

How a personality test designed to pick astronauts is improving customer support - tobtoh
http://www.fastcompany.com/1706766/how-a-system-designed-to-weed-out-nasa-astronauts-is-taking-the-pain-out-of-customer-support-call

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zazi
Heck, if this really works, I would take a personality profile test for free
to save me from the pain of annoying customer service reps and save companies
the hassle of trying to figure out my personality type. Go ahead.. stereotype
me..

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johnwatson11218
yes I was thinking the same thing. If there was some way for my interactions
with previous companies to be exported and packaged up for my future
calls/emails I would be on board. I think this could dovetail with voluntary
disclosure of information on my part to improve the quality of advertisements
that I experience on tv and radio - or whatever it is called in a few years.

One issue is that there would be things I wouldn't want in my profile (think
credit reporting for examples). Also if I have any say in it I might put in
things that I wish were true but may not be (good listener / attention to
detail).

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wccrawford
I suspect there's quite a bit of overlap in the types. I am definitely not a
'workaholic' according to the usual definition of the term, but I -do- prefer
to just get the facts and finish the call as quickly as possible. I'm not
there to make a friend, I'm there to solve a problem.

This was actually true no matter which side of the conversation I was on. And
some callers definitely appreciated that when I was solving their problems.

However, I did have enough sense to know when to just let a customer rant and
deal with their emotions as the problem, instead of the actual initial problem
they had.

Also, my current company used to do personality tests before hiring someone so
that they could get the right attitude in the company. They stopped doing that
a while back, but that initial seed of pleasant attitudes has persisted since
those initial people are now doing the hiring. It has worked out really,
really well for employees and clients alike.

