tsp@hadron.UUCP (T. Scott Pyne) (03/20/86)
In article <10876@amdcad.UUCP> linda@amdcad.UUCP (Linda Seltzer) writes: >A friend of mine, who is an engineer from Israel, said that when >you apply for an engineering job there you have give a handwriting >sample for analysis, and that you have to take psychological tests. >It is not unusual to ask a person about details of marital and family >life. Is this only true for military-related jobs, or commercial >ones too? These are supposed to be tests for "emotional stability". Donning my asbestos armor, I venture to wonder out loud if this is a byproduct of an attitude of religious zeal in that country. It seems reasonable to expect that a country which lacks (mostly, if not totally) freedom of religion would lack many other basic freedoms. I imagine that Israel believes itself to be in a constant state of war, and justifies suspension of individual rights, invasions of privacy, etc. as necessary to prevent armed insurrection by non-believers. I just hope that (a) those engineers who object to the tests can bring their expertise to the U.S., and (b) those people who fervently believe in the tests stay away from us. Me? I wouldn't work for a company (or in a country) that had so little respect for my professionalism as to want to test me for drugs, etc. I rarely even drink, and don't use anything else, but it simply isn't anyone else's business. If someone's work performance suffers because [s]he is chronically under the influence (of anything!), terminate that person for poor job performance, nothing more or less. Last I heard the various drug tests weren't even all that accurate. I applaud the chairman (Rep. Gary Ackerman) of the House committee that invited a pro-testing witness to go fill a bottle without warning. Scott "Eek! Get away from me with that blowtorch!" ============= T. Scott Pyne ...!seismo!hadron!tsp tsp@hadron.UUCP