Hiring glossary
What is a situational judgement test?
A situational judgement test (SJT) presents realistic work scenarios and asks you to judge a set of possible responses, for example by rating each one, picking the best and worst, or ranking them.
SJTs measure judgement in the kind of situations the job involves: a difficult customer, competing deadlines, a colleague’s mistake. Answers are usually scored against a key built from the judgements of experienced people in the role, so some answers score better than others even when no option is perfect.
They are used by large employers and public bodies, including the UK Civil Service, and in medical school admissions through the UCAT. Read each instruction carefully: “what should you do” and “what would you do” are different questions. The best preparation is learning what the organisation values and practising the format.
Also called: SJT, situational judgment test.
Example
“A customer emails to say their order arrived damaged and they need it for an event tomorrow. Rate each response from 1 (very ineffective) to 4 (very effective): offer a refund; arrange a same-day replacement and confirm by phone; ask for photos before doing anything else; forward the email to your manager.”
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