Letter: Job-seeker quizzed on sex

I READ with interest Sarah Strickland's article on the 'Occupational Personality Questionnaire' (12 June), having recently been submitted to similar tests in Belgium.

The most bizarre test involved answering 85 questions in 15 minutes on a scale of 1 to 6, 1 being a definite no and 6 a definite yes. I had to answer questions such as:

1 Are you happy with your sexuality?

2 Do you think your partner is faithful?

3 Would you have an affair outside your current relationship?

4 Do you think it is acceptable to have a red light on during sexual intercourse?

These were intermingled with questions such as 'Do you like football?' and 'Do you like children?'. I found these questions completely irrelevant to the position I was applying for and quite offensive.

I believe that your personality is more likely to be revealed during a series of interviews than from one of these questionnaires. If your prospective employer is incapable of asking the right questions at interviews then he or she should not really be conducting them. The same could be said about the people at Anglian Water who are trying to decide who should be made redundant.

Julia Merrett

Brussels