Consultancy Tests

Consultancy Situational Judgement Test

1. Question 1 of 10

   You are a delivery analyst at a consultancy, three days from a new system going live at an insurer, Bracknoll Insurance. Yesterday, in front of the client’s team, their data lead said your migration counts could not be trusted. This morning she emails asking for an extract of those counts by midday, because the client’s board meets at one. You also have the last checks before go-live to finish today, and there is not time for both. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Put her request at the back of today's queue and leave it there, and stop offering her help with the counts, because she said your work could not be trusted.
   2. Finish the checks first and reply to her at the end of the day, since the system is live in three days and one email does not change the order of the work.
   3. Drop the checks and build the full extract exactly as she asked for it, so that nobody can say twice in two days that your work is unreliable.
   4. Ask her what the board actually needs by midday, produce the smallest extract that answers it, and tell the manager running the engagement that the checks now finish this evening.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Ask her what the board actually needs by midday, produce the smallest extract that answers it, and tell the manager running the engagement that the checks now finish this evening.

   Least effective: A. Put her request at the back of today's queue and leave it there, and stop offering her help with the counts, because she said your work could not be trusted.

   A: Withdraws help after a public disagreement: the extract her board needs is late because of yesterday, and the client pays for a quarrel between two people.

   B: Answers a deadline after it has passed: her board meets at one, so a reply at six reaches nobody who needed it.

   C: Lets yesterday set today's priorities: proving a point costs the last checks a day the go-live does not have.

   The most effective response is to ask her what the board actually needs and produce the smallest extract that answers it. It finds out how much of the request is really needed by midday, it protects most of the day for the checks, and it tells the person who owns the sequence what has moved. It beats finishing the checks first and replying to her at the end of the day, because her board meets at one and an answer at six reaches nobody who needed it. It beats dropping the checks and building the full extract exactly as asked, because the full extract costs a day the checks do not have, and nothing about yesterday makes that trade sensible. The least effective response is putting her request at the back of the queue and stopping the help you were giving her: the other three all make some choice about the work, whereas this one lets a remark made yesterday decide what the client gets today, so a board sitting at one is the party that pays for it. The principle: a request is judged on what it needs and when, never on who sent it.

2. Question 2 of 10

   You are a data analyst at a consultancy. A colleague has told you they are sending the client’s finance lead a set of figures within the hour, for a proposal meeting this afternoon. You revised those figures on Friday, and the set your colleague holds is the older one. They are on a client call until they send it. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Message your colleague now saying the figures were revised on Friday, and send them the current version so that they have it before the email goes.
   2. Email the finance lead yourself with the revised figures and a note explaining that they replace the set your colleague is about to send them within the hour.
   3. Say nothing about the older version and leave the finance lead to raise it if the difference turns out to matter to them.
   4. Wait for your colleague to come off the call and go through what changed with them, rather than interrupting a client conversation.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Message your colleague now saying the figures were revised on Friday, and send them the current version so that they have it before the email goes.

   Least effective: C. Say nothing about the older version and leave the finance lead to raise it if the difference turns out to matter to them.

   B: Corrects a colleague through the client: the finance lead gets the right numbers and also learns that your team was about to send the wrong ones.

   C: Withholds what somebody needed: the finance lead takes superseded numbers into a proposal meeting, and the one person who knew they had changed decided it was not worth a message.

   D: Leaves it to a window that closes: the email goes within the hour, so waiting for the call to end means the older figures are already out.

   The most effective response is to message your colleague now and send them the current version of the figures. It reaches your colleague before the email leaves, it hands them the thing they need rather than a problem, and nobody outside the team ever sees the old set. It beats emailing the finance lead yourself with the revised figures, because the client then holds two sets from your team and hears about the mix-up before your colleague does. It beats waiting for your colleague to come off the call before going through what changed, because the email goes within the hour and the call ends after that. The least effective response is saying nothing about the older version and leaving the finance lead to raise it: the other three all get the current figures somewhere useful, whereas this one lets a decision be taken on numbers you know were superseded on Friday, on the hope that the difference will not matter. The principle: when you hold the thing that makes somebody else’s work wrong, say so while it can still be used.

3. Question 3 of 10

   You are a deployment analyst at a consultancy, two days into setting up a client’s new stock system. You were shown the steps once, and much of what you are doing you do not follow. Nobody has asked how you are getting on, and what you have produced so far has not been looked at by anyone. The client expects the setup to be finished on Friday. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Work through the remaining steps on your own and assume the parts you do not follow will come clear by the time Friday arrives.
   2. Tell your team lead today which parts you do not follow, ask for an hour to go through them, and have what you have built so far checked, so that Friday's setup does not rest on guesswork.
   3. Work through Friday night and the weekend so that the setup is finished, and raise what you did not understand at the review afterwards.
   4. Ask a colleague quietly at lunch to explain the steps you are stuck on, and say nothing to your team lead about how far behind you feel.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Tell your team lead today which parts you do not follow, ask for an hour to go through them, and have what you have built so far checked, so that Friday's setup does not rest on guesswork.

   Least effective: A. Work through the remaining steps on your own and assume the parts you do not follow will come clear by the time Friday arrives.

   A: Declines to check something you already know you do not understand: Friday arrives with a client's stock system set up by somebody who was guessing, and nobody has looked at any of it.

   C: Spends effort on the wrong problem: the hours go into work you cannot judge, and the gap in your understanding surfaces after the point where it could have been closed.

   D: Fixes half of it: you get an explanation, and the one person who could have your work checked before Friday still believes it is going well.

   The most effective response is to tell your team lead today which parts you do not follow and ask for an hour to go through them. Two days in there is still time to learn the steps and to have the early work looked at, and the person who can arrange both is the one who currently believes you are fine. It beats asking a colleague at lunch to explain the steps and saying nothing to your team lead, because an explanation at lunch still leaves everything you have built unchecked, and the client’s Friday depends on that work being right. It beats working the weekend to finish the setup and raising what you did not understand afterwards, because more hours on steps you do not follow produce more of the same uncertain output, not a system anybody can trust. The least effective response is working through the remaining steps alone and assuming the parts you do not follow will come clear: the other three at least add something, whether understanding or hours or both, whereas this one settles for hoping the difficulty resolves itself, so nobody checks the work and nobody learns there was a problem until the client has the system. The principle: say early that you are out of your depth, while there is still time for it to cost nothing.

4. Question 4 of 10

   You are a research analyst at a consultancy, finishing a market study for a drinks producer, Highmoor Brewing. One of your findings says the client’s new range is unlikely to reach the volumes they have planned for it. Their insight manager asks you to soften that sentence before the report goes to their board, and says that if you do, he will ask for you by name on the next study. The report is due with the board on Monday. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Make the change he wants in return for the favour he is offering, and put the softened sentence into the report that goes to the board on Monday.
   2. Tell the insight manager the finding stays as it is, put what he asked for to the manager running the study today, and offer to add the client's own view.
   3. Rewrite the sentence in gentler language while keeping the number in it, and send it back to him for his approval before anybody else in the team sees the finished report.
   4. Leave the wording exactly as it stands and say nothing to anybody about what he offered, so that the finding reaches the board unchanged.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Tell the insight manager the finding stays as it is, put what he asked for to the manager running the study today, and offer to add the client's own view.

   Least effective: A. Make the change he wants in return for the favour he is offering, and put the softened sentence into the report that goes to the board on Monday.

   A: Takes a favour for changing a finding: the board reads a softer conclusion than the evidence supports, and what bought the change was something offered to you personally.

   C: Negotiates a finding with the person it is about: the wording is settled privately with the reader who wants it softened.

   D: Leaves an offer unreported: the finding survives, and the person who tried to trade for it is free to try the same thing on whoever comes next.

   The most effective response is to tell the insight manager the finding stays as it is and to put what he asked for to the manager running the study. The finding is what the client is paying for, the offer is something the manager running the study needs to know about, and adding the client’s own view is the honest way to give them a voice in the report. It beats leaving the wording as it stands and saying nothing about what he offered, because an offer like that needs to reach somebody, or it simply gets made again to whoever comes next. It beats rewriting the sentence in gentler language and sending it to him for approval, because letting the person a finding is about approve its wording quietly puts the evidence in their gift. The least effective response is making the change he wants in return for the favour he is offering: the other three all leave the board reading what the study found, whereas this one trades the wording of the evidence for something offered to you, which is a different kind of wrong from handling it clumsily. The principle: findings are not currency, and an offer attached to one is itself the thing to report.

5. Question 5 of 10

   You are a process analyst at a consultancy, and the findings report for a packaging manufacturer, Lowmere Packaging, was due with the client’s operations director this morning. Every report is read by a second person on the team before it leaves, and this one has not been. The colleague who does that read is off sick, and the manager running the engagement is in the air until this evening. The operations director has now emailed twice asking where the report is. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Reply that the report will be with her as soon as it has been read, without saying when that is likely to be or what it is that is holding it up.
   2. Read the report through carefully yourself a second time and send it, on the basis that your own second careful read is close enough to somebody else's.
   3. Email the operations director this morning saying the report is not yet read by the second reviewer, since no report leaves without that read, and give her a time today.
   4. Pass the report and the operations director's emails over to another colleague on the engagement, and leave it with them to decide what goes out this morning.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Email the operations director this morning saying the report is not yet read by the second reviewer, since no report leaves without that read, and give her a time today.

   Least effective: B. Read the report through carefully yourself a second time and send it, on the basis that your own second careful read is close enough to somebody else's.

   A: Answers without giving her anything to plan with: she has asked twice and still cannot tell whether the wait is hours or days.

   B: Breaches the one check the report had: the reader who would have caught the gaps is replaced by the person who wrote them, and the client receives it believing it was checked.

   D: Passes the client onto somebody else: a colleague who has not read the report inherits both the decision and a client who has already asked twice.

   The most effective response is to email the operations director saying the report is not yet read and to give her a time today. It tells the client exactly where the report is, it does not pretend the missing read has happened, and it gives her a time she can plan the rest of her morning around. It beats replying that the report will be with her as soon as it has been read, without saying when, because a promise with no time in it leaves her no better off than the two emails she has already sent. It beats passing the report and the emails over to another colleague to decide, because moving an unread report and an impatient client onto a colleague hands away both the context and the decision. The least effective response is reading it through a second time yourself and sending it on that basis: the other three all leave the report honestly unread until somebody reads it, whereas this one sends it out with the check quietly performed by the person who wrote it, so the client acts on a report they believe two people have seen. The principle: when a check has not happened, tell the client what is true and own the wait yourself.

6. Question 6 of 10

   You are a project support officer at a consultancy. Since somebody left three weeks ago, one person on the engagement has covered two people’s actions and has worked every evening, while the rest of you finish at a normal hour. They have asked you not to raise it, because they do not want to look as though they cannot cope. The plan for next month gives them more, not less. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Take some of the actions on quietly yourself over the next few weeks, so that the hours come down without anybody having to be told what has been happening.
   2. Leave next month's plan alone and keep the extra actions where they are, because sharing them out would put two more of them on you every week.
   3. Tell your colleague they should raise it with the team lead themselves, and leave it with them to decide whether they want to do that or not.
   4. Tell your colleague you will raise how the work is spread rather than how they are coping, then put the two people's actions in front of your team lead this week.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Tell your colleague you will raise how the work is spread rather than how they are coping, then put the two people's actions in front of your team lead this week.

   Least effective: B. Leave next month's plan alone and keep the extra actions where they are, because sharing them out would put two more of them on you every week.

   A: Treats a resourcing gap as a personal favour: two people's work is still being done by two people, and whoever writes next month's plan is still working from a team that looks fully staffed.

   B: Takes the advantage for your own gain: the arrangement lasts another month because it suits the people it does not fall on, and the one person carrying it pays for that quietly.

   C: Puts the step on the person least able to take it: they have already said why they will not, and next month's plan is written whether they speak or not.

   The most effective response is to tell your colleague you will raise how the work is spread and put the actions in front of your team lead. It respects what your colleague asked by making the subject the workload rather than their capacity, it reaches the person who writes next month’s plan while it can still change, and it does not leave one person carrying two roles by default. It beats taking some of the actions on quietly yourself, because absorbing the overflow yourself keeps the shortfall invisible to whoever plans the month, so the same gap is planned again. It beats telling your colleague to raise it with the team lead themselves, because they have already explained why they will not raise it, and the plan does not wait for them. The least effective response is leaving next month’s plan alone and keeping the extra actions where they are: the other three all move something, whereas this one leaves an exhausted colleague where they are for another month for the plain reason that the alternative costs you, which turns a judgement about the engagement into a judgement about your own week. The principle: raise a workload that has stopped being sustainable, and separate the work from the person doing it.

7. Question 7 of 10

   You are a reporting analyst at a consultancy, producing the weekly figures a client’s operations meeting runs on. Every set of figures is compared against the source extract by a second analyst before it leaves your team. The client’s operations manager rings an hour before their meeting and asks for this week’s figures now. The comparison has not been done. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell the operations manager the figures are still being checked and will reach them within the hour, since the comparison is outstanding, and ask what they need.
   2. Send last week's figures instead, since those have already been compared against the source, and say the current week is not finished yet.
   3. Ask the second analyst to stop their own client work and do the comparison in the next twenty minutes, so the figures can go over before the meeting starts.
   4. Release this week's figures to the meeting straight away, and run the comparison against the source extract afterwards while the meeting is under way.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Tell the operations manager the figures are still being checked and will reach them within the hour, since the comparison is outstanding, and ask what they need.

   Least effective: D. Release this week's figures to the meeting straight away, and run the comparison against the source extract afterwards while the meeting is under way.

   B: Answers a question nobody asked: last week's numbers tell the operations meeting nothing about the week they are meeting about, and the hour is spent on them anyway.

   C: Moves the cost onto a colleague: another client's work is dropped to avoid a one minute conversation about when the figures will be ready.

   D: Breaches a stated check: the meeting takes decisions from numbers nobody has compared against the source, and the client cannot see that the step was skipped.

   The most effective response is to tell the operations manager the figures are still being checked and will reach them within the hour. It gives the operations manager a straight answer inside their own timing, it leaves them to decide what to do with the hour, and what reaches the meeting has been through the comparison the client is relying on without knowing it. It beats sending last week’s figures instead, because numbers from the week before answer a question the meeting is not asking, and this week is still missing. It beats asking the second analyst to stop their own client work and do the comparison now, because another client loses their analyst to save a conversation about timing that takes a minute to have. The least effective response is releasing the figures straight away and running the comparison afterwards: the other three all leave the meeting either waiting or told what it is waiting for, whereas this one puts uncompared numbers in front of people who will decide on them, and the one step that would have caught an error is gone without the client ever knowing it existed. The principle: tell a client where a check stands rather than dropping the check to hit their clock.

8. Question 8 of 10

   You are a deployment analyst at a consultancy, checking the facts in a bid document that goes to Ashenden Ports on Friday. One paragraph says the team has put the same system into three ports. The team has done two ports and one inland depot. A checklist goes with the document, and you are the person filling it in. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell the manager running the bid today exactly what the team has done, since the third port was an inland depot, and ask for the paragraph to be reworded before the document goes out.
   2. Mark the claim as checked on the checklist and let the document go out with the wording exactly as it stands.
   3. Reword the paragraph yourself to say two ports and one depot, and mark the checklist as checked without telling anybody it was changed.
   4. Note on the checklist that one of the three was an inland depot, and leave the paragraph itself exactly as the bid team wrote it.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Tell the manager running the bid today exactly what the team has done, since the third port was an inland depot, and ask for the paragraph to be reworded before the document goes out.

   Least effective: B. Mark the claim as checked on the checklist and let the document go out with the wording exactly as it stands.

   B: Certifies something you know is untrue: the checklist is the only record that the claim was tested, and it now says a third port exists because you were the person who signed it off.

   C: Changes somebody else's words unannounced: the wording is right afterwards, and the people whose bid it is find a paragraph they did not write.

   D: Records a correction where nobody will read it: the checklist stays with your team, and the client still receives a document saying three ports.

   The most effective response is to tell the manager running the bid what the team has done and ask for the paragraph to be reworded. The difference between three ports and two ports and a depot is exactly the kind of thing a reader will test, and there are days left in which to fix the sentence. It beats rewording the paragraph yourself without telling anybody, because the bid team find their own paragraph altered by somebody who never told them. It beats noting on the checklist that one of them was an inland depot and leaving the paragraph, because the checklist stays inside your team while the client reads the paragraph. The least effective response is marking the claim as checked on the checklist and letting the document go out: the other three all leave a true account somewhere, whereas this one puts your name against a check that was never passed, so the only record of the claim being tested says it was sound. The principle: the checklist says what you found, and a wrong sentence is corrected by the people who own it.

9. Question 9 of 10

   You are a market research assistant at a consultancy, interviewing people at a client’s sites from a list of names the client drew up themselves. You have realised that one of the six interviews you did was with somebody who does the same job but was not on that list. The client expects the notes tomorrow. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Leave the off-list interview out of the pack altogether and send the client five interviews tomorrow, so that everything in the notes came from the list they drew up.
   2. Send the notes over tomorrow with the off-list interview included and a line saying who it was with, and tell the manager running the study about it afterwards.
   3. Tell the manager running the study today that one of the six interviews was with somebody off the client's list, since they must decide before the notes go over.
   4. Put the write-up in the pack as the sixth interview the client asked for, and keep your own mistake to yourself so that nobody has to redo the work.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Tell the manager running the study today that one of the six interviews was with somebody off the client's list, since they must decide before the notes go over.

   Least effective: D. Put the write-up in the pack as the sixth interview the client asked for, and keep your own mistake to yourself so that nobody has to redo the work.

   A: Reduces the evidence rather than reporting it: the client gets five interviews where six were agreed, and is never told why the sixth is missing.

   B: Tells the client before telling your own team: the manager running the study learns from the client's reply that an interview was off the list.

   D: Hides your own mistake: the client's findings rest on six interviews whose people they chose, and one of them is now somebody they did not choose.

   The most effective response is to tell the manager today that one of the six interviews was with somebody off the client’s list. It reaches the person who can decide what to do while there is still a day to do it in, and the choice between redoing the interview, keeping it with a note, or dropping it stays with the engagement rather than with you alone. It beats sending the notes tomorrow with a line about the off-list interview and telling the manager afterwards, because your own manager should not learn about it from the client’s reply. It beats leaving the off-list interview out and sending the client five interviews instead, because quietly shipping five interviews where six were agreed leaves the client wondering what happened to the sixth, or worse, not noticing. The least effective response is putting the write-up in the pack as the sixth interview and keeping your own mistake to yourself: the other three all leave the client or the manager able to see what the pack actually contains, whereas this one presents an interview with somebody the client did not pick as one they did, so findings they will act on rest on evidence they never agreed to. The principle: an error in evidence belongs in front of the person who owns the study, on the day you find it.

10. Question 10 of 10

    You are a strategy analyst at a consultancy, finishing an options paper for a client’s steering group. The paper was due last Wednesday and was finished yesterday. The manager running the engagement asks you to put last Wednesday’s date on the front of it before it is circulated, so that the steering group reads it as having arrived on time. The client’s project office keeps its own list of what was received and when. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

    1. Say you would rather put today's date on it, since the client's project office logs what arrived when, and offer a covering line explaining the delay.
    2. Circulate the paper with today's date on it and say nothing at all about the week it lost, leaving the steering group to notice the gap if they ever look for it.
    3. Ask the manager to put the date on it themselves, and circulate the paper only once somebody else has dated the front page.
    4. Change the date on the report to last Wednesday before circulating it, and let the steering group read the paper as delivered on the day it was due.
    Show the answer

    Most effective: A. Say you would rather put today's date on it, since the client's project office logs what arrived when, and offer a covering line explaining the delay.

    Least effective: D. Change the date on the report to last Wednesday before circulating it, and let the steering group read the paper as delivered on the day it was due.

    B: Leaves the client to find the slip: the date is honest, and the week the paper lost is left for the steering group to work out for itself.

    C: Passes an act you are already part of: the paper still goes out under last Wednesday, and the only thing that changes is whose hand typed it.

    D: Alters a record of when work arrived: the client's own list of what was received stops matching what happened, over a week nobody can get back anyway.

    The most effective response is to say you would rather put today’s date on it and to offer to explain the delay in the covering email. The date is a fact about when the paper arrived, the manager is entitled to a reason and a remedy rather than a refusal, and a covering line costs the engagement far less than a steering group discovering the paper was late. It beats circulating the paper with today’s date and saying nothing about the week it lost, because the steering group is left to work out for itself that a week went missing. It beats asking the manager to date it themselves and waiting until somebody else has done it, because the paper still goes out under last Wednesday and the only difference is whose hand typed it. The least effective response is changing the date on the report to last Wednesday before circulating it: the other three all leave the client able to see when the paper really arrived, whereas this one makes a record say something that did not happen, and the project office’s list stops being worth reading. The principle: a date records when something arrived, so fix the lateness in the covering words, never in the record.