This is the third in a four-part series looking at psychometric testing.
Lots of employers use situational judgement tests (SJTs) during their recruitment stage, particularly at graduate level.
SJTs measure your behaviour and attitudes to work-related scenarios. With a bit of “insider knowledge” you will have nothing to fear. This is where it is most likely to have a substantial advantage to ‘understand’ the corporate environment or culture, from having done ‘relevant’ work experience. Possibly reading all the books in the world about what it is like to work in a City environment won’t fully prepare you for such tests. However, here is one very good book, which is available on Amazon UK:
It is therefore perfectly possible for you to ‘train’ to become good at these tests. Currently organisations as diverse as Waitrose, the NHS, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Sony, Wal-Mart, Deloitte, John Lewis, the law firms Herbert Smith and Eversheds, the Fire Service and many more, are using SJTs as part of their recruitment process.
Situational judgement tests present candidates with a range of different situations that they might experience in the job for which they are applying. For each situation, a number of possible actions are suggested. There may be around 3 actions, but this varies. It is the candidate’s job to choose between these possible options and judge which is the most effective course of action to take and therefore which action they would take if faced with this situation.
SJTs are always multiple-choice; no answers other than the options listed are allowed.? The ‘name of the game’ is not to have an in-depth discussion over the various pros and cons of the various options on offer; often one of the options will be completely daft according to most reasonable people.
The situations (or “scenarios” as they are sometimes called) are almost always reflective of a real-life aspect of the job. SJTs are usually designed using ‘Subject Matter Experts’ – usually people who are successful at the job themselves. These experts are asked to suggest likely scenarios with which a jobholder might be faced and also to suggest possible responses and rate these responses for effectiveness. This forms the basis of the scoring system for the test. So in other words, how closely your responses match the answers rated highly by the ‘experts’ will determine how well you do on the test.
For employers, SJTs are a very cost effective, powerful and convenient way to select the potential strong performers from a large group of candidates. Employers will be more likely to use an SJT if they have a high volume of candidates applying for a role or position and if they recruit for this position on a regular basis.
How should you prepare for a SJT?
It has been suggested that one of the best ways to be prepared for a selection test, including a situational judgement test, is to be aware of what the test is seeking to measure. In other words, what aspects of you, as a candidate is the test hoping to pick up on?
Competencies are bundles of skills, abilities and personality traits which are considered by most experts to contribute to good job performance. The relevant competencies will vary according to the job or job-type being considered. As a law student applying for a training contract, you will normally be expected to demonstrate “graduate level competences”.
Graduate competencies will reflect the range of skills, abilities and styles that are effective at a graduate entry level role in an organisation.
They are unlikely to include managerial competencies such as ‘directing others’ and ‘strategic thinking’.
They will probably include some, or all, of the following:
- Communicating, influencing and negotiating – looking for clarity, appropriateness and persuasiveness? of communication.
- Drive to achieve results – looking for motivation and drive to achieve high standards and deliver results on time.
- Planning and organising – looking for the tendency to approach tasks in a systematic and organised fashion, to prioritise activities and manage time.
- Analysis and decision-making – looking for accurate and timely analysis of information, facts and data and good judgement with regard to what course of action to take based on that information.
- People and relationship skills – looking for capacity to build effective working relationships, to have empathy and awareness of others and work well in a team.
No particular training or knowledge is required to take this type of test. However, as mentioned above, if practice tests are available on the employing organisation’s website, or elsewhere, it is well worth taking full advantage of these.
When you sit down to take the test, look closely at the detail of both the situation, the possible answers, what you are being asked to comment on and also whether you are being asked for your judgement or information about your most likely response. It is important that you read each scenario thoroughly.
Another point is that, as for ability tests, you are expected to use only the information provided in the question; do not make assumptions about the situation or scenario, even if it is similar to one that you have come across yourself in the past.
And finally, as mentioned above, if you have been given information about the competencies assessed then keep this in the back of your mind as you progress through the test. If you haven’t been given this information then make your best guess as to the competencies that are typical of the role for which you are applying. By identifying the competency or competencies that the question is addressing you can more easily get into the correct ‘mindset’ to judge the options effectively.
Example questions
1. Your friend, who has always been your competitor at law school, is about to give a Powerpoint presentation on share acquisitions in Korea as a trainee, and you know that the Managing Associate is looking forward to this presentation with interest. However, there appears to be a mechanical fault with accessing Broadband, and the only copy of the file is an email which she sent to you to check yesterday. You saved it on your memory stick, which you happen to have brought to the meeting. You know the memory stick is compatible with the computer she is using for her presentation. How do you decide to proceed?
Pretend you have forgotten the memory stick, and you cannot help. (0%)
Offer to upload the presentation on her computer using the memory stick, but to offer also to download the file from the internet if that fails from a neighbouring computer. (94%)
Ask the Managing Associate for help, to demonstrate that you enjoy teamwork. (6%)
2. You are a trainee in the corporate finance seat in London where all team members are extremely busy. You have recently been liaising with ten particular clients on an almost daily basis in France. Your Supervisor has asked you to canvass for opinions of various clients in different countries towards the recent fall in stock prices in the European markets. You feel you do not have time to do this task on your own in time. Which of the options do you consider first?
Seek help from other trainees to help you to write the report, and ask other trainees which clients should be contacted. (24%)
Seek help from other trainees to help you to write the report, and contact some or all of the ten clients to ask them for their opinions. (47%)
Research the information which could be obtained from the clients and punctually write a report. (28%)
