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Practice Situational Judgement Test 3
Questions Booklet
This is an example situational judgement test (SJT) which will allow you to become familiar
with this format of test. SJTs are commonly used by employers as part of their selection
process.
If you have been invited to sit a SJT this simply means the employer is trying to establish
how you would potentially behave in different situations. The fictional situations you will face
are usually designed by the employer to simulate the kind of decision-making you might be
faced with during your employment with them. Employers will have a set of responses which
reflects how their ideal candidate would respond. Your responses can be compared against
their model responses to help the employer decide if you are a good fit within their
organisation. But remember this test is just one contributing factor to a rounded selection
process; employers will never use the results from one test in isolation, so don't worry if you
feel you haven't done well.
There is no time limit to this test however your first answers are usually the most accurate,
so try not to spend too long thinking about each one. There are four different scenarios to
this test and each scenario contains four questions.
Section 1: Most and Least Likely to Perform (Scenario 1)
Section 2: Ranked Response (Scenario 2)
Section 3: Most and Least Effective (Scenario 3)
Section 4: Rated Responses (Scenario 4)
The questions begin on the next page
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1. Most and Least Likely to Perform
In this test you will be asked to imagine yourself in a number of different scenarios and roles.
You will be presented with situations and asked to select the response you believe you
would be ‘most’ and ‘least’ likely to make to these situations from a range of options. It is
recommended you read all the possible responses before deciding how to respond.
As this test is designed to help you practice your approach to Situational Judgement Tests,
commentary is provided giving information on which answers are considered to be most
effective, least effective and which answers are somewhere in between. Of course, there is
always a certain level of judgement involved with regard to how effective each response is
likely to be.
The commentary provided is based on a considered understanding of global, generic
competencies for each level; in other words, what ‘most’ organisations and employers would
expect from their employees.
The ideal response will vary from organisation to organisation and this should be borne in
mind when completing an SJT in a live, recruitment context. Being aware of the
organisational competencies, culture and style of your potential employer is very important
when deciding your answers to a Situational Judgement Test, in addition to drawing on your
own experience, skills and approach.
SCENARIO 1
You are a manager at the Saldringham branch of a national DIY superstore chain. The chain
is called Distinctly DIY and you are one of 4 duty managers who work daily shifts at the
Saldringham store and who report to the Store Manager.
The store is divided into two main areas; 1) interior DIY, plumbing and decorating and 2)
exterior DIY, gardening, garden buildings and furniture. There are usually 2 duty managers
working on any one shift and each duty manager will be responsible for one of the two
areas. The shifts are 7.30am to 3.30pm and 12.30pm to 8.30pm. The store is open 8am to
8pm every day apart from Sundays when it is open from 10am to 4pm. The duty manager is
responsible for managing staff, overseeing stock control and dealing with any difficult
customer complaints or queries. There are 8 full-time shift team leaders who report to the
duty managers and act as shopfloor supervisors whilst also serving customers.
When a fellow duty manager is on annual or sick leave then the other duty manager and the
Store Manager share responsibility for managing their half of the store.
There are 84 staff employed at your branch in total, on both a part-time and full-time basis.
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Situation 1
You have arrived for work at 7.30am on a Friday to find that, out of the 19 staff due in for the
early shift on the ‘exterior DIY and gardening’ area, five have not turned up. You are
responsible for this area today.
All five of the absent staff have caught a severe flu-like virus which is affecting a high
number of people in Saldringham at the moment. Today is due to be very busy as you are
expecting a large delivery of garden sheds and Fridays are often quite busy in the shop as
people pop in to stock up on DIY and gardening supplies for the weekend. The gardening
team leader and the exterior DIY team leader inform you that to unload the delivery and deal
with the store customers effectively this morning they need a minimum team of 17 people.
Review the following responses A to D and indicate which one you believe to be the
response to the situation you would be ‘most likely to make’ and the response to the
situation which you would be ‘least likely to make’.
Most likely to Least likely to
make make
Delegate the problem to the team leaders to sort out.
Tell the team leaders to engage three agency staff today to
deal with the delivery and other outstanding tasks.
Call a staff meeting and tell all staff to make sure they get an
inoculation against the virus.
Call all members of the part-time Saturday staff team and ask
whether they can come in today for a few hours.
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Situation 2:
Over the past few weeks you have noticed a drop in performance from one of the team
leaders, Brenda Backley. She is usually a positive, efficient and communicative team leader.
However, recently she has been late on a number of occasions and her demeanour has
been lacking in energy. She has failed to lead her team to meet their sales targets on two
consecutive weeks which is very unusual for Brenda. Brenda is a shift team leader for the
bathroom, kitchen and plumbing team.
Brenda mentioned to you a month or so ago that she and her husband were undertaking a
trial separation but since then she hasn’t talked to you about it. This may partly be because
she has been working on different shifts from you and you have frequently been rostered
away from her area. Today you are duty manager for the ‘interior DIY, plumbing and
decorating’ area and Brenda is working the same shift as you.
Review the following responses A to D and indicate which one you believe to be the
response to the situation you would be ‘most likely to make’ and the response to the
situation which you would be ‘least likely to make’.
Most likely to Least likely to
make make
Ask Brenda how she is doing and whether she’s still enjoying
her job at Distinctly DIY.
Have a chat with Brenda in private, bring up her decline in
sales figures and mention her change in behaviour. Ask her
what her view is on this problem and ask how you can help.
Talk to Brenda and tell her that she shouldn’t allow her
personal problems to influence her behaviour at work. Tell
her that you would like to see an improvement in her sales
figures very soon.
Ask one of Brenda’s close friends at work to have a word with
her and find out what is going on. Tell the friend that she
should encourage Brenda to ask for help if she needs it.
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Situation 3:
It is 8.45am on a Monday and you have returned to the managers’ office from your morning
‘floorwalk’ to find an urgent email on your laptop. The email is addressed to the Store
Manager and Duty Managers of the Saldringham store. It is from Head Office saying that
Brian Bentley, the Director of Retail & Merchandising, is going to drop in to the Saldringham
branch today for a brief visit on his way to a meeting in London. He will be arriving at about
10.30am and is hoping to have a chat with the management team and some of the shopfloor
staff and team leaders just to say hi and get a feel for the store. He would also like to see
the last month’s sales figures and details of any ongoing stock or merchandising issues. You
have never met Brian before as he is a recent hire onto the Distinctly DIY Board of Directors.
Review the following responses A to D and indicate which one you believe to be the
response to the situation you would be ‘most likely to make’ and the response to the
situation which you would be ‘least likely to make’.
Most likely to Least likely to
make make
Let Brian see your area ‘warts and all’ and do little more than your
usual morning routine until he arrives. After all he can’t make
useful suggestions or an assessment of the operation if you
present a false impression.
Inform your area team that Brian Bentley is visiting this morning
and tell them who he is by researching Brian’s background on the
Distinctly DIY intranet site. Check with the other managers that
someone is dealing with the request for the sales figures.
Walk the floor again to inform the shift staff and team leaders on
your area this morning that they must be on their best behaviour
for Brian as he is a very important person and there might be
implications for the store if he is unimpressed.
Hunker down with some paperwork in your office and leave the
other managers to meet and greet Brian; he doesn’t need the
whole store to turn out to speak to him.
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Situation 4:
Distinctly DIY have decided to run a nationwide promotion on their own-brand fitted
bathrooms. There is to be a national TV and press advertising campaign starting next week
to promote the Distinctly bespoke bathroom fitting service. Customers are being offered a
chance to benefit from a free design and fitting service for their bathroom if they purchase a
Distinctly own-brand bathroom suite during the next 8 weeks.
The Saldringham store expects that this will be a very popular promotional offer as the
design and fitting can add a reasonable amount onto the overall cost of a new bathroom
after the hardware has been purchased. You have been charged with managing the
presentation of the promotion in store. You need to set up a display bathroom using the
Distinctly own-brand products and place posters and information stands around the display
containing information about the promotion. However, there is no available space in the
bathroom section at the moment for such a large display.
Review the following responses A to D and indicate which one you believe to be the
response to the situation you would be ‘most likely to make’ and the response to the
situation which you would be ‘least likely to make’.
Most likely to Least likely to
make male
Temporarily dismantle the sample bathroom suite of the leading
bathroom hardware brand to allow space for the promotional
display.
Set up the display in the checkout area at the front of the store
where there is space and it will be spotted by a high number of
customers.
Inform your Store Manager that there is no space available at
present for the in-store display and that you will put promotional
leaflets at the checkout instead.
Work with the bathroom, kitchen and plumbing shift team leaders
to decide how the bathroom section can be rearranged to
accommodate the temporary display. If necessary, suggest
splitting the promotional information between the front of the store
and the bathroom section.
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2. Ranked Responses
In these questions you will be asked to imagine yourself in a number of different scenarios
and roles. You will be presented with situations and asked to rank each of the responses to
these situations from 1 to 4 with regard to your opinion of their effectiveness.
As this test is designed to help you practice your approach to Situational Judgement Tests,
commentary is provided giving information on which answers are considered to be the most
effective response, the second, the third and the least effective response. Of course, there is
always a level of judgement involved with regard to how effective each response is likely to
be, and some people may have different opinions.
The commentary provided is based on a considered understanding of global, generic
competencies for each level of role; what ‘most’ organisations and employers would expect
from their employees. The ideal response may vary from organisation to organisation and
this should be borne in mind when sitting an SJT in a live, recruitment context. Being aware
of the organisational competencies, culture and style, as well as drawing on your own
experience and skills, is very important when deciding your answers to a Situational
Judgement Test.
SCENARIO 2
You are currently employed as an Operational Manager for UK Airports plc. You are based
at Saldringham Airport which is a small but growing airport serving primarily domestic
destinations but which has recently added a selection of international routes, mainly to
popular holiday destinations. The airports serves approximately 2 million passengers per
year.
There are 4 Operational Managers working at Saldringham Airport, you all report in to the
Director of Airport Services, Sheela Bharvi. You work on a rotational basis as Duty
Managers. The airport operates from 5am to 11pm daily and therefore two Duty Managers
are rostered on each day to cover the full opening hours. The first shift is 5am to 2pm and
the second is 2pm to 11pm. You work on a ‘4 days on 3 days off’ basis each week;
therefore, there is usually one day per week when all four managers are working. This
enables communication and planning to take place between the team and for issues to be
resolved which need general agreement. Sheela usually makes sure that she is available on
the day when all four managers are working at once so that a proper team meeting can be
held.
Your responsibilities as Duty Manager are to ensure the smooth running of the airport,
including passenger services, commercial operations, security and airside services. Your
primary aim is to allow flights to depart on time, safely and with a “fantastic passenger
experience”. You also have commercial targets to encourage passenger spending in your
retail tenants’ shops and premises throughout the airport.
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Situation 1:
You have just come out of the operational management team meeting for this week. It is
Sunday 4th April. You are on shift this afternoon from 2pm to 11pm. In the meeting, Sheela
Bharvi informed the team that the UK Airports plc senior management felt that Saldringham
Airport was underperforming in its non-food retail sales, compared to other similar size
airports in the group. They want to see Saldringham’s figures for this type of sales increase
in the first quarter of this year, by 25%. These sales include electrical goods, toiletries and
pharmaceuticals, luggage, clothes and gift items. Sheela informed you all that the senior
managers had no specific directions as to how you should achieve this target; they were
happy to leave this to you to decide within your team.
The two morning shift Duty Managers, Elizabeth Swift and Harvey MacDonald are due to
leave work now, as the meeting with Sheela is over. You are sharing this afternoon’s shift
with Sondra Thuyssen.
Review the following responses A to D and indicate whether you believe the response to be
1 – The most effective response, 2 – The second most effective response, 3 – The
third most effective response or 4 – The least effective response . You may assign each
rating only once.
Most 2nd most 3rd most Least
effective effective effective effective
response response response response
Suggest to Sondra that you and she go to
lunch now and begin the process of planning
how to achieve these targets.
Suggest that when you have your next team
meeting, in a week’s time, you spend some
time generating ideas as to how to achieve
these targets.
Ask Harvey & Elizabeth to stay on for another
half an hour or so now, for a working lunch, to
generate some ideas together as to how you
can achieve this target.
Offer to bring a list of suggestions for pursuing
this target to the meeting next week as a basis
for planning between the four of you.
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Situation 2:
You have just been having an informal catch-up with the Airside Security Team Leader,
Simon Bryant. He informed you during your conversation that one of his team, Graham
Cooper, a Senior Security Officer, has taken a rather high number of sick days over the last
few months. In fact, Graham’s sickness absence for the last three months is much higher (10
days) than it was a year ago for the same period (2 days).
Simon said to you that the sick days have mostly been one day here or there, with no
significant long run of absence. Simon has followed the correct procedures by having a chat
with Graham upon his return from each absence to check that everything is OK; however,
Simon hasn’t been able to work out if there is a serious medical issue or if something else is
going on for Graham. Simon has never had to deal with a case like this before as he is new
to the role of Team Leader. UK Airports plc have a formal interview procedure which a
manager must conduct with a staff member if they are absent for more than 2 days in a
month. Clearly this is now the case for Graham; however Simon is a little anxious about
running this process, due to his relative inexperience.
Review the following responses A to D and indicate whether you believe the response to be
1 – The most effective response, 2 – The second most effective response, 3 – The
third most effective response or 4 – The least effective response . You may assign each
rating only once.
Most 2nd most 3rd most Least
effective effective effective effective
response response response response
Offer to sit in with Simon when he conducts the
meeting and give him feedback afterwards.
Suggest that you conduct the meeting and Simon
can take notes.
Book in some time very soon to talk through the
process of running the sickness absence interview
with Simon and ensure he is confident with the
task.
Give Simon details of the link on the UK Airports
plc internal website which gives full information
about the sickness absence management
procedure.
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Situation 3:
The Airside Security Team is responsible for screening passengers and their luggage for any
harmful devices. This involves a number of procedures, including scans and sometimes a
manual search of the passenger by a Security Officer. This afternoon you have been called
to the security screening area to deal with a disgruntled passenger.
The passenger, whose name is Mrs Selina Hatterson, is objecting to being searched by a
security officer. Mrs Hatterson passed under the walkthrough metal detector. The detector
made an alert noise and the security team requested that Mrs Hatterson step to one side
and submit to a manual scan and over-clothes search, sometimes called a ‘pat down’; she
refused despite the security officer being female. It was suggested that the ‘pat down’ to be
conducted in private; she still refused. She then asked to speak to the person in charge.
Simon Bryant was called and he spoke to her, but she was dissatisfied and asked to speak
to the “real boss”. That is why you have been asked to attend. Mrs Hatterson says that she
is “a seventy-five year old retired solicitor” and says she is not a security threat and is
uncomfortable with being searched.
Mrs Hatterson has now been in the security area for half-an-hour and her plane is due to
take off in 20 minutes. If she doesn’t comply with security she will not be allowed to board
her plane.
Review the following responses A to D and indicate whether you believe the response to be
1 – The most effective response, 2 – The second most effective response, 3 – The
third most effective response or 4 – The least effective response . You may assign each
rating only once.
Most 2nd most 3rd most Least
effective effective effective effective
Say to Mrs Hatterson that you can understand
how she feels but that there is nothing you can
do about UK law unfortunately.
Escort Mrs Hatterson out of the airport terminal
with her luggage and tell her she will not be flying
today as she hasn’t complied with security
procedures.
Sit down with Mrs Hatterson and explain that she
has a choice, but that if she chooses not to take
part in the security process then she will not be
allowed to fly.
Tell Mrs Hatterson that she has only 20 minutes
left to get on her flight.
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Situation 4:
You have received an email from Sheela Bharvi stating that Chips Airline, a small but
growing ‘no frills’ provider, has made a request which needs to be considered and
responded to in the next week. She wants to know your views on Chips’ requirements and
has asked that you email her back by close-of-play today.
Chips Airline currently runs three return flights a day from Saldringham Airport, one each to
three major UK cities. Because Chips are cheap, punctual and have a fun image, their
popularity is growing. Chips’ CEO Georgiou O’Donnell is known for the innovative and
groundbreaking changes that he has made to the airline industry. He now wants to introduce
standing room only flights on the three Chips routes to and from Saldringham. Passengers
would stand up throughout the entire flight and be made safe through a secure harness for
take-off and landing. This would enable Chips to double the number of passengers per flight
and to charge its passengers even less for their tickets.
The implications for Saldringham Airport are that passenger numbers could increase but that
there would be no increased revenue for the airport as airlines are charged per flight for the
services that the airport provides.
Review the following responses A to D and indicate whether you believe the response to be
1 – The most effective response, 2 – The second most effective response, 3 – The
third most effective response or 4 – The least effective response . You may assign each
rating only once.
Most 2nd most 3rd most Least
effective effective effective effective
Recommend that Sheela refuses the request.
Recommend that Sheela accept the request
and UK Airports plc renegotiate their contract
with Chips Airline to enable an increase in
service charges.
Recommend that Sheela accept the request
and that the airport look at ways to maximise
commercial revenue from those extra
passengers.
Ask your fellow Duty Managers for their views
before you give your input to Sheela.
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3. Most and Least Effective Responses
In these questions you will be asked to imagine yourself in a number of different scenarios
and roles. You will be presented with situations and asked to select the ‘most’ and the ‘least’
effective responses to these situations from a range of options.
As this test is designed to help you practice your approach to Situational Judgement Tests,
commentary is provided giving information on which answers are considered to be most
effective, least effective and which answers are somewhere in between. Of course, there is
always a certain level of judgement involved with regard to how effective each response is
likely to be, which in practice will be applied by the company for whom the test is being
conducted. You will see that with situational judgement tests you might find yourself thinking
"it depends"; this is almost inevitable but the consensus is that over the range of questions,
your responses will average out and your true behaviour characteristics will be revealed.
The commentary provided is based on a considered understanding of global, generic
competencies for each level; in other words, what ‘most’ organisations and employers would
expect from their employees.
The ideal response will vary from organisation to organisation and this should be borne in
mind when completing a situational judgement test in a live, recruitment context. Being
aware of the organisational competencies, culture and style of your potential employer is
very important when deciding your answers to a Situational Judgement Test, in addition to
drawing on your own experience, skills and approach. It would help if you have an
understanding of the culture and attitudes of the company you are applying to. Often, the
company describe the qualities they are looking for in the job advertisement, or on their
website.
SCENARIO 3
You are the manager of a distribution depot for SuperSwift Deliveries. SuperSwift provide
clients with a timely courier and distribution service for dry goods of any volume or weight.
The company has a chain of depots throughout the UK and a fleet of large volume lorries for
moving goods large distances around the country. Each depot also has a number of smaller
collection and delivery vans. These vans are used for local distribution of goods once they
have been sorted and prioritised for delivery at the depot. They are also used to collect
goods from customers to sort for outbound distribution to other parts of the country.
You manage 52 depot processing staff who work in 3 shifts (each shift has a Shift Manager)
to sort the goods that arrive from other depots and from local customers. You also have a
team of 36 collection and delivery drivers who report to a Delivery Team Manager who
reports into you. The lorry drivers, who bring goods into the depot from elsewhere in the
country and who collect goods for national distribution, are managed centrally from
SuperSwift HQ and are not your direct managerial responsibility.
The depot is open 24 hours a day, 364 days a year.
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Situation 1:
You have arrived for work at 7.30am on a Tuesday and your morning shift manager tells you
that, out of the 16 staff due in for the 6am - 2pm shift, six have not turned up. The absences
are due to a mixture of illness and personal issues. Tuesday mornings are usually very busy
and today is no exception. There are already three lorries waiting to be dealt with in the
loading and unloading bays. Your shift manager informs you that to clear the workload
effectively this morning he needs a minimum team of 13 people.
Review the following responses A to D and indicate which you believe to be the ‘most
effective’ response to the situation and which the ‘least effective’.
Most Least
effective effective
Delegate the problem to the Shift Manager to sort out; it’s his team
after all.
Tell the Shift Manager to employ three agency staff for the
remainder of the shift.
Phone the six staff members who haven’t turned up and urge them
to come into work, as it is a dire emergency.
Reassign some of the morning shift delivery drivers, none of whom
are absent today, to help with the depot processing work until the
backlog is cleared.
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Situation 2:
Over the past few weeks you have noticed a drop in performance from your Delivery Team
Manager, Stanley Hillman. He is usually an upbeat, punctual, efficient and well-liked
manager. However, recently he has been late on a number of occasions, his demeanour has
been lacking in energy, even sad at times, and this is affecting the morale of the delivery
drivers. Some of the drivers have come to you to say that they are worried about Stanley
and that they think he may be having personal problems. He has spoken to you about his
twenty-year old daughter before who had been involved with drugs and had ‘gone off the
rails’, although he hasn’t talked about her to you for a few months.
Review the following responses A to D and indicate which you believe to be the ‘most
effective’ response to the situation and which the ‘least effective’.
Most Least
effective effective
Do nothing for the moment. If Stanley’s daughter is causing him
emotional upset then there’s not a lot you can do about it and he’s
quite resilient so he’ll probably pull through this one himself and be
back to his usual self soon.
Check Stanley’s paperwork for the past month to make sure his
work is still to a high standard. Set aside a convenient hour for a
one-to-one chat with Stanley. Talk him through the changes in his
behaviour (and performance, if appropriate) that you have noticed
and suggest that his staff may have noticed these things as well.
Ask if he is aware of what might have caused his behaviour to
change. Ask if there is anything that you can do to support him at
work. Implement the solutions that Stanley and you agree.
Call Stanley into your office and tell him that he shouldn’t allow his
personal problems to influence his behaviour at work. Tell him that
he has a responsibility for the morale of his staff and that you
would like to see an improvement in his behaviour by the end of
the week.
Check on Stanley’s work record for the past month. Look at his
paperwork returns and completed rosters to get some clues as to
whether his emotional state is having an effect on his work
performance. If his work performance isn’t suffering, then take him
for a drink after work and tell him that he can always talk to you if
he needs a ‘listening ear’.
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Situation 3:
It is 8am on a Monday and you have arrived at work to find an urgent note from your
assistant on your desk. She says that Ms Beverly Thornton, SuperSwift Director of
Operations has called to say she is on her way for a ‘drop in’ visit this morning. She will be
arriving at about 10.30am and hoping to have a chat with you and some of your depot staff
just to see how everything is going. She would also like to see your last quarter’s service
quality figures and details of any ongoing customer issues. You have never met Beverly
before as she is a recent addition onto the SuperSwift Board of Directors.
Review the following responses A to D and indicate which you believe to be the ‘most
effective’ response to the situation and which the ‘least effective’.
Most Least
effective effective
Let Beverly ‘take you as she finds you’ and do little more than your
usual morning routine until she arrives. Let the team know she will
be visiting. Ask your assistant to sort out the figures and information
that Beverly has asked to see.
Inform the team that Beverly Thornton is visiting this morning and tell
them who she is. Ask your assistant to sort out the figures and
information that Beverly has asked to see. Review the SuperSwift
company report to remind yourself of Beverly’s background and
career and to make a guess at her likely areas of interest.
Call an emergency meeting of the depot processing shift staff and
the drivers who are not out on the road. State that they must put on
a ‘good display’ for Beverly as she is a very senior manager and
there might be implications for the depot if she takes a poor view.
Do nothing apart from your usual work; you are confident that
Beverly will be impressed with what she finds in your depot.
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Situation 4:
You have just attended the regularly scheduled depot managers meeting which is called on
a monthly basis by the Regional Operations Manager (ROM). During the meeting the ROM
announced that SuperSwift intend to introduce a new ‘express’ service for customers who
want items delivered in the local area within 2 hours. The service would be run and managed
from the local depot using only the depot delivery vans and drivers, not the lorries used for
the national routes. SuperSwift expect depots to introduce this service in 2 months' time
following a marketing campaign which will run for 3 weeks prior to the launch of the service.
Your ROM informed you all that you would not be receiving any additional budget or staffing
to run this service. The reason for this is that it is anticipated that most customers for the
service will be existing ‘national delivery service’ customers and so drivers won’t have to
make too many extra route stops to pick or drop off the ‘express’ delivery items.
Review the following responses A to D and indicate which you believe to be the ‘most
effective’ response to the situation and which the ‘least effective’.
Most Least
effective effective
Consider all the relevant information (the delivery driver route plans,
the route timings and the location of customers throughout your depot
area) and formulate a plan for providing the express service (A to B
within 2 hours) without the need for additional resources whilst also
maintaining the usual ‘national delivery’ collections and drops.
Ask Stanley Hillman, the Delivery Team Manager to consider the
delivery driver route plans, route timings and geographical spread of
customers and to come to you with a solution to running the ‘express’
service.
Brief all your delivery drivers, and Stanley Hillman, the Delivery Team
Manager, about the new service. Delegate responsibility for ensuring
the service runs effectively to the individual delivery drivers with
freedom to implement the service on their route as they see fit.
Arrange a meeting with Stanley Hillman, the Delivery Team Manager,
and a number of the more experienced delivery drivers as soon as
possible. At the meeting, look at the current delivery driver route plans,
route timings and geographical spread of customers. As a team, work
on devising the optimum method for introducing the new service.
Present the whole team of delivery drivers with your suggested method
and ask for comments before implementation.
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4. Rated Responses
In these questions you will be asked to imagine yourself in a number of different scenarios
and roles. You will be presented with situations and asked to rate each of the responses to
these situations on a 5 point scale. You may assign each rating only once.
As this test is designed to help you practice your approach to Situational Judgement Tests,
commentary is provided giving information on which answers are considered to be Very
Effective, Effective, Slightly Effective, Ineffective or Counterproductive. Of course, there is
always a certain level of judgement involved with regard to how effective each response is
likely to be, which in practice will be applied by the company for whom the test is being
conducted.
The commentary provided is based on a considered understanding of global, generic
competencies for each level of role; what ‘most’ organisations and employers would expect
from their employees. The ideal response may vary from organisation to organisation and
this should be borne in mind when sitting an SJT in a live, recruitment context. Being aware
of the organisational competencies, culture and style, as well as drawing on your own
experience and skills, is very important when deciding your answers to a Situational
Judgement Test. It would help if you have an understanding of the culture and attitudes of
the company you are applying to. Often, the company describe the qualities they are looking
for in the job advertisement, or on their website.
SCENARIO 4
You are a manager of a product advisory team in Dunlow & Farnham (D&F), a company that
provides financial services to private customers in the UK. D&F have a broad range of
products such as mortgages, savings accounts, secured loans and personal loans.
Your team of advisors are responsible for advising customers and potential customers on
which D&F product is right for them; they have sales targets which vary from product-to-
product. Your team deals with customers across the East Midlands region of England (This
encompasses the combined area of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Northamptonshire,
Nottinghamshire and most of Lincolnshire.)
D&F do not have high street branches so advisers meet customers in their homes or talk to
them over the phone. Most of your advisors work from home and are located across the
region. The East Midlands region is very large and it is advantageous to have a geographical
spread of advisors working across the area.
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Situation 1:
Traditionally your product advisors have received information about new customers from the
UK sales call centre who would take customer details and arrange an appointment with the
advisor nearest to the customer’s home address. Lately there has been an increase in web-
based contact from new customers who complete an online form which is processed by the
admin team and which also results in a first appointment.
The D&F senior managers now believe that the web traffic is key to their sales & marketing
strategy and they are going to make it possible for customers to review and purchase
products directly on the D&F website without the need for a product advisor at all. This
initiative is due to ‘go live’ in January, it is currently November. You have been firmly told that
your advisors’ sales targets won’t be adjusted downwards until the new financial year begins
in April. Therefore, your advisors will face a big challenge in meeting their targets in the final
quarter of this financial year.
Review the following responses A to E and indicate whether you believe the response to be
Very Effective, Effective, Slightly Effective, Ineffective or Counterproductive. You may
assign each rating only once.
Very Slightly Counter-
Effective Ineffective
Effective Effective productive
Calculate the likely loss in sales
revenue from new customers for your
team during the next quarter.
Communicate this information to the
team and ask them to direct their efforts
towards increasing the spend of existing
customers, and maximising the spend
of the new customers that they do get,
to the value of the likely loss.
Call Head Office and ask them to
change their minds about the sales
targets.
Leave the advisors to get on with it.
They’ve got enough to do without you
calling them in for meetings and wasting
their time with ‘management speak’.
Hold a team meeting and give the team
a ‘pep’ talk saying that you know it will
be tough but they are all exceptional at
their jobs and if anyone can do it, they
can.
Have a one-to-one meeting / phone call
with each of your advisors and talk
through the implications of the direct
web sales initiative for them. Ask them
to calculate their predicted lost sales
and ask their opinion on how they might
achieve these sales elsewhere.
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Situation 2:
It is now half way through February. Direct sales on the website have reduced first customer
appointments for your team of advisors by 37%. Despite this most of your team have
managed to keep pace with their sales targets. However your advisor who has responsibility
for the Derbyshire patch, Jan Grosvenor, is some way off from meeting the quarterly sales
targets. In addition to being behind in her sales, she cancelled 3 appointments last month
with existing customers and booked them in for early March instead; you are unsure as to
why she has done this.
Review the following responses A to E and indicate whether you believe the response to be
Very Effective, Effective, Slightly Effective, Ineffective or Counterproductive. You may
assign each rating only once.
Very Slightly Counter-
Effective Ineffective
Effective Effective productive
Ask for a meeting with Jan as a matter
of urgency. Tell her she is currently not
on track to meet her quarterly targets
and ask whether she has any problems
or concerns that you can help her with.
Tell her you are aware of her re-
scheduling three appointments and ask
her what was going on there.
Email Jan to let her know that she is
behind her colleagues this quarter with
regard to sales; call to apologise to the
customers whose appointments she
cancelled.
Call Jan and tell her that her
performance is unacceptable and that
her sales and reliability must improve
immediately.
Ask for a meeting or call with Jan asap.
Talk to her about her progress towards
targets and her re-scheduling of
appointments. Ask her what she feels
would be the best way to tackle these
issues. Offer to help her diagnose the
problem and come up with some
practical solutions.
Talk to Jan about the issues that you
have noticed. Say that you are
concerned about her missing her
targets at the end of March. Say you
will review progress with her every two
weeks from now on to make sure she
gets ‘back on track’.
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Situation 3:
You have just received a call from one of the members of staff at the customer service
contact centre. They have been contacted by a customer from Loughborough in
Leicestershire who has complained that he was unaware of the 6 month notice period on a
high interest savings account that he opened with Dunlow & Farnham last year on the advice
of Bob Prindiville in your advisor team. The customer was quite upset as he had tried to
withdraw the money in his account to pay for his daughter’s wedding and was unable to do
so; he had to use credit cards instead and would now be liable for interest payments until he
could access his money in six months’ time.
Review the following responses A to E and indicate whether you believe the response to be
Very Effective, Effective, Slightly Effective, Ineffective or Counterproductive. You may
assign each rating only once.
Very Slightly Counter-
Effective Ineffective
Effective Effective productive
Immediately contact Bob and inform him
of the situation; ask for the details of the
sale to ascertain whether Bob thinks that
the customer was informed of the notice
period or not. Call the customer and,
depending on Bob’s report, offer
compensation, an apology or an
acknowledgement of their annoyance at
the situation.
Ask Bob to contact the customer and sort
out the situation.
Call the customer and apologise on
behalf of D&F and say you are sorry to
hear about his credit card bills.
Call a team meeting and tell all your
advisors to always make sure that
customers understand the terms and
conditions of products before they
commit.
Ask Bob for details of the sale and also
get the account paperwork from Head
Office to check the customer had signed
where appropriate. Call the customer
and, offer compensation, an apology or
an acknowledgement, as appropriate.
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Situation 4:
You have a new advisor who has just joined the team and taken over the Rutland and North
Leicestershire patch from Bob Prindiville. Her name is Nikki Patel; she has attended a three
week headquarters induction and product training course and it is her first week ‘on patch’
this week. You went out on appointments with her yesterday to provide support where
necessary and she seemed reasonably competent and confident. She has called you this
morning to ask whether you can help her with a customer request that she has had. She is
due to meet the customer this afternoon and he wants her advice on the right loan for his
daughter who has just left University and wants to buy a car. The customer is willing to
guarantee the loan for his daughter.
Review the following responses A to E and indicate whether you believe the response to be
Very Effective, Effective, Slightly Effective, Ineffective or Counterproductive. You may
assign each rating only once.
Very Slightly Counter-
Effective Ineffective
Effective Effective productive
Talk through the details of the customer’s
requirements and situation with Nikki. Find
out what the loan amount is, what the
daughter’s income is likely to be and how
long they want the term of the loan to be.
Choose a product based on this information.
Look at your team’s sales for the last month
and suggest the most popular loan product
based on those data.
Suggest the 3 Year Fixed-Interest Loan as
your team hasn’t sold many of those this
quarter and is falling short of target.
Suggest the ‘Responsible-Guarantor Loan’
with D&F launched 2 years ago. It allows
someone to guarantee a loan for someone
else in case they should default on the
payments.
Gather as much information as you can
from Nikki about the customer and his
daughter. Suggest one or two options and
explain your reasoning to Nikki.
- End of Practice Situational Judgement Test 3 -
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