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Practice Situational Judgement Test 4
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 the manager of a team of financial advisors who provide a service to the high net-
worth private clients of Fiscal Applied Tracking Investment Bank (FATI Bank).
You have a team of 10 advisors and you are responsible for managing the team, supporting
them in achieving their revenue targets and dealing with any client feedback.
Your advisors are specialists in high-value investments and are well-trained in their area of
expertise. They have to work within strict guidelines with regard to the advice that they can
give to clients (for example, they must always be able to demonstrate that they have clearly
explained the risks involved in any investment to their clients).
The advisors have targets for earning commission and other income for FATI Bank which
are reviewed quarterly.
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Situation 1
Your team have been meeting their targets very well so far this year. It is currently late
November, just coming up to the end of the third quarter and the team are on track to meet
or exceed all their revenue targets.
You have just had an email from your line manager (the Head of Private Banking) who has
congratulated you and your team on their performance. He has also said that because of the
success of the team he is increasing their final quarter targets by 20%. In addition he is keen
to see the target for investment by clients in offshore bonds being exceeded in the final
quarter as they are ‘selling like hotcakes’ at the moment and the market is buoyant.
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
Send an email to your team letting them know about the new
targets for Q4.
Call an immediate team meeting to let the team know about
the new targets and say that people are welcome to come to
you if they need further information or support.
Allow the team to enjoy their Christmas holidays, congratulate
them on a job well done this quarter and wait until January to
tell them about the target hike.
Meet individually with all your advisors as soon as possible
and explain the challenge to them. Ask for their thoughts and
input on how they might go about meeting the targets and
addressing the offshore bonds push.
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Situation 2:
It is late January and the team have been working towards an increased target for nearly a
month. You have reviewed their performance informally just to keep tabs on progress and it
appears that most of the advisors are hitting the new targets even with the 20% hike,
although the likelihood of them significantly exceeding the offshore bonds target is low.
However, you have spotted that one of the team, Rick Esposito, is falling behind and has not
even equalled his third quarter performance (based on a like-for-like comparison). You
haven’t seen Rick for a few days as he has been travelling to meet clients elsewhere in the
UK but when you last saw him he looked rather harassed and tired. Another of the advisors
mentioned in passing that Rick had talked about suffering from terrible insomnia at the
moment and not being able to do anything about it. Rick is due in the office today; you have
checked his calendar and he only has one client appointment this afternoon. It appears he is
free this morning.
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’.
Response Response
most likely to least likely to
make make
When Rick arrives take him for a coffee and say that you
know he has got bad insomnia at the moment and that you
feel sorry for him. Remind him of the bank’s employee health
insurance.
When Rick arrives, arrange a one-to-one chat for sometime
this morning. During the meeting, state the issue that exists
with his performance currently. Ask him what his views are on
how to tackle the underperformance. Offer help if appropriate.
As soon as Rick gets into the office, call him aside. Ask him
why he has such an empty calendar today when he is not
meeting his targets and should be doing everything he can to
‘up his game’.
Take Rick to lunch before his afternoon meeting and have a
general chat about how things are going and how he is
feeling.
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Situation 3:
You have just received an email from Mr. G. Browning. He is one of your team’s most
important and high-value clients. Currently the advisor assigned to Mr Browning is Rick
Esposito, who is falling behind his targets.
In the email Mr Browning sets out three issues about which he is dissatisfied. Firstly, and
most importantly, he asked Rick to make a large stocks and shares investment for him three
weeks ago and he has just found out that Rick only got around to making the investment
yesterday. Secondly, Rick has missed two appointments with Mr Browning in the last month
although they have been in regular contact on the telephone and by email. And finally, Mr
Browning feels that Rick, on occasion, is presenting a bad image for FATI Bank as he
sometimes arrives at appointments wearing jeans and an open-necked shirt.
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
Immediately call Mr Browning and apologise. State that you will
be talking to Rick very shortly to ensure that none of these issues
ever arise again.
Send an acknowledgement email to Mr Browning. Contact Rick
as soon as he is next available and inform him of the problem;
ask for the background to the issues. Call Mr Browning and
apologise and inform him of how Rick and yourself plan to ensure
these issues will not arise again.
Send an apologetic email to Mr Browning and assure him these
issues will not arise again.
Immediately inform Rick and Mr Browning that you are switching
Mr Browning’s account to another advisor.
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Situation 4:
It is April. You have just returned from an unscheduled seminar called by the Head of Private
Banking at which an invited speaker explained there is to be an emergency change in the
regulation of offshore bonds effective immediately.
The context is that there has been reported mis-selling of these bonds as they are a tax-
efficient way of investing money but that HMRC rules on the amount of value that one
individual is allowed to hold in these bonds has been flouted on numerous occasions by
unscrupulous traders and financial advisors. Therefore, from today, the purchase of these
bonds will involve a 3 month lead-in period, whereby the bonds are held in a Government
trust account whilst the purchase is investigated and approved by HMRC.
The invited speaker at the seminar has stated that he believes that this will effectively “kill
the market” in these bonds. There will still be demand from long-term, low-risk investors but
the more short-term, growth-orientated investors will lose interest. Your team has particularly
high targets for these bonds for the first quarter of this year as they had been selling
incredibly well. Therefore you now are facing three months of failure to meet this target as a
team.
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
Email your advisors and inform them of the new regulations,
include a link to the regulator’s website to give them the full details
of the changes.
Call a team meeting urgently and ask the team for ideas and input
with regard to the issue of selling these bonds now. Ask for details
of clients who are currently showing interest in these investments
and brainstorm how to keep them interested.
Watch the financial news channels to see if there is more analysis
and information that you can gather during the course of the day
on this key regulatory change.
Speak to the Head of Private Banking and ask whether there is
any chance that the first quarter targets can be amended or
revised to take into account this new development.
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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 a Project Manager working for Futureforce Energy plc, a niche provider of energy
and energy technology to the UK domestic and commercial market. Futureforce generates
and distributes energy only from renewable sources; its portfolio currently includes:
- production of solar and photovoltaic panels
- installation and management of solar and photovoltaic panels
- production of energy from wind farms and off-shore windfarms
- production and distribution of ‘eco-gas' produced by anaerobic digestion of household food
waste
Futureforce is always looking for new energy sources and products to add to its portfolio and
you are based in the Department for Research and Development which drives this search.
You lead a project team of 7 researchers and administrators who have a wide remit “to
investigate and evaluate new sources of renewable energy and supporting technologies”.
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Situation 1:
Your team have been tasked with an urgent project to evaluate a new method to harness
wind power using trees. The trees are fitted with technology that harvests the energy from
the movement of the leaves and branches when the wind hits the tree. This energy can then
be stored and converted into electricity and used as normal.
Your team’s remit is to produce a report on the viability, cost and potential of this technology
for use in the UK energy market. One of the prototype tree-motion harnessing kits has been
delivered to the team this morning; your line manager, the Head of R&D, has asked that a
report be forthcoming from the team by this Friday which is 3 days from now. The urgency is
because there is competition from other providers to purchase this technology from the
Swedish inventor responsible.
You have just been briefing the team on this task to which they have reacted rather
negatively. John Scudamore, the most senior research officer in the team, summed their
views up by saying “whatever we manage to investigate and report in this amount of time will
be flawed at best and completely erroneous at worst”. You have concluded that the team
view the project deadlines as unrealistic.
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
Tell the team that they have no choice but to
do their best to deliver something meaningful in
the time available.
Ask your team what they can realistically do in
the time available and offer this as a
compromise to the Head of R&D.
Immediately go back to the Head of R&D and
communicate your team’s views; ask for an
extension on the deadline.
Tell your team to work through the weekend;
this will add an extra two days to the project
time available.
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Situation 2:
One of the ongoing roles of your team has been to monitor the utility and effectiveness of the
use of solar and photovoltaic panels in various locations. The data is analysed to produce a
quarterly report on the optimal positioning, angling and geographical location of such panels.
The data is gathered from the panels that Futureforce installs and manages for domestic and
business customers and the reports need to be continually updated as more and more
panels are installed.
However, the UK government this morning announced that they would no longer be
subsidising the sell-back of micro-produced electricity to the national grid. Energy experts
quickly interpreted the consequences of this announcement as being a sharp fall in demand
for domestic solar and photovoltaic panels. This is because panel owners will now only
receive a fraction of the income that they did previously from selling their home-produced
power to the national grid. It will mean that it will take much longer to make back the
investment in a solar panel from now on.
You have just had a call from the Head of R&D who has told you that the implications for
Futureforce could be serious and that the head count of your team may be threatened. You
may have to lose 2 of your team of 7 as the analytical work regarding the solar panel data
will no longer be required.
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
Draw up a list of the team members who you think
should be made redundant, if it were to come to
that.
Send an email to all your staff outlining the
implications of the government announcement for
Futureforce.
Call a brief team meeting and ensure that the staff
is aware of the government announcement and the
overall implications for Futureforce. Answer any
immediate questions honestly and openly.
Do nothing for now, as the redundancy threat is
only a possibility and you don’t want to worry your
staff.
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Situation 3:
Today you have had a call from a Futureforce Customer Service Officer, Anna Zovari. Anna
told you that the customer service team had had an influx of calls over the last few days from
recipients of the latest photovoltaic panels to have been installed by Futureforce. The
customer service team have received 20 calls from this group over the last week and all the
callers reported that the panels were generating little or no electricity.
Anna noticed that this was a pattern and immediately contacted the installation team to see if
there had been any recent issues which might explain the problems. The installers insist that
they had not varied their routine and therefore Anna contacted you to find out what the
possible causes of the problems could be in order to relay this to customers. You thanked
her for her call and told her that you would get back to her shortly.
Your initial thoughts on this are firstly that the production department are probably
responsible and that this is a faulty batch of panels and secondly, that your team are very
busy with strategic research work and really haven’t got time to investigate manufacturing
problems.
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
Call Anna back and say that she should contact
the production department as it is their
responsibility.
Ask one of your team to talk to Anna and give her
a brief run-down of the various possibilities that
could have caused the problem.
Call the Head of Production & Manufacturing and
alert him to the problem; tell Anna what you have
done and that she should contact him but say
she is welcome to talk any issues through with
one of your team as well if she would like.
Call your line manager and ask that customer
services issues aren’t referred to your team in
future as it is not your responsibility.
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Situation 4:
Your team are currently investigating approximately eight different new sustainable energy
sources and technologies. These projects are all at different stages of research, some being
closer to a firm conclusion than others.
You attended an R&D Department meeting yesterday where departmental strategy was
discussed. The Group Commercial Director (GCD) attended the meeting as a special guest
and told you all that Futureforce needs research results which translate more speedily into
commercial products. You therefore agreed with the GCD and the Head of R&D that a new
approach was needed for the coming year and that the team’s resources should be
concentrated on the two most realistic and immediately realisable technologies or sources.
The other six more speculative and unlikely projects would need to be put on the backburner
for now.
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
Decide which two projects are to continue
based on which contain the most ‘recognisable’
technologies from your point-of-view.
Ask each team member to email you with
information on their own project and with
arguments as to why their project should be
saved, given the GCD’s criteria.
Ask your team to get together and rank order
the projects based on their best guess as to the
‘likely commercial viability’ of the technologies
involved.
Decide which two projects are to continue
based on which are closest to reporting their
final conclusions.
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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 a Project Manager working for an IT consultancy named Cloud Space.
The company has 24 employees and a team of three Directors. The work is structured on a
project basis, in this way a team is formed to work on a project for a client and a project
manager (PM) is assigned to the team. The PM is responsible for the work of the team and
for the welfare and development of the team members whilst the project is running.
Cloud Space currently has 4 Senior Project Managers and 2 Assistant PMs who will run the
smaller projects. You are a Senior Project Manager.
Cloud Space is a web-specialist IT consultancy and works with business clients to design,
build and maintain public websites, internal company websites and to develop e-marketing &
e-commerce systems.
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Situation 1:
You are running a Project with a business client called Carruthers Brown. They are an
upmarket toiletries company who have traditionally supplied quality high street retailers,
hotels and private health clubs with their products for purchase and use by consumers. They
are opening a number of direct retail outlets in the near future and have asked Cloud Space
to design a website to publicise this development and to raise awareness of Carruthers
Brown products to more ‘mainstream’ consumers.
You have a team of 3 web developers and you and your team have been working closely
with the PR and marketing team from Carruthers Brown to design and build the website. The
project was due to run for 13 weeks; you are now at the end of the 8th week of the project.
You have just had a call from your key contact in the Carruthers Brown, the Director of
Marketing, Ed Gilligan. He says that the retail strategy has changed over the last few weeks
and that Carruthers Brown now want the website to have ‘e-commerce’ capability; they want
customers to be able to order and pay for products on the website and arrange for home
delivery. Ed would like a meeting with you later today and wants to understand from you, the
implications of the new project brief.
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
Ask Ed if you can have a little more time to consider this issue as
you need to consult with your colleagues, and with your team of
Directors at Cloud Space, before you are able to commit to new
project requirements. Ask if you could meet up in one or two days’
time instead.
Ask the Cloud Space e-commerce specialist and one of the team of
Directors to accompany you to the meeting this afternoon in order
that all the issues and considerations are addressed properly.
Contact your team of Directors and ask that one of them attends
the meeting instead of you – you feel that a change of project
requirement needs a higher level ‘sign-off’ than you are able to
provide.
Consult the Cloud Space e-commerce specialist, by email or
phone, and also talk the issues through with the project team. Work
up an outline document including new realistic project deadlines,
issues that may arise and new costs for the project. Send a copy of
the document to your Directorial team, explaining the situation, and
use it as a basis for a discussion with Ed this afternoon.
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Situation 2:
You have now agreed the e-commerce project changes with Ed Gilligan of Carruthers Brown
and with your Directorial team. The changes have meant that the project has been extended
by 5 weeks and it has pushed Carruthers Brown to the limits of their budget for the website
development and therefore they are very keen that the work is delivered on time and within
budget.
You are now 4 weeks from completion and the project is running on time. However there
have been some delays on one element of the work and you have had to spend some time
helping out with the team member responsible whose name is Lisa Weldon. Lisa’s part of
the project is ensuring the security and safety of the e-commerce payment methods and
ensuring compatibility of the Carruthers Brown website with the UK banks’ web-based
systems. You are worried because over the next few weeks you don’t have as much time
available to chip in with Lisa’s work and she may fall behind again.
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
Have a chat with Lisa and say that you are confident that she will
be able to complete the rest of the work with less input from you.
Boost her self-esteem by praising the work that she has done so
far.
Have a detailed discussion with Lisa about her part of the project;
ask her about her confidence with the brief. Find out the cause of
Lisa’s problems (e.g. is the ‘e-commerce’ area a new one for her
and does she need some expert coaching or training to build her
knowledge?). Depending on the outcome of your discussion, ask
colleagues to give her help and support as appropriate.
Leave Lisa with a detailed written note of your expectations of her
part of the project. Check in with her at the end of each day or two,
to ensure that she is ‘on track’.
Ask the Cloud Space e-commerce expert to run a session with
Lisa giving her some one-to-one coaching on the software
challenges involved in web-based payment systems.
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Situation 3:
You have recently been assigned to a new project following the departure of one of the
Cloud Space Senior Project Managers. You have taken over the project about one-third of
the way into the work.
The client for the project is South Thames Borough Council and your key contact there is
Brian Greystone, IT Services Manager. The work is a re-design of the Council website to
make the site more interactive so that council taxpayers can search for events, information
and local news from an online database.
You have just finished a phone call with Brian Greystone and he has raised some issues
with you about the way that Cloud Space have been working. He commented that the
previous PM appeared to be unenthusiastic about the project and that some of your project
staff were rather lacking in energy and commitment; they appeared to feel that ‘local
authority’ work was ‘beneath them’. He said that two of his IT Services staff told him about a
meeting with a Cloud Space consultant who had told them to leave the ‘difficult bits to him’
as he imagined that they “wouldn’t have been exposed to much cutting edge technology
working for the council”.
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
Call a team meeting to get to the bottom of what has been going on
and remind them of their responsibility to be committed to the project
and responsive & polite to the clients at all times.
Talk to each of your team members individually and find out their
perspective on the client relationship. Advise them all that they
should always be responsive and respectful to clients. Speak to
Brian tell him of the process you have been through, apologise for
the past misunderstandings and assure him of Cloud Space’s
commitment to this work.
Call a team meeting and state that rude behaviour towards a client is
unacceptable and that anyone found to have been less than
respectful to Brian and his team will be taken off the project and
reported to the Cloud Space Directors.
Don’t worry too much about Brian’s comments. The previous PM has
gone which solves one issue, also you are sure that under your
leadership the team will work effectively and deliver a great product
for Brian which will leave him very satisfied.
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Situation 4:
Cloud Space have a long-standing client called Pickworths which is an online retailer selling
household goods, cleaning products, clothes, kitchenware and DIY products. You are the
lead manager for the Pickworths account although currently there is little development work
being done for the client. Their website is operational and uses an automated content
management system so that Pickworths staff can easily make changes to the products and
prices on the site without help from Cloud Space consultants.
You have just received an email from a colleague telling you that the rolling news channels
are reporting a takeover of Pickworths by the US firm Waldart Inc. Your colleague says that
the takeover is being referred to as ‘confirmed’ and due to be finalised in the next few weeks.
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
Ask your colleague what they think about the situation and what the
implications are for Cloud Space and Pickworths working together.
Call your key contact at Pickworths and ask for a quick update on how
things are going and whether there is anything new that Cloud Space
can help with.
Do nothing and wait to see how the situation unfolds over the next
couple of weeks.
Research on the internet and in the financial pages of broadsheet
newspapers to check what the likely situation is with the takeover.
Draw up some projections of potential work that Cloud Space could
offer to Pickworths / Waldart, such as re-branding of the website.
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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 Team Manager working for Goliath Pharmaceuticals in their UK Headquarters in
Swindon. Goliath is a global company that develops, manufactures and markets medical
drugs in 60 countries worldwide. You manage a team which is responsible for the research,
support and marketing of Solotor which is a drug that combats high levels of bad cholesterol.
Your team consists of 15 research & development scientists and technicians and 4
marketing professionals. You also have 20 global account managers who support the sales
of Solotor in all of Goliath’s worldwide markets.
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Situation 1:
You have just briefed the team on a new market launch for Solotor which will involve two of
your global account managers and your R&D group. Goliath want to start selling Solotor in
Russia and the Ukraine in 6 months' time. The Russian food and drug regulations are
different and more stringent than many other countries in the region and part of the team’s
job will be to demonstrate empirically (through recorded lab work) that the drug meets these
safety standards. Following your briefing one of the R&D team, Bill Harrent, approached you
to say that he believes the launch deadline is unrealistic. He thinks this because in order for
the research to count towards market approval, it must be published in a peer-reviewed
journal and it can take up to 4 months to have a report approved for such a journal.
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 the R&D Team and the relevant
account managers to outline a draft
project plan based on realistic
deadlines, by the end of the day.
Call the Head of Marketing Central &
Eastern Europe and tell her that the
deadline is not achievable.
Outline a draft of a project plan for the
Russia and Ukraine launch. Incorporate
Bill’s comments about it taking up to 4
months to publish in a peer reviewed
journal.
Tell Bill that the deadline has been set
by the senior management and by the
CEE Marketing experts and therefore it
must be realistic.
Spend a day with the launch sub-team
going through all the elements of the
project and drawing up a realistic and
detailed draft project plan.
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Situation 2:
You have arrived for work on a Monday morning to the news that the Goliath Board of
Directors have just announced there will be redundancies made in the UK this quarter and
that this could affect up to 20% of staff.
The announcement has been made on the Goliath internal staff website. There is no
indication of who is under threat from redundancy in the information given, however it has
clearly put all your staff on edge and no-one is in the mood to get on with their work this
morning.
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
See if you can find out any more
information from your line manager and
the HQ Human Resources team.
Inform your staff that you are seeking
clarification and let them know what
you find out, if anything.
Buy coffee and doughnuts for the
whole team from Swindon’s top
patisserie to cheer them all up.
Tell the team that there is no point in
getting stressed as they probably won’t
be in the firing line and they should get
on with their work to take their minds
off the situation.
Call a brief team meeting to get the
staff questions and concerns on the
situation. Take their questions and put
them to the Human Resources team.
Inform the staff as to whether you
receive any clarification or not.
Scrutinise the internal website and HR
bulletins to see if you can find any
extra information to enlighten or
reassure your staff.
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Situation 3:
You received an email from Bill Harrent which he has labelled urgent and confidential. In it
he tells you that he has just finished analysing a batch of tests for a routine review of
Solotor’s ‘unintended outcomes’; sometimes called the ‘side effects’ of the drug. He says
that he was stunned to find that there was a slight drop in the blood sodium levels of the rats
he had been studying. The danger is that if Solotor really does have an impact on users’
sodium levels then there is a risk of people developing hyponatremia which causes the
kidneys to have to work very hard to maintain the right levels of sodium in the body. One of
the extreme outcomes of hyponatremia can be the sufferer going into a coma.
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 Bill to replicate the study and ask
one of Bill’s colleagues to verify the
results.
Call the manufacturing plant in Poland
immediately and tell them to halt
production until a change can be made to
the ‘possible side effects’ information
given with the drug.
Call a contact of yours at Science Today
magazine and ask whether he knows of
any recent media coverage of
hyponatremia.
Take Bill’s data to your boss and alert
her that there may be an issue here.
Bring in an independent laboratory to
verify (or disprove) Bill’s results.
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Situation 4:
One of the key ingredients in the outer coating of the capsule form of Solotor is magnesium
stearate (MS); it is made from hydrogenated palm oil. Due to the worldwide outcry against oil
palm plantations (which have been found to be responsible for a large amount of
deforestation in the tropics which leads to the displacement of wildlife and the warming of the
Earth’s climate) the production of palm oil has fallen drastically and the price risen. Therefore
the cost of magnesium stearate has risen as well.
You have been asked to attend an emergency meeting to discuss the implications for the
cost of Solotor manufacture; colleagues from Finance, HQ Marketing and Manufacturing
(Europe) are also attending the meeting.
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 your team to attend the meeting with
you to present information to the attendees
about what the function of MS is in the
design of the Solotor capsule.
Research the cost of MS as a percentage of
the entire cost of a single unit of Solotor;
run a projection to show how an increase in
the cost of MS affects the cost of Solotor
production.
Search the internet for low-cost sources of
MS; compare prices between
manufacturers.
Attend the meeting and ask your colleagues
how you might be best able to help them.
Ask your team for a full report on how MS is
used in the Solotor capsule which they
initially designed; ask for a list of valid
alternative ingredients, if possible.
- End of Practice Situational Judgement Test 4 -
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