpian88

StoryChief87 wrote: »

Yeah I went to the same aptitude test on the Friday and found it unusual that there was markings on the answer booklet as well as pages falling out. A little unprofessional.
But it does seem that it's really only getting to you because you didn't get beyond that stage. Don't let it get you down. Keep applying. It's experience if nothing else.

The cost of interviewing every candidate for these jobs would be sky high Id imagine judging by the amount of people they test. Maybe Google search why psychometric tests are important to companies. It's a good way of getting high volumes of candidates whittled down based on their ability and what the company looks for.

Well the bank has more money than I do, shouldn't be passing on extra expense to me in my efforts to gain a job. Even if I got the interview I'd have had to fork out €30+ to travel up again. Just get rid of the test and get some man power together and interview people.

The booklets were fairly tatty looking, I wondered for the whole test was I the only one that got a book with some right answers marked on it. Turned out I wasn't, so the test on this occasion lost a lot of it's credibility and it could have got people the interview even if they had correct answers marked to help get them in the door, not exactly fair.

Nothing worse than wasting what little money I have and travelling up and it doesn't get me anywhere.

StoryChief87

zcorpian88 wrote: »

Well the bank has more money than I do, shouldn't be passing on extra expense to me in my efforts to gain a job. Even if I got the interview I'd have had to fork out €30+ to travel up again. Just get rid of the test and get some man power together and interview people.

The booklets were fairly tatty looking, I wondered for the whole test was I the only one that got a book with some right answers marked on it. Turned out I wasn't, so the test on this occasion lost a lot of it's credibility and it could have got people the interview even if they had correct answers marked to help get them in the door, not exactly fair.

Nothing worse than wasting what little money I have and travelling up and it doesn't get me anywhere.

I understand your frustration with paying money when you don't have it. But that's always the risk you take trying to get to tests/interviews away from home. I paid a fortune to get to the interview this week and I am still waiting to hear back. I might not get the position but the chance of employment is always worth the investment in yourself.

I know you may not want to go to these tests in the future but just try and see it as an advantage if you get a place again. You know what to expect with time constraints and question difficulty and you could use it to your own benefit

zcorpian88

StoryChief87 wrote: »

I understand your frustration with paying money when you don't have it. But that's always the risk you take trying to get to tests/interviews away from home. I paid a fortune to get to the interview this week and I am still waiting to hear back. I might not get the position but the chance of employment is always worth the investment in yourself.

I know you may not want to go to these tests in the future but just try and see it as an advantage if you get a place again. You know what to expect with time constraints and question difficulty and you could use it to your own benefit

That's the whole deal with applying for jobs these days, they make it this big unnecessary time and money consuming process of making applicants jump through hoops. It's no wonder the live register is so high, can be very discouraging and damaging to people's confidence after it was slightly built up with a phone call to tell me I managed to secure a place to do this test or gain an interview then waiting in anticipation before waking up in the morning to a pfo e-mail on the phone. Gets hard to pick yourself up everytime it happens. It's not just the aggravation of throwing money away.

Either way I hope you get the job StoryChief, you seem like a smart guy.

reach for the stars

Perhaps they were marked to check your honesty/integrity ,Did you inform them the answers were already in the books provided?.

zcorpian88

reach for the stars wrote: »

Perhaps they were marked to check your honesty/integrity ,Did you inform them the answers were already in the books provided?.

No, neither did 4 others I talked to afterwards. I was looking at the paper thinking I should but I sort of had this vision of being like a tattle tale like a suck up student reminding a forgetful teacher to give the class homework or something. So I said nothing. My book wasn't heavily marked, I would say every third answer was marked out of each page of 30 questions. I wondered were other books marked. I just got on with the test anyway, I even checked were the marked answers on my book were right, they all were. I didn't just go and mark it in the answer sheet because a possible right answer was there in front of me.

I've been obsessing about it since and I've read bits and pieces online saying they had a similar experience with that same test in the past not just the one I did last week. One might have been on here, forget to be honest it was late night browsing.

StoryChief87

reach for the stars wrote: »

Perhaps they were marked to check your honesty/integrity ,Did you inform them the answers were already in the books provided?.

I don't think that's the case as everybody sat randomly at the test and all the answer sheets were handed up and when leaving the booklets were left on the table. No real way of linking them.

cloudatlas

I take it the O.P doesn't want to apply again. Writing a cheeky response is only going to appear as being sour grapes whether or not it is or it isn't you are going to be memorable now for the wrong reasons.

Also wondering why you didn't get through if all your answers were 100% perfect as you stated.

StoryChief87

cloudatlas wrote: »

I take it the O.P doesn't want to apply again. Writing a cheeky response is only going to appear as being sour grapes whether or not it is or it isn't you are going to be memorable now for the wrong reasons.

Also wondering why you didn't get through if all your answers were 100% perfect as you stated.

Fair point. In my view I would apply again if I was him/her because of the growth opportunity within the bank. I know it's a sales job but you can advance from what I was told at interview.

zcorpian88

cloudatlas wrote: »

I take it the O.P doesn't want to apply again. Writing a cheeky response is only going to appear as being sour grapes whether or not it is or it isn't you are going to be memorable now for the wrong reasons.

Also wondering why you didn't get through if all your answers were 100% perfect as you stated.

Didn't say all my answers were correct, I knew the ones marked were the right answers alright and I did my best with it and answered a lot correctly, think I left the last 4 or 5 blank towards the end of each part because of the time constraints.

Found the time they gave to be quite pressuring and you're rushing and racing answering, especially when you get half way to 3/4 the way into it.

StoryChief87

zcorpian88 wrote: »

Didn't say all my answers were correct, I knew the ones marked were the right answers alright and I did my best with it and answered a lot correctly, think I left the last 4 or 5 blank towards the end of each part because of the time constraints.

Found the time they gave to be quite pressuring and you're rushing and racing answering, especially when you get half way to 3/4 the way into it.

I think that's the idea though, to see how we all perform under pressure. I only finished one section fully the rest about 26/30

zcorpian88

StoryChief87 wrote: »

I think that's the idea though, to see how we all perform under pressure. I only finished one section fully the rest about 26/30

Bah, pressure is for tyres!

therealkeano1

zcorpian88 wrote: »

Didn't say all my answers were correct, I knew the ones marked were the right answers alright and I did my best with it and answered a lot correctly, think I left the last 4 or 5 blank towards the end of each part because of the time constraints.

Found the time they gave to be quite pressuring and you're rushing and racing answering, especially when you get half way to 3/4 the way into it.

I did the test and pass it. I only got through 20 for max 23 questions but I took my time and made sure I did it right. The next time you go for one take your time make sure what you do answer is correct. I don't think you are meant to answer them all and if you do and get a lot wrong or may show you were guessing. There was a good chunck of mine answered on it as well but as the lady said they could be wrong and don't take the chance.

harrymagina

TBH going by this thread they were right in not hiring you. Nearly all companies these days run aptitude tests. Your also giving out you had to fork 30 euro for an interview for travel costs? Welcome to the real world. By sending that cheeky email back you've probably lost all hope ever getting a job with them. Well done. Going by this thread youll be lucky to get a thread or if you do you wont be long losing it.

Del2005

zcorpian88 wrote: »

No, neither did 4 others I talked to afterwards. I was looking at the paper thinking I should but I sort of had this vision of being like a tattle tale like a suck up student reminding a forgetful teacher to give the class homework or something. So I said nothing. My book wasn't heavily marked, I would say every third answer was marked out of each page of 30 questions. I wondered were other books marked. I just got on with the test anyway, I even checked were the marked answers on my book were right, they all were. I didn't just go and mark it in the answer sheet because a possible right answer was there in front of me.

I've been obsessing about it since and I've read bits and pieces online saying they had a similar experience with that same test in the past not just the one I did last week. One might have been on here, forget to be honest it was late night browsing.

If working for a bank you are supposed to report anything suspicious so the writing on the book could have been the test.

Reminds me of a story I heard years ago about people going for an interview as a manager at a factory, it could be complete BS I don't know. There were several people in the room in overalls sitting against a wall and the interviewer. Part of the interview was to find out what was wrong with an electrical panel. Loads of applicants debugged the panel but the person who got the job asked the people in overalls to debug the panel.

greeno

I went for an interview with AIB many moons ago in 2007 graduate job 1 year contract(got past the aptitude test right enough).

It was for a position in loans and the interview went fairly well until they asked me my views on the economy. I said it was unsustainable and that there was too much personal debt, coming from Donegal it amazed me the size of peoples houses and them only earning little over minimum wage.

Well they said that attitude won't go down to well in our loans dept. a year later the **** hit the fan and I always smile when I remember their apathy towards my answer. Lucky enough I didn't get it in the end as I heard from a few the one year contract thing didn't go to well for a lot of people the times that were in it.

davo10

Im a little confused, you ran out if time even though most of the answers were written in? You are sure the answers that were written in were right but you are not sure if the answers you actually had to think about yourself were right? So, the only answers you are sure you got right, are the ones that somebody else wrote in? And you are complaining about the test and the fact that you didn't get the job?

Have you considered that if you are not sure that the answers you yourself had to give were right, that the answers already written in may not have been right either and that you bombed the test?

StoryChief87

therealkeano1 wrote: »

I did the test and pass it. I only got through 20 for max 23 questions but I took my time and made sure I did it right. The next time you go for one take your time make sure what you do answer is correct. I don't think you are meant to answer them all and if you do and get a lot wrong or may show you were guessing. There was a good chunck of mine answered on it as well but as the lady said they could be wrong and don't take the chance.

How did the interview go?

therealkeano1

StoryChief87 wrote: »

How did the interview go?

Quite well they offered me a position. Waiting for the contract.

StoryChief87

therealkeano1 wrote: »

Quite well they offered me a position. Waiting for the contract.

Same. I got the contract though, did you check your junk folder? You in naas or swords?

therealkeano1

StoryChief87 wrote: »

Same. I got the contract though, did you check your junk folder? You in naas or swords?

I'm starting in swords. Where are you starting. What kind of information did they ask you to give in.

StoryChief87

therealkeano1 wrote: »

I'm starting in swords. Where are you starting. What kind of information did they ask you to give in.

Ah just make sure you have references ready and they can contact them by phone. One will have to be your previous employer. There's quite a few forms to fill out but they'll show ya where to print them. You'll need two copies of your passport signed by guards or an AIB branch official and a copy of your qualifications signed too.

ACANDROID

therealkeano1 wrote: »

I'm starting in swords. Where are you starting. What kind of information did they ask you to give in.

You starting on the 9th?

StoryChief87

ACANDROID wrote: »

You starting on the 9th?

Anybody get info from them on start times or general first day protocol?

Cgrad

Hey,

I just got called for an aptitude test in Dublin for a position in the south west.
Can anyone give some insight into what to expect, any info on how to prepare etc? Is it online or pin/paper?

Any help is much appreciated!

starlit

I wouldn't say its a bogus test just very difficult. Its not your usual aptitude test it pure statistics and verbal aptitude test all in one. No amount of prep help unless you good at stats and data analysis.

Cgrad

doovdela wrote: »

I wouldn't say its a bogus test just very difficult. Its not your usual aptitude test it pure statistics and verbal aptitude test all in one. No amount of prep help unless you good at stats and data analysis.

Did you sit one recently? Was the position you applied for bank branching?

starlit

I did a test with them a few years ago. It hasn't changed. It was the silo's and grains test I did. I never heard back. It was a data analysis role I went for. I think there were two different levels for the Morissby test easy/hard depending on the role, but for them practising aptitude tests in particular verbal/stats/problem solving numerical tests be useful to practise but no amount of practising pass the AIB tests in my opinion.

holidayadvice

Did any of you do a case study with 30 questions?