Prepare for the Administrative Situational Judgement Test
Are you applying to an administrative position? Many administrative applications are accompanied by a situational judgement test aiming to establish your suitability for the role. Learn more about administrative SJT and start practising for the exam today with our preparation package.
SJT - Administrative
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Many employers use administrative situational judgement tests in their recruitment processes as a way of making sure that you have the skills they need for the job. This test looks at how you respond in workplace situations, with special attention paid to the main skills you need for the job.
If you have been told that you have a situational judgement test as part of your recruitment process, it is crucial that you prepare ahead of taking it. Through the preparation process you can come to identify the competencies your employer is looking for and gain a better understanding of workplace behaviours, etiquette and responsibilities.
Administrative Situational Judgement Test Skills
The administrative situational judgement test is designed to test you against a set of competencies or skills that you need to have in order to do the job.
The skills measured include:
- Planning and organising
- Service orientation
- Effective communication
- Achieving results
- Teamwork
There are usually no right or wrong answers in this test, but your employer is looking for evidence that you can choose the most appropriate response to a workplace situation.
Who Is the Administrative SJT Designed for?
The admin situational judgement test is designed to be taken by applicants for administrative, clerical and secretarial jobs as well for customer service and sales positions. The questions in this test focus on the type of tasks that you can expect in your day-to-day job.
What Is an Administrative Situational Judgement Test?
In this test you are given a scenario based on a workplace situation. The scenario may be given to you in a written text, video or interactive display, and you are asked questions based on the situation. The questions measure you against one or more competencies and are designed to see how you respond to challenges at work.
The way to answer the question depends on the test you are taking. Some tests will ask you to choose the most appropriate response whilst others.
Situational judgement tests are usually not timed, so you don’t have too much pressure when making decisions, but you should still work through them steadily. The average time for an SJT is 20 to 40 minutes.
Administrative SJT Example Question
Take a look at this example admin SJT question from ©Pearson TalentLens IRIS situational judgement tests:
The number of applications for travel and parking permits has recently increased and the team is under more pressure than usual.
All applications must be submitted with a photograph. The requirement for photographs is that they are passport size, showing head and shoulders only.
You notice that Brian, one of your colleagues, has for the past two days, been accepting photos from applicants that do not meet these requirements. You would not accept these, but he argues that ‘it is near enough. Let’s not bother sending it back’.
How appropriate is the following response to the situation?
Try to persuade Brian to follow the requirements.
- Totally unacceptable
- Not helpful
- OK, but not ideal
- Good thing to do
Prepare for Administrative SJT
It is important to prepare for any situational judgement test. By taking practice tests ahead of your real test you can understand what you need to do in the test which in turn will help you stay calm and confident. Before taking any situational judgement test you should look at the required skills for the job you are applying to so that you know what your employers are looking for.