I took and passed the POSS 2 weeks ago and received a job offer. I am now scheduled for a physical and a MMPI. I wanted to know about these tests. I have a very bad problem with reading into questions too much and it has cost me in the past. For example, I once used an inhaler for an illness while in high school. While at MEPS for ROTC I answered all their questions 100% truthful and was disqualified for having asthma. I have never had asthma in my life. According to them I did because I had admitted to using an inhaler. I am worried I may make a similar mistake in the physical.
What are the types of physical conditions that will disqualify me? I have no health problems but sometimes get a tight knee when the weather gets cold from an old sports injury. Will these kinds of things be their focus?
What the heck is the MMPI?
MMPI is a 500+ question 'personality inventory.' Did you love your mother? Did you fear your father? Are you an alcoholic? Do you hallucinate? That kind of thing. A number of the questions will be asked over and over again in different ways. They are looking for consistancy in your answers.
MMPI = Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
It is a profile to determine 'stability' and is designed to weed out the 'knowledgable psychotic'. The main drawback is that it was created in the 1930s with a bunch of Minnesota farmers as the control group. Halflifer is right about the questions -- they are numerous and repetitive. Don't think too hard about it and take the questions literally. If you try to give answers you think they are looking for, you will just screw yourself up. I think it is designed to be a little painful as part of the evaluation... they succeded.
What kinds of physical conditions disqualify people from service?
FYI I know some people with epilepsy can't have certain jobs. Are there conditions like that that you cannot have? I am afraid of repeating my MEPS screw up by being too honest and forth coming. Am I worried too much? In MEPS I think they were actually looking to screw people.
the physical is most likely for respirator use and hazmat baseline. they make you blow into a tube and check your vitals, usually if you can breath you will pass.
Be honest... you are much more likely to be fired for lying than denied the job for having a medical condition. Very few conditions will be grounds for denying you the job... perhaps insurance benefits will be limitied, but if you can physically perform your work (including climbing ladders, wearing a respiriator, and other job related physical activity) you should be ok.
Quote from: Smart People on Jun 27, 2005, 03:42
...usually if you can breath you will pass.
That is not necessarily true. Very high blood pressure can be a limiting factor in getting a respirator qual. Breathing is, of course, required but not sufficient in and of itself.
Re: 'screwing up the MMPI'
I don't know anybody who has been denied a position based solely on the MMPI. If there are 'anomolies' the make you go talk to a psychiatrist/psychologist (as I have had to do several times after taking the test.....go figger). They ask you why you answered a certain question a certain way.....you explain it and go to work.
I don't know what kind of job you're seeking, but I don't know of any positions where epilepsy was a disqualifying condition (maybe as a CRO/LRO/RO.....contol room....flashing lights......buzzers, bells, horns).
I am just very nervous about the physical exam. I don't like doctors after they completely screwed me out of getting in the Air Force. I was honest 100% at MEPS and they accused me of having a medical condition that I did not have. The Air Force has no tolerance for ashtma and I have failed to get my waiver after waiting about a year. I want to avoid this kind of problem. I am not worried about the phyciatric test. My dreams of flying a high performance jet fighter at mach 2 and then later hoping to be a nuclear engineer for NASA are over. I can still make a good career out of the power production industry, I just want to know of any pitfalls along the way.
thank you RDtroja, you are correct, i think our nutty nukie here is afraid that there are more stringent standards than what we have experienced. if he believes he is in pretty good shape, then there should be no problem. the military can be finicky, especially the air force. the same doesn't usually apply in our business. they are mostly interested in your ability to carry out your duties safely.
I have two broken elbows and I've had them since January 16th 1989. I have arthritis in both elbows, a tingling left hand (nerve damage from the break in my left arm) a partly torn rotator cuff and bad knees. Both my arms constantly feel as if my crazy bone was hit. I've working in the industry since 1990 and I've passed every physical and I've been able to perform any duty given to me.
Bottom line, unless you pass out during your physical you'll be fine.
Mike
I've always taken the approach with the MMPI that to answer false to the questions such as would you like to work as a .... because if I wanted to do it I would.Questions about liking loud parties, false.They want to see if you party too often.There are questions to see if your honest,did you ever engage in petty larceny as a child etc.
Be honest and remember they will ask the same question in another way.Don't tell them things like you played bondage and discipline with Ken and Barbie,or door knobs frighten you unless it does.
As per Gerry Seinfeld,I'm not saying anything is wrong with that.
well the MMPI is a little deeper than asking if you like loud partys -- they check to see if you are a sociopath or not. Liking loud partys has nothing to do with party too much. It has to do with introverted/extroverted behavior. If you answer yes to that question but profile as introverted or some what shy-something is amiss with your answers or ???
hmm I can already tell you what I am. I am an INTP. I am 50%/50% on the N and S but by default I go to the N. On the T and the I part I was all the way over and did not have any E or F answers. Scarry to be so extreme but it is who I am and I accept it. I looked at that several years ago in a profile I did in a college class. I also repeated it in other places and get the same results.
They can use a test, the MMPI, and determine who is and who is not a scociopath? Wow I am floored there. I always thought past behavior was more of an indication. I.E. did you intentionally cause pain to animals etc? I took a phyc class in college and was horified by what I learned.
I am just going to be honest as I can. I learned that already from an experiment I had to participate in for the graduate students in the phyc department. THey had this setup where there were 4 people who looked at a shape on a peice of paper and said aloud what it was. I did not know it at the time but the other 3 people were phyc grade students purposely there to test me. They would always say the wrong answer and when it came to be my turn I always said what I saw, contrary to all the others. At one point I questioned the sanity of the others and asked them to explain why they were giving the wrong answers. I felt like a jackass when they ganged up on me and said I was wrong and the one with the problem. That got me thinking about myself and trying to decide what makes a person sane. I am sure most insane people think everyone around them is nutts and not the other way around. In the end I found out they were testing group think behavior and I was told I was one of the more resisant people.
Well just an interesting look at a subject in a different perspective. In the insane person's view he is sane and everyone else is insane! Thank goodness for physics I prefer more objective concepts:)
My theory on MMPI was to run through it as fast as I could, no time to think through questions and answers. Having taken it quite a few times, as other have also, you can almost figure out what answers to select, just by reading the first couple words of each question.
Quote from: thenuttyneutron on Jun 29, 2005, 07:27
hmm I can already tell you what I am. I am an INTP.
That is your Personality Index (I forget the name of that test right now, but I took it years ago). The MMPI is different.
Darn so you are saying I should have answered no to teasing animals? My dog would hate it if I never teased and played with her...LOL :P. That test was weird. I answered as honest as possible and can now only hope for the best. I have a clinical interview tommarow morning.
I thought it was weird how they asked about half a dozen times about suicide. That is a concept I can't get my mind around, my drive for rational self interest and self preservation must be strong.
I am worried about the "hot headed" part. I answered yes and that I get angry and get over it quickly, anyone who is in rush hour traffic could tell you this:) Are they looking for the people that bottle it in and explode in a big spout of violence?
RDtroja it is the Briggs Myers personality test or something like that.
Hey Nutty,
It sounds like you did good. That is what I always did on the MMPI test and never got an interview. The people that I know that had to interview for possible anomolies were OK after talking to the shrink.
On you physical, it depends on what job. I think you will be OK, just keep what you are doing, be honest. Past stuff will not matter. If you put down past problems, they will ask you about it. I used to have high blood pressure. Now I don't. They test it every year and I get approved every year, but I still write the past down.
Good luck with everything and chill out. People who tried to make themselves look good on the MMPI are the ones who got interviewed.
Personally i've "failed" the MMPI every time i've taken it and had to go see the doctor. the last one told me to join MENSA. shows what they know! don't overthink the answers. you'll know if its true or false.
they just want to be sure you won't go running around with a pipe wrench when you get snubbed for overtime. Or something like that. ;)
There is a profile called "fake-good" where it is obvious that the subject tried to answer the way he thought he should, rather than being honest. Those of us who have taken the MMPI several times over often score a "flat curve" meaning that the test was meaningless for us because we knew what to expect. The MMPI, which used to have over 600 questions compared to about 350 now, was meant to be administered only once. It tends to be useless after the subjects learn what to expect. They have also removed some of the antiquated questions that nobody knew how to answer (like; " I used to like to play 'drop the handkerchief'"), and removed the ones that pointed toward homosexuality (since it is no longer considered a mental disorder).
I once took the long version in less than 45 minutes. I only filled in the circle for the "yes" questions. There were less than 50 of those. Then, I went back and filled in all the unanswered "no" circles. The young woman at HR could not believe that I had finished so quicklly. She all but assued me that I would have to see the shrink. She was mistaken.
When I interviewed at WCNOC, they flew me out to KCI, then rented me a nice caddy for a couple days. I dorve down to Burlington, KS, and went to the plant the next day. First thing was urine test, immed followed by the MMPI. That test messed with my poor head. I was still trying to decide if my mother really did love me when I got to the actual interview later in the day, and had to do a quick re-focus to answer their questions. The question I remember thinking about longest was "Have you ever engaged in abnormal sex?" Hmmmm. Abnormal to whom? There were dry spells in my life when any sex would have been abnormal. I finally just said no, and didn't have to see the shrink later.
I am told I have to go to fire school first. Where do people get trained for fire fighting usually? At my old school, Texas A&M University, there was a very good fire school and wonder if I might be returning home for my training :)
maybe being in Kansas was your first hint?
So I guess the Agent of God club is history-oh well. Actually, a sociopath would answer the test in a manner and method as to profile out as somebody normal.