Practice Situational Judgement Test 2

Answers Book

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.

Scenario 1: Most and Least Likely to Perform

Scenario 2: Ranked Response

Scenario 3: Most and Least Effective

Scenario 4: Rated Responses

The questions begin on the next page

 Practice Situational Judgement Test

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 Graduate Intern on a two-year training programme at the Benign Sunshine
Agency. Benign Sunshine is the UK’s fifth largest marketing agency and deals with all
aspects of clients’ marketing, market research, PR and advertising needs.

You are a ‘floating’ intern and as such you are assigned to projects and to teams when they
are likely to have a role for you and when they will have time to brief, coach and train you
effectively in their work area. You also have a dedicated mentor to whom you can go at any
time for help and support with regard to your progress, learning and work in the company.

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 Practice Situational Judgement Test

Situation 1:

You have joined a team which is preparing to pitch to an existing client to win a contract to
provide the PR for a new range of children’s books which aim to teach children about
environmental issues in an interesting, engaging and fun way. The client is hoping that
primary schools will be interested in purchasing the series of books as one of the major
topics in the national curriculum at Key Stage 2 is environmental and energy awareness.

The pitch team manager has asked you to take an active role in the pitch presentation to the
client representatives. He particularly wants you to talk about your response to, and
enjoyment of, the books as you are the youngest member of the team. The pitch is in two
days' time.

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’.

Competency being measured: Communicating, Influencing & Negotiating

Responses:

A) Prepare a presentation based on a detailed analysis of previous children’s books on

this topic that have done well and how they were promoted.
(This is the least effective response as this has no resemblance to the brief you were
given. Also other members of the team may have been asked to look at the marketplace
and competition for the clients’ products anyway. And finally, the client may be looking to
see that you and your team can understand the uniqueness of their product rather than
comparing it favourably or unfavourably to competitors’ products.)

B) Prepare a presentation based on your experiences of learning about the environment

as a child and your favourite books on the topic.
(Not a particularly appropriate response as you are not focusing on your clients’
products at all; you are presenting a ‘personal’ view which may be of interest but failing
to talk about the most important thing which is the product that you are pitching to
promote)

C) Prepare a presentation about how you felt and what questions came into your mind
when you read the clients’ books.
(This is the most effective response as this is the brief you have been given by your
team manager which is to give a personal and thoughtful view of the products; remember
you are only one member of the team and therefore this will be your unique contribution
whereas other team members will be able to talk about PR strategy, competition in the
marketplace and draw on more ‘objective’ analysis.)

D) Read the books to your nieces and nephews and prepare a presentation based on
their response to the books.
(This is a reasonable response as you are presenting the views of a sample of the core
market for the books; however, as the client has probably done work like this when
developing the book series they may be less interested in this than they are in your
views on the books. After all, you may be part of the team who eventually provide PR for
the product. They will want to know that you like, and believe in, their books).

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 Practice Situational Judgement Test

Situation 2:

You have three days to go until the end of a project that you have been working on for the
last four weeks in the market research team. By now you would usually have an email or call
from your mentor letting you know about your next assignment location or your host team
would have asked you to stay on for more time if they required you. However, neither of
these things have happened and therefore you are unsure where you are going to be
working next week or what your responsibilities will be.

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’.

Competency being measured: Drive to Achieve Results

Responses:

A) Delay the end of this project for as long as you can.

(This is the least effective response as you are affecting operational matters in the
agency simply because of your own personal scheduling issues.)

B) Ask your current team leader if she can assign some additional tasks to you to
continue this placement a little longer.
(A reasonable response as you are already familiar with the market research
department and will be able to contribute effectively to the team. It also buys you time
with regard to seeking out your next placement or project.).

C) Do nothing, as you will be able to use the ‘downtime’ after this project ends to pursue
some personal development without having to work on a project for a while.
(Not a particularly appropriate response as you have not investigated why your next
project hasn’t come through, it may have been a simple oversight. You are supposed to
be developing your skills ‘on-the-job’ and therefore you should be trying to secure new
objectives and a new project on which to work. )

D) Email your mentor to remind him that you think you are due to move onto a new
posting or project in 3 days' time.
(This is the most effective response as a gentle reminder may facilitate the process. Or
there may be reasons why you haven’t been found a placement to move to and this way
you will find out what they are and be able to act upon them.)

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 Practice Situational Judgement Test

Situation 3:

You have been asked to stay with the market research team for another project. Because of
the competence you demonstrated on your last project in the team you have been given
overall responsibility for a small piece of market research which Benign Sunshine have been
commissioned to do by West Grimsdale Fire & Rescue Service (WGFRS).

The Service wish to find out how many households in their region currently have smoke
alarms fitted and are operational and, of those who don’t, how many are willing to fit smoke
alarms in the next 6 months either with or without incentives.

Review the following responses A to D and indicate which one you believe to be the first
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’.

Competency being measured: Planning & Organising

Responses:

A) Write a script for a telephone interview which your researchers will conduct with a
sample of West Grimsdale households.
(Not a particularly appropriate response as whilst this will need to be done at some
point it is not the most urgent element of the planning process. You can’t write the script
until you have clarified with the client exactly what they want to find out and whether
there is more information that they would like gathered during the process.)

B) Find out how many households there are in West Grimsdale and into what social
categories they fall.
(A reasonable response, these are essential pieces of information required to help you
plan your research and pick your sample of households to call. You clearly cannot call
every household and will therefore need to select a representative sample from which
you can draw conclusions about the whole of the WG region)

C) Book some telephone researchers for three days next week to call households in
West Grimsdale.
(This is the least effective response as you need to decide on your research approach
before you book researchers otherwise you may book too few or too many and you may
not be ready to start on the interview stage by next week anyway.)

D) Ask your team leader if you can have a meeting with the key contact at WGFRS in
order to gain clarification on the detailed objectives of the research.
(This is the most effective response as you will need a detailed briefing from the client
in order to be absolutely sure that you deliver what they want. They may have secondary
information that they would like gathering at the same time as the information about the
smoke alarm fitting behaviour. Market research is expensive so the client will not want to
waste an opportunity. Also, during the meeting you should be able to gather other
information, such as local population demographics, which will help with your planning
process).

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 Practice Situational Judgement Test

Situation 4:

Over the last few weeks you have had sole responsibility for a market research project being
conducted by Benign Sunshine on behalf of West Grimsdale Fire & Rescue Service
(WGFRS). You have been doing your best to run the project according to the client’s
requirements but the key contact at WGFRS, Hector Jones, Director of Community Safety,
has been a difficult person to work with.

This morning you received an email from Mr Jones stating that he is unhappy with the
number and the quality of interviews you have conducted in households in the region and
that he will go “over your head” unless things improve immediately with regard to the running
of the project. You believe that Mr Jones has been a little disappointed, and felt undervalued,
because Benign Sunshine have put a graduate trainee in charge of his project. This appears
to have negatively affected his view all the way through the process.

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’.

Competency being measured: People & Relationship Skills

Responses:

A) Call Mr Jones immediately and apologise that he is unhappy. Ask exactly how you
can improve the delivery of the project.
(This is the most effective response as you are acting swiftly to reduce Mr Jones’s
feelings of dissatisfaction and showing that you personally want to ensure his
requirements are met).

B) Email back and say that you have delivered all aspects of the project as agreed and
attach a copy of the original project plan as proof.
(Not a particularly appropriate response as, whilst this may be true, you are not
dealing with Mr Jones’s views of the project, or indeed his feelings about how WGFRS
have been treated.)

C) Call Mr Jones’ diary secretary and ask for a face-to-face meeting to be booked in to
clear up the issues raised.
(A reasonable response, as a face-to-face meeting is always better than email or
telephone for building relationships. However it may be even better to give an immediate
(and apologetic) response to clear the air before having a meeting.)

D) Inform your team leader that Mr Jones is being difficult and over critical so she won’t
be surprised if she hears from him later.
(This is the least effective response as you are failing to respond to Mr Jones very
quickly and this will do little to improve your working relationship with him; it is quite a
defensive response.)

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 Practice Situational Judgement Test

2. Ranked Responses

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 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 working as an intern for a production company that specialises in TV history and art
documentaries. Your role is to support the staff at the company and learn aspects of the
work they do in order to enhance your production skills and eventually apply for a job as a
production assistant.

The company is called Knowledgematic. It is a small organisation with two company

Directors, four full-time production assistants and one administrator. Specialist Producers
and TV Directors are hired on a freelance basis to work on specific projects.

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 Practice Situational Judgement Test

Situation 1:

You have been at Knowledgematic for three months and have yet to gain any experience in
location filming. All your work has been studio-based and you are very keen to help out on a
location shoot as this will enhance your CV for when you begin applying for permanent jobs.

You are aware the company is going to start filming a documentary about the Battle of
Hastings next week and the first few weeks of the filming are going to be on location in East
Sussex. You are very keen to be assigned to this project. However, Greta Fornelli, one of
the company directors has just approached you to ask that you take on a project to sort
through and archive the video tapes, DVDs and film footage which is stored in the backroom
at the Knowledgematic offices. She says that she thinks it could take a couple of weeks to
go through everything, decide on what should be kept and then archive it properly. She
would like you to start next week.

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.

Competency being measuring: Communicating, Influencing & Negotiating

Responses:

A) Be honest with Greta about your wishes and why you feel that it is important to you
that you gain some experience on location. Ask her for her view on this and ask her
whether there is any chance that you can spend some time on the East Sussex shoot
before returning to the office to start your archiving project.
(The second most effective response. You are being upfront and honest with Greta
and asking for her view on your dilemma rather than making demands directly. You are
also making a reasonable suggestion to which, hopefully, she will give fair
consideration.)
B) Say you’d rather go to the location shoot in East Sussex as it would support your
development more than doing the archiving.
(The least effective response. This is, perhaps, too direct an approach to take with a
senior manager. It would be better to ask Greta to participate in planning your
development rather than taking such a demanding tone with her.)
C) Agree to do the archiving project and ask Greta for a chance today to talk about your
learning and development, specifically when you might get to do some location
filming.
(The most effective response. Although you are missing out on the location filming
opportunity right now you are at least aiming to get a development plan in place, one on
which you and Greta have agreed. If you include ‘experiencing location filming’ in your
development plan then Greta should give you an opportunity to do this the next chance
there is. She may even allow you to join the East Sussex shoot in its final week, if you
are lucky ).

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 Practice Situational Judgement Test

D) Agree to do the archiving project, hopefully another chance to experience location

filming will arise soon.
(The third most effective response. Although you are keeping Greta happy she is still
unaware of your aims and requirements. After all you are there ‘to learn’ in your role as
an intern and you are not managing your learning very well if you don’t pursue ways of
filling the gaps in your experience. If you share your objectives with Greta she will have
the opportunity to help you and support you.)

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 Practice Situational Judgement Test

Situation 2:

It is a Monday morning; you have a busy week planned, with a media networking event
tonight and a champagne preview screening of the Battle of Hastings documentary on
Wednesday night. Greta Fornelli, one of the directors, has just approached you to say that
she would like you to get involved in a location shoot for a Knowledgematic documentary on
‘London’s Dickensian Past’. The documentary is due to start filming in 3 days' time and
requires three London streets in which to film. Three streets had been located and
permission granted for filming. However, they have just found out that there are to be some
major gas mains works being undertaken on one of the chosen streets during the time that
the filming is due to take place.

Greta has tasked you with finding an alternative street in which to film in time for the first day
of filming on Thursday. The requirements for the location are that the street consist of all
Victorian or older houses, the street be in East or South East London, that the street
furniture (i.e. lamps etc) are either of the relevant period or unobtrusive, that residents and
the local Borough council will give permission for filming and that the street is not one that
has a busy through-flow of traffic; a cul-de-sac would be ideal. Greta says that the last time
the location scout was given this brief it took her a week to locate the 3 streets needed.

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.

Competency being measured: Drive to Achieve Results

Responses:

A) Cancel your attendance at the champagne preview event as you can always view the
Battle of Hastings documentary another day in the office when you have more time.
(The second most effective response. It is correct to say that the preview event is the
lowest priority of the two. However, it might be better to free up more time today rather
than on Wednesday which is quite close to your deadline; it is probably wiser to drop
both events as neither are essential activities.)
B) Cancel your attendance at the media networking event tonight.
(The third most effective response. It is a good idea to give yourself extra time today to
get a ‘good run’ at the task. However, you should perhaps drop both events as neither
are essential activities and given that the previous scout took a week to find appropriate
locations you will probably need all the time you can get and should be willing to
reprioritise less important, if enjoyable, events.)
C) Call the relevant people and apologise that you won’t be able to attend the evening
events and they should give your place to anyone who may be waiting for a ticket.
(The most effective response. Given that the previous scout found 3 similar locations in
a week and you have only 3 days, all the time that you can find will probably be needed.
Also, you need to be willing to de-prioritise less ‘core’ activities when deadlines are tight.)

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 Practice Situational Judgement Test

D) Tell Greta that you have two evening events planned before Thursday and that given
the likely time it will take to find a relevant location perhaps she should assign
another person to work alongside you on the task as well.
(The least effective response. This would be a reasonable approach to take if the
evening events were high priority, however they are probably not and therefore you
perhaps should be prepared to drop at least one of them in order to maximise your time
available to pursue the location scouting objective.)

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 Practice Situational Judgement Test

Situation 3:

Knowledgematic have been given an open brief by Channel 5 to deliver a new art
documentary strand to appeal to young people aged between 14 and 25 and which will be
aired on weeknights at 7.30pm. Steve Grade, one of the Knowledgematic directors, has
given you the task of recommending the topic that should be the opening programme in the
series. You must choose the one that will have maximum appeal and draw the target
viewers in.

You have to choose between 3 programmes that are currently in production but will all be
completed in time for the series opener in a few weeks' time. The programmes are:

• All You Ever Wanted To Know About Graphic Novels But Were Afraid To Ask (A
detailed look at the life and work of three of the most successful graphic novelists working
today, including the creator of a series of novels that have been turned into a Hollywood
blockbuster trilogy.)
• Graffiti and Street Art: A Modern Rebellion (Going undercover with Britain’s secretive
and passionate graffiti artists and revealing the true identity of Bintsy the most famous
and highly-valued street artist in the world.)
• The Festival Season (Following an outdoor performance artist, Taylor Hip, working the
UK and Europe’s summer festivals; joining her as she hangs out with bands, comedians
and other performers to share views on art, drugs, wellies and all manner of ‘festivally’
things.)

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.

Competency being measured: Analysis & Decision-Making

Responses:

A) Research the popularity of the three topics on the internet; looking at ‘trending’ topics
on Twitter, fan sites and other information.
(The second most effective response. As long as you can analyse and evaluate the
validity of the information well then this should give you a good insight into what will play
well and is a low cost way of making the decision.)
B) Give your recommendation based on which one most appeals to you as you are not
that knowledgeable about art and therefore feel that you are an average viewer in
that sense.
(The least effective response. This is essentially ‘gut feel’ and is not a sufficient factor
on which to base such an important decision.)
C) Do an online survey of people aged 14 to 25 and ask them which of the titles most
appeals to them; recommend the title that is given the most votes.
(The most effective response. This is a reasonable approach with the caveat that your
survey group is big enough, it represents a cross-section of locations across the UK and
that the difference in number of votes between the three options should be significantly
large (i.e. not just one or two votes either way.).

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 Practice Situational Judgement Test

D) Look at the viewing figures for previous documentaries on terrestrial TV which had
similar topics.
(The third most effective response. This could be useful but the viewing figures alone
don’t tell you whether your target audience would be interested in the topics; only about
the viewing public as a whole. You would need to be able to breakdown the audience
data into age groups.) It may also be difficult to find close matches to your subject
matter.

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 Practice Situational Judgement Test

Situation 4:

You are helping out on a studio shoot for the documentary entitled ‘London’s Dickensian
Past’. The presenter of the documentary, Professor Edwin Leighton-Hortly has come in to be
filmed speaking about and looking at artefacts from Victorian London, presenting them to
camera and explaining their uses and manufacture.

Filming is due to commence in 15 minutes or so and you are just helping the Professor go
through his lines and where he needs to move to as he holds certain objects and as he
explains certain things. The idea is that video clips of actors demonstrating the objects in use
will be superimposed behind the Professor eventually and therefore he needs to be correctly
positioned so that his image allows space for the footage to fit behind or beside him.
Professor Leighton-Hortly has never done anything like this before and you notice that he is
very nervous, his hands are shaking and his voice is trembling whilst you rehearse with him.
He suddenly turns to you and says “I just don’t think I can do this; you’re going to need to get
someone else”.

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.

Competency being measured: People & Relationship Skills

Responses:

A) Tell the Professor that everyone gets nervous before filming and that you worked
with a famous actor the other day who was suffering from performance anxiety just
filming a 30 second trailer.
(The third most effective response. This may make the Professor feel better, that even
professional performers can get nervous; however he might need some more practical
help as well.)
B) Get the Professor a cup of tea and let him sit down for a minute or two to collect
himself.
(The second most effective response. Allowing him to relax and sit down for a while
may help him be less anxious but you could give him some tips for how to tackle his
nerves more actively.)
C) Suggest that the Professor to take deep breaths, relax his shoulders and imagine
that he is in his lecture room back at University, not in a studio at all.
(The most effective response. You are giving the Professor some practical, useful
advice that might help him to deal with his nerves and the situation more effectively. You
have to be careful that your advice is given respectfully as you are somewhat the ‘junior’
person in the situation).

D) Tell the Professor that you’re sure he’ll be fine and not to worry.
(The least effective response. This is unlikely to convince the Professor as you may not
have that much credibility with him being a relatively ‘junior’ member of the team and
also, you are giving no advice, help or support to him at all.)

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 Practice Situational Judgement Test

3. Most and Least Effective Responses

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 ‘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 an assistant in a branch of an independent coffee shop called Tradewinds. You
have worked in the shop for 3 months. Tradewinds try to use customer experience to
distinguish themselves from larger coffee chains.

Your main responsibilities are as follows:

Serving food and beverages at the counter, in a helpful and pleasant manner, including
making freshly-brewed espresso, latte and cappuccino coffees on demand.
Ensuring all stock is within its “use by” or “best before” date, and rotated on a first in – first
out basis.
Checking deliveries for discrepancies, quality and temperature in accordance with the food
safety guidelines.
Operating the cash register, taking money and dealing with credit card transactions.
Completing all paperwork relating to food safety and stock taking requirements.
Cleaning and preparing the work surfaces, tables and chairs as required throughout the day.

You work either an early (8am to 4pm) or late (12pm to 8pm) shift, 6 days a week. One
assistant usually works the late shift and two work the early shift. The Branch Manager is
usually in the shop from 10am to 6pm.

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 Practice Situational Judgement Test

Situation 1:

It is 12.30pm on a Friday. A customer has come into the shop and has been browsing the
food counter for a few minutes looking rather impatient and dissatisfied. When you asked the
customer how you might be able to help them they said that they are unable to eat wheat or
dairy and are finding your selection of food limiting as it is mostly sandwiches and the one
salad on offer is a cheese salad. They have also asked to purchase a soya latte coffee. Your
shop does not offer soya milk as an alternative to cow’s milk as there has not been a great
demand for it in the past.

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’.

Competency being measured: Service Ethos

Responses:

A) Apologise to the customer and say that unfortunately there is not much on
Tradewinds’ menu which will be appropriate for their diet but they could try the
healthfood cafe on the High Street.
(This is the least effective response as you are not even attempting to serve the
customer).
Note: this is a good example where you need to know the company you are applying to.
Tailor your answers to their ethos. This response probably would be a good response for
a large chain of coffee shops where customer volume is more important than friendly
service.

B) Say that your colleague would be happy to freshly prepare a salad without any
cheese and ask if the customer would be happy to wait for a few moments whilst you
find out about the soy latte. Ask your manager if you can pop out to the nearby
convenience store for some soya milk to make the latte.
(This is the most effective response as you are making every effort possible, given the
circumstances, to serve the customer something suitable. There is scope for you to
leave the shop briefly as there should be two of your colleagues and the Branch
Manager present in the shop at the present time).
Note: this response probably wouldn't go down well if the coffee shop was a large chain.
This response is only effective in this scenario because we are told Tradewinds are
focused on customer service.

C) Apologise for the lack of soya milk but offer to freshly prepare a salad without any
dairy in it for the customer. Point out any other items in the shop that would be
appropriate for their diet.
(A reasonable response but it’s a shame not to have done everything you could to
provide the soya milk alternative for the customer.)

D) Suggest the customer go to the healthfood cafe on the High Street and, when the
customer has gone, suggest to your manager that your branch introduce soya milk
as an alternative for customers and make some non-dairy salads for vegans and
people with restricted diets.
(Not a particularly appropriate response as, despite your good intentions for the
future, this doesn’t help the customer today who wanted to buy their lunch at
Tradewinds.)

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 Practice Situational Judgement Test

Situation 2:

A new assistant called Danielle started work at the shop last week. You have worked three
early shifts with her this week and two lunchtimes and during these hours she has appeared
reluctant to help out with all the duties that are required of her. She is competent and keen
with the paperwork and checking off the food deliveries. However she is not taking her fair
share of the work when it comes to serving customers and seems to rely on you or other
colleagues to take orders and take customers’ money whenever possible. You are due to
work an early shift with her again today.

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’.

Competency being measured: Influencing Others

Responses:

A) Say nothing, but try to hang back every now and then when customers come into the
shop, giving Danielle the opportunity to serve a customer on her own.
(Not a particularly appropriate response as Danielle may be nervous or worried about
serving customers because she isn’t confident about some aspect of the process and
you are forcing her into a situation where she may make mistakes.)

B) Take the opportunity to talk to Danielle when there is a lull in service this morning.
Ask if she is feeling OK about all aspects of the job and whether she would like you
to review any processes or tasks with her to remind her what to do. Say that serving
customers is probably the most important aspect of the job and it can also be the
most rewarding as you get to meet and talk to all sorts of different people.
(This is the most effective response as you are offering Danielle support and an
opportunity to ask for help if she needs it. You are also making the customer service
aspect of the job seem appealing and hopefully this will encourage her to become more
involved in doing this).

C) Say to Danielle that you feel that the responsibility for serving customers is hers as
well as yours. State that you don’t think it’s fair that you continue dealing with the vast
majority of customers whilst she only does the paperwork and deliveries behind the
scenes.
(This is the least effective response as Danielle is likely to feel that you are not a
supportive colleague and so won’t open up to you with regard to the reasons for her
reluctance to serve customers. Also, you are not ‘selling’ the idea of serving customers
to make it something attractive and exciting for Danielle.)

D) When there is a chance this morning ask Danielle if she would like to observe you
serving a customer. Show her how enjoyable it can be to serve customers by
chatting and being friendly to customers and letting her see how they respond.
(A reasonable response as it will hopefully enthuse Danielle about the customer
service role. However you are offering little in the way of practical support to her in terms
of skills review; for example, she may be worried about using the till.)

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 Practice Situational Judgement Test

Situation 3:

You have asked your manager if you can work the late shift every day this week as you have
to go to a class every morning in order to complete your food hygiene certificate. The shop
closes at 7.30pm each day and the final half-hour of the shift is allocated to cashing up
(counting the money, recording the amount and putting it in the safe overnight) and cleaning
the kitchen area and shop in readiness for the following day. You have learnt on your course
that the method of cleaning the kitchen surfaces at Tradewinds is not ‘best practice’ and to
do it properly would add another 10 minutes on to the process.

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’.

Competency being measured: Planning & Organising

Responses:

A) Start cashing up at 7.20pm in order to make sure that you have the full half-hour to
spend on the cleaning.
(Not a particularly appropriate response as there may still be customers in the shop at
7.20pm and as you are alone on shift you would not be able to cash up securely.)

B) Talk to your manager and ask for an extra 10 minutes pay on the late shift so you
can work until 8.10pm and finish the cleaning to the required standards.
(A reasonable response, although it may be better to see if you can achieve the work in
the allowed time.)

C) Work as fast as you can to complete the cleaning to the required standard and
quickly do the cashing up.
(This is the least effective response as the cleaning has to be done thoroughly and to a
high standard, rushing the job will have a possible negative impact on the quality of the
work done.)

D) Commence the cleaning and cashing up as usual at 7.30pm but tackle the jobs in a
reasonable order of priority. You could leave the least hygiene-critical parts of the
shop until last, for example the chairs, tables and floor in the customer area. As long
as you have wiped these down you could leave a note for the morning shift saying
that they need to give the area a more thorough clean first thing in the morning.
(This is the most effective response as, until the Branch Manager integrates the higher
cleaning standard into the normal work routine, you are making sure that the safety-
critical things are done properly within the allocated time).

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 Practice Situational Judgement Test

Situation 4:

It is Saturday lunchtime, the busiest time of the week for your Tradewinds branch. You are
located on a busy shopping street and on Saturday many families and couples come in to
get a quick sandwich and a hot drink when browsing the high street stores. This Saturday is
no exception and you and your two colleagues are busy serving a queue of 8 customers.
Your colleague is serving the first customer and they are nearly finished paying. You have
asked the second customer what they would like. However the third customer in the queue is
a pregnant woman who is looking rather pale and is leaning heavily on the counter. The
customer behind her is an impatient looking young man in business dress.

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’.

Competency being measured: Understanding Customers

Responses:

A) Ask the customer you are serving to excuse you for a minute. Turn to the pregnant
woman and ask her if she is alright and whether she needs to sit down. If she says
she does need to sit down then say that you or your colleague will come and take her
order at her table so that she needn’t stand any longer. Ask the young man behind
her whether he is just buying cold food and drinks, in which case your colleague can
serve him quickly after the second customer.
(This is the most effective response as, although you may not end up dealing with
everyone strictly in order, you are dealing with each customer according to their needs
and not leaving anyone feeling frustrated by the level of service ).

B) Finish serving your current customer as quickly as possible in order that the pregnant
woman and impatient man don’t have to wait too long.
(Not a particularly appropriate response as your current customer might feel
dissatisfied with being rushed and the other customers still have to wait. )

C) Tell the pregnant woman to take a seat at a table and your colleague or yourself will
come and take her order soon.
(A reasonable response, however the woman may be feeling OK and you are making
an assumption about her needs without checking first. Also the impatient man, and other
customers in the queue, may feel put out that she is getting special treatment without it
being obvious why)

D) Ask your colleague to keep serving at the till and go along the line of customers
asking each one what their requirements are with regard to hot or cold food and
drinks. Ask all those who only require cold food or drink to form a separate queue
and serve these people quickly. Ask the other people to take a seat and wait for you
to come and serve them in a minute.
(This is the least effective response as you are completely changing the serving
system and without proper planning this could be chaotic. Also, you are not responding
to the individual needs of the customers, just making the situation slightly more ordered
for you and your colleague.)

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 Practice Situational Judgement Test

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 working as a Graduate Management Trainee for Leamouth-on-Sea City Council
(LoSCC).

Leamouth-on-Sea is a medium-sized city located approximately 60 miles from London on

the South Coast of England. Its primary industries are tourism, financial services and call
centres. It used to have a thriving commercial and ferry port although this has reduced in
size recently with some of the space being reallocated to retail outlets, leisure and water-
side recreation.

The LoSCC graduate training programme lasts for 3 years with 20% of your time is spent
doing coursework and study for an MSc in Public Service Management at Leamouth
University. This works out at approximately 1 day a week at University. The remainder of
your time you are assigned on a project-by-project basis to work for various departments
and functions in the Council. The projects range in duration from 1 to 9 months. When each
project is complete you, your project manager and your graduate mentor complete an
assessment of your performance, learning and development needs based on your work on
the project.

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 Practice Situational Judgement Test

Situation 1:

You are currently working on a project to plan the decorative planting schemes around the
city for next year. These planting schemes use seasonal bedding plants, mixed borders and
bulb schemes to create colour and interest throughout the year on the city’s roadside verges,
road islands and central reservations of major roads. Your team have just completed the
outline plan for next year but have now heard that, due to Central Government budget cuts,
LoSCC has decided to reduce the budget for your project by 50%. You are going, as a
representative of the decorative planting project group, to attend a meeting with the
Assistant Director of Finance (ADF) and two councillor members of the Countryside &
Horticulture Committee where they intend to explain their reasoning further and outline your
new budget. Your team have asked you to strongly challenge the budget cut.

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.

Competency being measured: Communicating, Influencing & Negotiating

Responses:

A) Send an email to the ADF and the two councillors before the meeting giving a
reasoned and evidence-based argument for why the budget cut is not appropriate.
Prepare this argument in a bullet-point sheet for you to refer to in the meeting.
Include points about voter and visitor reactions to the urban landscape.
(The Very Effective response. You are using evidence and logic to build a convincing
argument against the cut, implying that visitor numbers may drop if the urban landscape
is not as pretty, but also preparing your senior colleagues for what you are going to say
so that they don’t feel defensive in the meeting.)

B) Send a copy of “Encouraging Wildlife in Inner Cities” to each of the people with whom
you will be meeting. It is a pamphlet that explains how roadside planting can
encourage bats, birds and insects to thrive in the urban environment.
(The Ineffective response. This is only one possible point to make about the benefits of
planting and you are not taking the trouble to explain it in a brief format yourself.)

C) Call the Director of Finance and ask him to attend the meeting as you want to talk to
the person with ‘the final say’.
(The Counterproductive response. This is inappropriate because you are being rude
and dismissive to the ADF and the councillors; also you are doing nothing to prepare a
convincing case.)

D) Ask for information from the LoSCC Countryside & Wildlife Officer with regard to the
impact that planting schemes have had on wildlife. Prepare a document outlining this
information to take to the meeting.
(The Slightly Effective response. You are preparing a reasoned argument, however it is
a narrow one with no economic or political considerations which would be more likely to
sway the ADF and the elected councillors.)

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 Practice Situational Judgement Test

E) Collate data on response to the planting schemes’ from visitors and residents.
Prepare an ‘easy-to-digest’ handout, for the ADF and the councillors, which outlines
the key arguments for keeping the budget as it is. Hand copies of these out at the
meeting.
(The Effective response. You are using a sound, evidence-based argument but it would
be even better to share this with your colleagues before the meeting in order that they
have time to digest it and prevent them reacting defensively at the meeting. )

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 Practice Situational Judgement Test

Situation 2:

You are currently working in the Parking Services department of LoSCC. You have just
started work on a project to propose and plan the introduction of a new residents’ parking
scheme in West Central Leamouth. In order to have the proposal approved and put out for
public consultation it needs to be passed by the Parking Committee of the council. The
project manager (PM) has just approached you and told you that this month’s meeting of the
Parking Committee has been brought forward by a week in order to work around a Bank
Holiday later in the month. This means that the team need to complete the proposal by 4pm
today. Your PM believes the proposal will require 15 person hours to write; it is now 10am
and there are 2 of you available to work on the paper.

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.

Competency being measured: Drive to Achieve Results

Responses:

A) Split the paper into manageable chunks and prioritise these sections. Make sure that
you and your colleague complete the high priority sections first and leave appendices
etc. until last. At least that way you can submit appendices and supplementary
information later if they aren’t complete by 4pm.
(The Effective response. This is a logical approach and should mean that the key
information relating to why the parking scheme is required will be presented and
submitted on time.)

B) Start writing the proposal immediately; work as hard as you can to get the entire
paper written by 4pm.
(The Ineffective response. You have no prioritisation of sections of the paper and you
haven’t agreed with your colleague who is doing what; this could lead to duplication and
misdirected effort. )

C) Ask your Project Manager to consider submitting the proposal to next month’s
Committee meeting.
(The Counterproductive response. Your PM requires the proposal to go through this
month and delaying the submission would delay the whole project by 4 weeks or more.)

D) Prioritise the sections of the report and share the high priority ones between the two
of you, leaving the less important appendices until last. Also email the Committee
convener to see if there is any flexibility in the deadline.
(The Very Effective response. You are approaching the problem from two angles here,
by pushing back on the deadline but also assuming that it won’t change you should be
able to produce something reasonable for submission on time.)

E) Ask your PM to check why the submission has to be done by 4pm today (you
assume that no-one will be reading it overnight); ask for an extension to 9am
tomorrow morning if at all possible.
(The Slightly Effective response. It is reasonable to question the deadline as the
committee date has changed and there may be no actual need to the submission at
4pm. Although if the deadline is immovable then you will need a different approach)

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 Practice Situational Judgement Test

Situation 3:

Leamouth-on-Sea City Council is in the process of tendering for a new secondary waste
management contract. Currently ‘Wastewarriors’ (a mid-size specialist recycling company)
provide the domestic kitchen food waste collection & recycling service for LoSCC. Their
contract is due to expire in 2 months’ time and a new contract needs to be awarded for the
service. The current provider is competing for the contract along with 2 other companies.

You are on a project team which is responsible for analysing and comparing the competing
bids. The competing companies have all put in closely comparable bids with regard to the
statutory criteria of cost and service reliability (i.e. how likely they are to collect the food
waste on schedule). Therefore your Project Manager has asked you to devise a matrix of
other possible selection criteria for the council to use to discriminate between the bidders.

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.

Competency being measured: Analysis & Decision-Making

Responses:

A) Consult a range of sources (including other Local Authorities, waste management

industry experts, expert websites and previous LoSCC bid processes) and collate a
longlist of possible criteria to present to your PM for discussion.
(The Very Effective response. By thoroughly researching the issue you will be bringing
the ‘best practice’ ideas from outside LoSCC to the attention of your team.)

B) Brainstorm ideas yourself ‘from first principles’.

(The Ineffective response. By doing this you risk generating only a very limited and
narrow range of ideas. )

C) Ask ‘Wastewarriors’ to suggest a list of additional selection criteria.

(The Counterproductive response. They will skew the criteria in their favour.)

D) Ask for a meeting or phone call with the LoSCC Head of Waste Management and
pick their brains as to what criteria might be appropriate.
(The Slightly Effective response. Some relevant suggestions will come from this,
however the range of suggestions may be too narrow; you aren’t introducing new ideas
to LoSCC and the input of this manager is likely to be sought anyway. Therefore it is
duplication of effort.)

E) Gather a few other team members together for a brainstorming session to generate
as many possible criteria as you can. Check this list against the expert information on
the internet to provide a realistic list for presentation to your PM.
(The Effective response. You may get some interesting ‘blue sky’ ideas in this way
although you may lose the benefit of spending the time doing wider research into ‘tried
and tested’ approaches. )

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 Practice Situational Judgement Test

Situation 4:

During your study day at Leamouth University this week you got chatting to one of the other
LoSCC graduate trainees. His name is Graham Knight and he started on the training
scheme and the MSc at the same time as you. You know him reasonably well although you
have never worked on the same project at LoSCC and only usually meet up on your study
days.

Graham told you in confidence that he is struggling to cope with the demands of the MSc
course work, revising for the end of year exams and the tight deadlines on a project at work.
He tells you that he is thinking of dropping out of the LoSCC programme but finishing the
MSc, although he will have to pay back all of his tuition fees which were covered by LoSCC.

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.

Competency being measured: People & Relationship Skills

Responses:

A) Arrange a time next week for a sit down / lunch with Graham to talk through his
problems in detail. Let him get all his problems ‘off his chest’ and then help him start
to generate solutions to his time management challenges and ways that he can
increase his personal resilience.
(The Effective response. This could be very helpful for Graham; however it could be
even more useful to introduce some ‘best practice’ ideas from elsewhere, not just the
solutions that the two of you can come up with.)

B) Take him out for a drink and help him forget about his troubles and unwind for at
least one night.
(The Ineffective response. You are doing nothing constructive to help Graham tackle his
problems. )

C) Feel relieved that there will be one less person to compete with for LoSCC
management jobs and wish him luck in the future.
(The Counterproductive response. You are being unsupportive towards Graham,
unhelpful to your employer, as graduates cost money to develop and train and this
money will be wasted, and also, you will lose a colleague who could be helpful and
supportive of you in the future.)

D) Suggest Graham talks his problems through with his graduate mentor.
(The Slightly Effective response. Graham will benefit from a talk with someone qualified
to deal with these kinds of issues; however he may feel more comfortable chatting things
through first with a peer such as you.)

E) Suggest a time next week when you will be available for a longer chat with Graham.
Bring along some time management / stress management books to show Graham.
Listen to his problems in detail.
(The Very Effective response. Graham may benefit greatly from a friendly, listening-ear.
You can use the books as inspiration for possible approaches Graham could take to
tackle his problems. Following this session Graham may feel more confident in
approaching his mentor and confiding in her as well.)

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 Practice Situational Judgement Test

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