"I am Obi Wan Kenobi!"

Can a "Star Wars" personality test help you choose a new career? Well, it's sure fun trying.

Published May 27, 1999 4:00PM (EDT)

The first time I took the "Star Wars" personality quiz, my multiple choice answers revealed that I am a man of great wisdom and panache, not to mention pretty mean with a light saber. I had the same personality as Obi Wan Kenobi! The women in my family
no doubt would find this revelation something to giggle at, but in their heart of hearts they know it's true -- I'm a young Alec Guinness, and always will be.

The second time I went through the quiz, I tried picking all the opposite answers -- figuring I'd be Darth Vader for sure. But no, I got to be Boba
Fett,
the bounty hunter, instead. Humph. Boba was no slouch, but as I recall he ended up falling into a huge pit and being devoured by an unspeakably gruesome monster. Not for me.

The third time, I finally got it right. I guess Darth Vader must not be multilingual, because I think that was one of the few answers on the quiz I changed. Neither Vader nor Boba Fett cared (obviously) about bad haircuts, and neither of them was ever very good at accepting blame.

Ah the joys of Web-based
personality tests. Like popcorn or peanuts, you can't just eat one, you have to keep clicking and clicking and clicking, desperate to find the combination that will prove you really are Scary Spice, or, at the very least, the fifth Beatle.

The "Star Wars" personality quiz is offered by Career Path, one of the flock of job-finding Web start-ups making a splash these days. It's a nice PR gimmick -- once you've figured out whether you lean more toward Princess Leia than R2-D2, you can rummage around the site to see if there are any jobs available
for intergalactic royalty or gay robots. Can anyone argue that this isn't a vitally important service?


By Andrew Leonard

Andrew Leonard is a staff writer at Salon. On Twitter, @koxinga21.

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