Workforce Australia provider makes jobseeker complete personality tests assessing ‘zest’ and ‘spirituality’

A jobseeker has questioned why her Workforce Australia provider made her complete an online personality test that asked how well she expressed love, whether she gives into temptation, and which judged if "spirituality" and "zest" were among her strengths.

Emma Rayward, 33, said she was told by her employment consultant to take the test at her first compulsory meeting with Asuria, which has more than $150m in job services contracts under Workforce Australia.

In fact, the free online survey of character strengths was created by Cincinnati, Ohio-based non-profit the VIA Institute on Character and has no connection to the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.

To complete the test, which takes less than 15 minutes, Rayward needed to create a profile with the company, using her personal email address.

The test included statements such as "I experience emotions when I see beautiful things", "I am good at expressing love to someone else", "My faith makes me who I am" and "I do not give into temptation", with the respondent required to answer on a five-point scale from "very much like me" to "very much unlike me".

After she completed the test, Rayward received a "character strengths profile", listing 24 different character traits in order from most to least applicable.

"It felt really pointless, but also I didn't understand it," Rayward said. "And I felt uncomfortable and very weird about it.

"Especially with the questions about appreciation of beauty and spirituality. Like, one of them is 'zest'. If I 'approach life with excitement and energy'."

The VIA Institute on Character states that IBM, Coca-Cola, PricewaterhouseCoopers and the US army are among the organisations that have used its services, which are based on the relatively new theory of "positive psychology".

Rayward said she was aware personality tests were used in the corporate world, but said in this case the findings had little connection back to her career. She said she received a follow-up email from VIA that included a few links that encouraged me to buy further tests, which she found "really inappropriate".

"My strengths on my personality test were 'love of learning', 'honesty', and 'creativity'," she said. "And [the consultant] repeated that back to me, but then didn't connect that with any kind of employment.

Generally under the mutual obligations system, jobseekers must attend meetings with their consultant to keep their benefits, while the initial appointment triggers a $600 service fee payment to the provider.

Under the contracts of the $1.5bn-a-year Workforce Australia program, this initial interview must be used to "ascertain a participant's skills, strengths and any issues that may impact on a participant's ability to find employment".

Rayward said her consultant asked her to complete two other questionnaires. One had more conventional, but very general questions related to her employment history and career aspirations, while the other asked questions to "get to know" her.

"They were things like, if I could go anywhere in the world, where would I go? If I got million dollars, what would I spend it on?" she said.

Rayward said little of the 30-minute appointment was devoted to discussing her specific circumstances, including the fact she is completing a Doctorate of Creative Arts, which concludes in two months, and what industries she might pursue afterwards.

"It feels very frustrating that these job agencies are receiving all this money for what feels to be very pointless activity, while welfare itself sits below the poverty line," she said.

An Asuria spokesperson said the provider had used the VIA Institute on Character test for seven years. It is not mandatory for jobseekers.

"This insight can help individuals identify jobs that would enable them to use their strengths," the spokesperson said.

"It can also help to build self-worth and self-efficacy, which have been evidenced to improve positive outcomes.

"Beyond this [if] an interviewer asks, 'what will you bring to this company?', this assessment provides an academically validated list of the job seeker's true value they can bring to an organisation."

The spokesperson said the question set had resulted from a three-year, 55-scientist study and was "used throughout our service delivery model to inform a personalised, strengths-based approach to preparing for and finding employment".

Guardian Australia has reported extensively on the mutual obligations system, which underpins the privatised employment services model.

In the new Workforce Australia program, it has led to perverse outcomes including providers insisting on jobseekers attending appointments even if it has meant missing work or travelling more than 100km.

Another jobseeker said he was made by his Asuria consultant to complete an online employability course that included a basic computer and literacy test, despite having tertiary qualifications.

The Albanese government on Tuesday announced it would establish a parliamentary committee to look at Workforce Australia after flagging concerns about the design of the contracts.

The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations was approached for comment.