Census test

Since my mother was very much into genealogy I thought it would be neat to get a temporary job as a census worker (enumerator) as mom loved looking at old censuses.

Monday afternoon I went to the local job service to apply for a job as a census worker (enumerator) and to take their test. Census bureau workers were in Kalispell for the day and gave tests at 9 am, 11 am, 1 pm, and 3 pm. I elected to take the 3 pm test as I wanted to make sure I would have time to shovel out my driveway. Of course it snowed again overnight. A couple more inches.

The census bureau testing was held at the local job service center. The job service's receptionist had a noticeable Russian accent. My name was not on the list. In fact no one's name was on the list, just "position filled" for about a dozen lines. She took down my name in an empty line. As I believe she was of Russian heritage I should not have been surprised that she didn't have trouble spelling my name.

Then it was to wait as the census workers were behind schedule and were still with the 1 pm group. Our 3 pm group was started at 3:15 pm. The room was filled with 25 to 30 people to take the test. We were all crowded together on two rows of tables. To prevent cheating, tests A, B, C and D were handed out so you did not sit next to someone taking the same test as you.

The census workers were not organized. There were several forms to fill out before taking the test and we didn't get them until we were in the room. It would have helped if we could have filled them out when waiting. We also got folders on which we have to write our name and county and state location. One worker told us to write on the right side and the other worker later said to write on the left side. The people who wrote on the right side had to flip their folder inside out and rewrite it on the left side.

Also two forms of id were required unless one had a passport (which I had brought). A good number of people only had one form of id, a driver's license. They will have to come back and present the second id in person another day when the census workers are back in town.

People with military service get up to an additional 10 points added to their test score. The tests were graded on a scale of zero to 100%.

No one currently in law enforcement, or who work for the tax assessor departments, are allowed to work as census workers. We were told it was because the census workers work under strict confidentiality in order to gain the trust of the people taking the census. Law enforcement or tax assessors by law would have to report anything illegal and not having them work as census workers would remove any potential conflict in their duties.

Looking at some of the people taking the test a few looked like they could fall on the other side of the law. I could imagine a number of people being afraid of their looks and not answering the door if they knocked to gather census info.

The test was very simple: can you sort alphabetically, order numbers in sequence, order dates newest to oldest or vice-versa, match names up between two columns, read a very simple map, add and multiply decimal numbers without using a calculator, count, determine the meaning of a few words, figure out the best rewrite of a confusing paragraph, etc. For those of us born before calculators were invented the math seemed absurdly easy. The whole test was easy and if I got any of the 28 questions wrong it was because I made a dumb mistake.

We had 30 minutes to answer the 28 questions. The census worker announced when 15 minutes had passed and I already had done 23 of the 28 questions. When I was done I double checked my answers.

While we took the test the census worker went over our applications and checked our id. Some people wanted to leave as soon as they finished the test and handed in their test and got their id back. Other people not needing to leave early also went up to her table even though we were suppose to wait until the 30 minutes are up. A number of people taking the test didn't seem to be the sharpest sticks in the woods. Initially I thought the test was a waste of time as it was so easy. But after seeing some of the people I changed my mind. The test could be useful.

With all the people wanting to leave the census worker got distracted and didn't call for an end to taking the test until 37 minutes had passed. That didn't matter as it appeared most everyone finished taking the test on time.

Half the people had left before another census worker came, and with a large map he unrolled, you had to show where you lived so they could know your five or six digit grid id.  Supposedly this would be the first place they would have you work.

Initially we were told the tests would be graded at the end and we would learn our score. The guy on my right and I wanted to learn our scores and waited until everyone else had gotten their ids back to leave. But it was 5 pm and she decided not to grade the answers.

On the application, for education I listed my degrees in Computer Science and Russian and Soviet Studies. When going over my application she noticed my Russian major and commented I should have listed Russian as an extra language on another line asking for what languages you know. I told her I was not fluent - far from it and it had been a few decades since my degree in Russian. She said knowing a language is like riding a bicycle and once doesn't forget it. Not if one was never really fluent to begin with. I left the 'languages known other than English' section blank.  Apparently it helps if you know more than one language.

Even though the census is in 2010 they are doing stuff in 2009 to prepare for it.  So I may get a call or I may not. I'll see what happens.

*update*  I did not get a census job in 2009 even though my test score was 97%.  I did re-take the census test in 2010 and that story can be found here.