The importance of personality also shows in the application forms for participants in Kaos Pilots and the Red Bull Music Academy, two cases that were presented respectively by Niels Jensen and Olaf Boswijk. Besides questions on the general background of future participants, here are some of the questions that the applicants have to answer:
What inspired you to become involved in (X)? When did that moment of inspiration strike?
What do you expect to get out of the (job) personally?
Which person did you always want to (work for/ show your work to)? And, of course, why?
Who and what are your main influences?
What’s the title of your autobiography?
What’s the most interesting book you’ve read lately? Why should we read it, too?
Which records have the ability to make you cry and why?
And while we’re on the subject of sobbing, when was the last time you cried anyways?
What was your most significant experience of the last 12 months?
After completing this questionnaire, make up your own question and answer it.
What is (name of organization) in your own words?
MAP: Where are you coming from and where are you heading?
What have you done in your life - not work or education related - that you are especially proud of?
If you don’t get accepted to (name of organization), what’s your plan B?
Who has been a good teacher for you? Why?
When was the last time you surprised yourself?
Ask someone close to you what he or she thinks you could develop personally. Who did you talk to, what did she or he tell you and how was it to hear?
(some questions have been made more generic for informational purposes)
Perhaps it would be a good idea for organizations to learn something from these application-forms if they really are interested in getting to know their future employees personally. Moreover, in an age in which more and more interest is placed in issues like authenticity, integrity, reliability and trustworthiness of people, the least one would expect is that the applicant him or herself has some indication of who he or she is and what kind of person he or she is. After all, professional skills, which are often focused on, can be worked on when on the job. The standard questions which are usually asked can be studied and the ‘right’ answer can be memorized and replicated. But personality is a whole different issue for which a whole different type of questions is needed…