ExamopotamiaWhy use a situational judgement test in hiring?
Interviews ask candidates to describe how they behaved in the past, and most people have a polished story ready. A situational judgement test asks about specific workplace dilemmas and offers realistic choices, some better than others. It shows how someone weighs honesty, teamwork and safety against short-term convenience. Because every applicant faces the same scenarios, it is also a fairer comparison than an unstructured conversation.
What this template covers
- Ownership: owning up to a mistake and warning people about a missed deadline.
- Priorities: conflicting requests from two managers and asking for clarity.
- Working with others: credit-taking, disagreements in meetings and a struggling teammate.
- Integrity: gifts with strings attached and misuse of customer data.
- Safety and feedback: pressure to skip a check and responding to criticism you think is unfair.
How to run it well
Twelve questions take most people about 10–12 minutes. Situational judgement tests are mainly a filter for poor judgement, not a ranking of the best candidates, so a pass mark around 70% works well. Use the results to start conversations at interview rather than as the only deciding factor. Shuffle questions and options so the best answer is not always in the same position.
Most items are single choice, with one select-all question on handling disagreement and one true/false on flexibility. Read wrong answers in context. Choosing to confront a colleague in public suggests something different from choosing to say nothing. Asking about a candidate's choice on one or two scenarios at interview often leads to the most useful conversation of the day.
Who this test is for
This test is deliberately general, so it works for almost any role: graduates, office staff, customer-facing teams, team leaders and people changing careers. Use it alongside a skills test for the job itself, or on its own for high-volume entry-level hiring where experience varies a lot.
Make it yours
The best situational questions come from your own workplace. Write scenarios based on real situations your team has faced, using your values as the guide to the best answer. Add role-specific dilemmas for managers, such as handling a performance issue. The AI generator can draft scenarios from a short description, which you then edit so the best answer matches how your company actually works.