What's Your Work Iq?

Careers and Colleges, Jan, 2001 by Traci Mosser

Maybe you know what you want to be, but do you have what it takes to succeed? Find out how career-savvy you are by taking this quiz.

1. The e-mail address you put at the top of your resume most resembles:

a. supaflydude@wahoo.com

b. yourname@wahoo.com

c. ED365892W@wahoo.com

2. Just before wrapping up your interview for a summer clerical job at the law firm of Dewey, Chatham & Howe, the interviewer asks if you have any questions. You say:

a. "Nope." This is an interview, you think. They're supposed to ask me the questions.

b. "So how much will I get paid, and when am I eligible to take vacation?"

c. "I've been reading about your company, and I'm fascinated by the negligence case the firm won last week. Can you tell me more about it?"

3. Your interviewer asks you what your weaknesses are. You:

a. come up with an honest answer of where you could use some improvement. Then you mention your plan for improvement.

b. figure honesty is the best policy and come clean about your tendency to be disorganized and forgetful.

c. say, "Weaknesses? I can't think of any really."

4. You snag an interview for an internship at the hip, innovative Internet company of your dreams. Although you suspect the company's dress code is casual, you really have no idea what to wear. You:

a. wear your boldest, most cutting-edge outfit--the one that shows off a lot of skin and your new tattoo. They'll appreciate your style and originality.

b. go with the formal, conservative suit your mother helped you pick out for your grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary. You can't go wrong with a seersucker suit.

c. stake out the company's office one day around closing time to observe what the employees are wearing. You plan to wear something slightly dressier than the norm.

5. Your new boss treats you to a welcoming lunch at a fancy restaurant downtown. You order:

a. the most expensive item on the menu. Plus an appetizer and dessert. You want to show that you can eat like an executive.

b. whatever you have a taste for, but you'll probably avoid the messy spaghetti.

c. a small green salad. You don't want to look like a greedy pig.

6. Your supervisor at Benny's Bagels informs you that a customer has complained about your service. You:

a. apologize and go back to work.

b. ask your supervisor what you can do to correct the problem.

c. explain that the customer was a jerk.

7. So far the only tasks you have been assigned at your unpaid internship at the local newspaper have involved alphabetizing your boss's Rolodex and reorganizing the supply closet. You:

a. ask your boss if she can give you more educational projects to work on in addition to your other tasks.

b. complain to anyone who'll listen. Except the boss.

c. quit. It's not worth your time to stay at an internship where you're getting no money and no experience.

8. You find out that Joe, your coworker, claimed credit for an idea you had about running a movie trivia contest at the video store where you work. You:

a. angrily complain to your boss that Joe stole your idea.

b. complain to your other coworkers that Joe is a liar and a cheat.

c. vow to never share your ideas with Joe again. And in the meantime you come up with some killer trivia questions..

9. A few weeks into your part-time job as a receptionist at an orthodontist's office, you find yourself with long stretches of free time on your hands. You:

a. call up your friends, surf the Net, and play computer solitaire--anything to while away the time.

b. offer to create a simple home page on the Web for the doctor's practice.

c. sit quietly at the ready.

10. You need to take a Saturday off next month for a family reunion, but you fear your boss at Lacy's department store won't let you since it's such a busy time of year. You:

a. break the news to Grandma Daisy that you won't be able to attend this year's reunion.

b. call in sick the day of the reunion.

c. tell your supervisor about the conflict and offer to make up the hours on another shift.

SCORING

1. a/1, b/3, c/2

2. a/2, b/1, c/3

3. a/3, b/1, c/2

4. a/1, b/2, c/3

5. a/1, b/3, c/2

6. a/2, b/3, c/1

7. a/3, b/2, c/1

8. a/2, b/1, c/3

9. a/1, b/3, c/2

10. a/2, b/1, c/3

TOTAL

(24-30) Wonderful Worker

You're savvy about the working world and you have a good handle on how to get--and keep--a job. You understand the importance of appearances--whether it's having a suitable e-mail address, appropriate attire, or a healthy (but not greedy) appetite at a business lunch. And you know that communication is key. You're not afraid to talk to your boss when problems arise. "It's important to admit and to make amends for your mistakes right away," says Marci Taub, career counselor and coauthor of "Work Smart: 250 Smart Moves Your Boss Already Knows" (The Princeton Review/Random House, 1998). "And it's equally vital to ask your supervisor for feedback regularly about how to improve your performance--and, of course, to put these ideas into action."

(18-24) Worker Bee (-minus)

While you're doing okay in some areas, you could work on others. Perhaps it's the subtle aspect of presenting yourself and communicating with others that's giving you a problem. "Making consistent eye contact, listening actively and speaking with--not at--colleagues and customers, and respecting others' preferred ways of communicating (by e-mail, by phone, or face-to-face) are among the subtle, yet powerful, strategies that will help you get ahead in your career," says Taub.