Job interview test with a difference asks if you’ve ever had an imaginary twin

‘Have you ever had an imaginary twin?’: How bosses use Blade Runner-style psychological profiling in 30-minute online tests to see if you should get job

• 55-question test, the Cambridge Code, was developed at Cambridge University
• Psychometric tool uncovers ‘subconscious latent potential’ of candidates
• Aim is to sift out those who, while appearing to have good CV, are not actually suitable for role

By Nick Enoch for MailOnline

Published: 11:30 BST, 21 July 2018 | Updated: 11:33 BST, 21 July 2018

Job interview candidates will be familiar with questions about describing their proudest achievements or admitting their greatest work failures.

But now, a 30-minute online assessment is probing them in a different way – such as by asking if they have ever had an imaginary twin – in a style reminiscent of the Voight-Kampff machine, the advanced lie detector in the sci-fi classic Blade Runner.

The thinking is that by getting them to talk about such a twin,it will shed light on information they didn’t want to reveal about themselves.   

The psychological profiling tool is called the Cambridge Code, and was developed by a team of researchers at Cambridge University, led by Drs Curly Moloney and Emma Loveridge. 

A new 30-minute online assessment technique is probing job candidates in a different way – such as by asking if they have ever had an imaginary twin. The psychological profiling tool is called the Cambridge Code, and was developed by a team of researchers at Cambridge University. (File photo)

The Cambridge Code

Here are just a few of the 55 questions in the test:

• When your boyfriend/ girlfriend/partner/sibling/parent wants you to do something that makes them happy, can you say ‘no’ even if saying ‘yes’ puts your needs second?
• When you have done something well, who do you want to know?
• Have you ever had an imaginary friend?
• Remember the moment when you first lost out to a rival. What did you do? 

 

It contains 55 questions, including ‘Remember the moment when you first lost out to a rival. What did you do?’ and ‘When you have done something well, who do you want to know?’ 

The idea is that the psychometric test will uncover ‘subconscious latent potential’, to sift out those who, while appearing to have a good CV, are not actually suitable for the job. 

The test is now being used by the UK’s largest companies, as well as government departments, to analyse prospective employees – and, according to the developers, it can reveal any underlying motivations and mental health problems.

‘Each question tells us a small thing but when put with other answers, it becomes a small piece in a big picture,’ Dr Moloney told the Daily Telegraph.

Among the characteristics the analysis looks at are: people decision making, drive, rivalry, dealing with authority, potential, resilience and flexibility. 

It is also hoped the method will be used by GPs to help evaluate the mental health of patients.

The test is now being used by the UK’s largest companies, as well as government departments, to analyse prospective employees – and, according to the developers, it can reveal any underlying motivations and mental health problems. (File photo)

Don’t even think about lying: The Voight-Kampff machine

The Voight-Kampff machine was originally referenced in Philip K Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.

It later appeared in the 1982 screen adaptation of the book – in the Harrison Ford sci-fi film Blade Runner.

The Voight-Kampff is a fictional polygraph-style machine used in the book and film to determine if someone is human, or an android ‘replicant’.

Harrison Ford with a Voight-Kampff machine in the 1982 sci-fi classic Blade Runner

It measures reactions, including respiration, heart rate and eye movement, in response to emotionally provocative questions.

An advanced form of a lie detector, it measures contractions of the iris muscle and the presence of invisible airborne particles emitted from the body.

The machine is often called an empathy-detector because feelings of empathy separate humans from androids.

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