Thursday, January 7, 2010

good enough for government work?

Yesterday I read an article in the paper about the 2010 Census, and how the country is gearing up for another official head count in the next few months. I thought it might be a good employment opportunity, so I set up an appointment to take the test for Field Employee positions this morning. Last night I took the practice test provided online to familiarize myself with the kinds of questions that would be asked.

They're about what you'd expect from a government document. Here's a sample:

(The instructions tell you to refer to a provided outline of a chapter from a census procedures manual in order to answer this question.)

23. Which section of the manual tells how supplies such as pencils, erasers, and paper clips should be stored?

A 2.D2
B 2.D3
C 2.D5
D 2.H2

The correct answer is 2.D3, the section on "Storing small items".
Yup. It's government work all right.
No detail escapes attention.
There are even Official 2010 Census Government Pencils (No. 2 1/2) to use on the test.

Clearly, being a Census Enumerator is a Very Important Job.
I scored a 95 this morning...I'll let you know if that's good enough for government work.

5 comments:

Kyddryn said...

Nope - you're over qualified.

Shade and Sweetwater,
K

mo.stoneskin said...

Nothing brings a smile to my face more than examples of governmental brilliance like this.

Sparx said...

Seriously - to qualify for the job you are being tested on... the manual??? HAhahahahahaHAHAHA!!! I love it.

I've memed you by the way. Don't hate me!

BOSSY said...

Wow, interesting. Keep us posted.

San Diego Momma said...

95? Way overqualified.