Telecom & Media Tests

Telecoms Situational Judgement Test

1. Question 1 of 10

   You are a technical support adviser. A member of the public rings after reading about a problem at your company and asks whether her details were affected. The security team is still working on it and has published nothing. Nobody has told the support desk what to say, and yours is the first call of this kind. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell her you are not allowed to comment and that she should watch the company's website for an announcement when one is published.
   2. Take her details and promise that somebody from the security team will ring her back today with an answer about her own records specifically.
   3. Tell her an investigation is running and nothing is ruled in or out, take her details, and tell your manager the desk needs a line, since more of these will come.
   4. Tell her that her details are almost certainly fine, since nothing has been confirmed as taken and there is no point worrying somebody over a maybe.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Tell her an investigation is running and nothing is ruled in or out, take her details, and tell your manager the desk needs a line, since more of these will come.

   Least effective: D. Tell her that her details are almost certainly fine, since nothing has been confirmed as taken and there is no point worrying somebody over a maybe.

   A: Refuses a caller you could partly help: that an investigation is running is itself true and sayable, and she is left with nothing to do.

   B: Commits another team to a call they have not agreed to: the security team is mid-investigation and has no capacity to ring individual callers.

   D: Gives an assurance nobody has authorised: no one has established what was taken, and she will make decisions about her own accounts on your word.

   The most effective response is to tell her an investigation is running and nothing is ruled in or out, take her details, and tell your manager the desk needs a line. She gets the truthful state of play, her details are captured, and the fact that this is the first such call is something your manager needs because it will not be the last. It beats telling her you are not allowed to comment and that she should watch the website, because the existence of an investigation is safe to say and gives her something real. It beats promising that somebody from the security team will ring her back today, because they have not agreed to that and cannot mid- investigation. The least effective response is telling her that her details are almost certainly fine: it is worse than either of the other two, because both stop short of telling her anything untrue, while this reassures a member of the public about her own data on an investigation that has not concluded. The principle: give the honest state of play, capture the caller, and tell your own manager that a line is needed before the second call arrives.

2. Question 2 of 10

   You are an incident coordinator. You promised the on-call handover pack by Friday and it will now be Tuesday. The person who runs the weekend rota is building this weekend’s cover around it and is on annual leave until Thursday. Her deputy is at his desk today and has the rota open in front of him. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Email her now so that she reads it on Thursday when she is back, and carry on with the pack in the meantime without troubling anybody else.
   2. Say nothing until she is back on Thursday. She owns the rota, and one working day either way will not change very much about what she decides.
   3. Tell her deputy today that the pack will be Tuesday rather than Friday, so that this weekend's cover is built on the real date, and email her as well.
   4. Tell the deputy the pack may be a little late without giving him the new date, so that he is warned and she is not alarmed while she is away.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Tell her deputy today that the pack will be Tuesday rather than Friday, so that this weekend's cover is built on the real date, and email her as well.

   Least effective: B. Say nothing until she is back on Thursday. She owns the rota, and one working day either way will not change very much about what she decides.

   A: Sends the warning to the one person who cannot act on it: she is on leave until Thursday and the cover is being built this week.

   B: Stays silent while the plan is built: the weekend cover is assembled around a Friday pack that is not coming, and only you know that.

   D: Warns without the number he needs: he cannot rebuild a weekend rota around might be late, and Tuesday is the only fact that would let him.

   The most effective response is to tell her deputy today that the pack will be Tuesday rather than Friday, and email her as well. He is at his desk with the rota open, the weekend is being planned now, and emailing her means nothing is done behind her back. It beats emailing her now so she reads it on Thursday, because she cannot act until then and the cover is assembled this week. It beats telling the deputy the pack may be a little late without giving him the new date, because a vague warning cannot be planned around. The least effective response is saying nothing until she is back on Thursday: it is worse than either of the other two, because both reach somebody with something, while this leaves a weekend rota being built around a pack that is not coming. The principle: when your slip lands inside somebody else’s plan, tell whoever is holding it today, with the date.

3. Question 3 of 10

   You are a release coordinator. A customer emails you directly because yesterday’s release changed a screen her staff use all day and she cannot find a setting they rely on. She has written to you because your name was on the release note. You know where the setting has moved to. The support queue is running at three days. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Reply to her today telling her where the setting has moved, and raise a ticket yourself so that the change gets documented for everybody else who will hit it.
   2. Reply asking her to raise it through the support portal, where her question will be picked up by whoever is on the queue that day.
   3. Reply with where the setting has moved to and leave it there, since her question is answered and the release note is somebody else's document to maintain.
   4. Forward her email to the team who wrote the screen and ask them to reply to her directly, as they will explain the change far better than you could.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Reply to her today telling her where the setting has moved, and raise a ticket yourself so that the change gets documented for everybody else who will hit it.

   Least effective: B. Reply asking her to raise it through the support portal, where her question will be picked up by whoever is on the queue that day.

   B: Passes the problem on without owning it: she wrote to the one person who knows the answer, and is sent to a three-day queue to be told what you could say now.

   C: Answers her and stops: the next twenty customers hit the same wall, and the note that caused it stays exactly as wrong as it was this morning.

   D: Adds a hop she did not ask for: they may well explain it better, and she is now waiting on people who have not agreed to write to her.

   The most effective response is to reply to her today telling her where the setting has moved, and raise a ticket so the change gets documented. She needs one sentence you already have, and the fact that she had to ask is evidence the release note is missing something others will need. It beats replying with where the setting has moved and leaving it there, because that leaves the same gap for everyone behind her, and the note carries your name. It beats forwarding her email to the team who wrote the screen, because they have not agreed to write to customers and she gets no faster answer. The least effective response is asking her to raise it through the support portal: it is worse than either of the other two, because both end with her being told something, while this sends the person who reached the only individual holding the answer into a three-day queue. The principle: when a customer reaches the person who knows, answer, and fix the thing that made her have to ask.

4. Question 4 of 10

   You are an incident coordinator. You and a colleague disagree about whether last week’s outage should be recorded as a supplier failure or as one of the team’s own. The disagreement has been going on for days. A customer who was affected rings you today and asks, in passing, what caused it. Your colleague is not on the call. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell her the cause is still being agreed internally and that she will have the finished account this week, so that she has a date, and settle it with your colleague after.
   2. Give her both accounts and let her make up her own mind, since she was the one affected and has as much right to the facts as anybody inside the team.
   3. Tell her you cannot discuss the cause at all and end the conversation there, so that nothing is said which might contradict the final write-up.
   4. Give her your version of the cause and mention that a colleague sees it differently, so that a customer's view carries some weight in settling it.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Tell her the cause is still being agreed internally and that she will have the finished account this week, so that she has a date, and settle it with your colleague after.

   Least effective: D. Give her your version of the cause and mention that a colleague sees it differently, so that a customer's view carries some weight in settling it.

   B: Hands a customer an unfinished argument: she now has two conflicting causes from one supplier and no way at all of choosing between them.

   C: Refuses a question you can partly answer: that the account is being finalised is itself true, useful and safe to say.

   D: Recruits the customer into an internal argument: it puts a person outside the company into a dispute between two colleagues in order to win it.

   The most effective response is to tell her the cause is still being agreed internally and that she will have the finished account this week, and settle it with your colleague afterwards. She asked a fair question and the honest answer is both true and useful, while the disagreement belongs with him. It beats giving her both accounts and letting her make up her own mind, because two conflicting causes from one supplier is worse than none. It beats telling her you cannot discuss the cause at all, because that withholds something you can safely tell her. The least effective response is giving her your version and mentioning that a colleague sees it differently: it is worse than either of the other two, because both leave the disagreement inside the company, while this uses a customer as leverage against a colleague who is not on the call. The principle: tell the customer honestly where the account stands, and never reach outside the team for weight in an argument inside it.

5. Question 5 of 10

   You are a build engineer. You and a colleague have argued twice this week about whose checks run first in the release, and neither of you has given ground. The releases are now going out later each day because of it. This morning the person who owns the release schedule asks you, casually, how the two of you are getting along. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Say the two of you disagree about the order of the checks and that it is costing time, and ask him to settle it, so that it stops being decided by whoever pushes hardest.
   2. Raise his judgement with the schedule owner behind his back, so that the order gets decided by somebody who has heard only one side of the argument.
   3. Say the two of you are getting along fine and sort the order out with him yourself, without involving the person who owns the schedule in something small.
   4. Describe it as a process problem without saying who is on which side, and leave him to work out for himself who he ought to be asking about it.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Say the two of you disagree about the order of the checks and that it is costing time, and ask him to settle it, so that it stops being decided by whoever pushes hardest.

   Least effective: B. Raise his judgement with the schedule owner behind his back, so that the order gets decided by somebody who has heard only one side of the argument.

   B: Personalises the conflict: it converts a disagreement about sequencing into a verdict on him, delivered to the one person with power over both your weeks.

   C: Reports a problem as solved while it is still costing time: two failed attempts is evidence you cannot settle it, and the releases keep slipping meanwhile.

   D: Names the problem but not the people: he cannot resolve a dispute whose parties are hidden, so the disclosure buys nothing and costs another day.

   The most effective response is to say the two of you disagree about the order of the checks and that it is costing time, and ask him to settle it. The disagreement is about sequencing, which is what the schedule owner owns, and it has already failed twice to settle itself. It beats saying the two of you are getting along fine and sorting the order out yourselves, because two attempts have proved you cannot, and the daily slippage keeps running. It beats describing it as a process problem without saying who is on which side, because a dispute with its parties removed cannot be arbitrated. The least effective response is raising his judgement with the schedule owner behind his back: it is worse than either of the other two, because both keep the conversation about the checks, while this puts his judgement in front of the person who decides his work, in a conversation he is not in. The principle: take a sequencing dispute to whoever owns the sequence, describe both sides, and never make the argument about the other person while they are absent.

6. Question 6 of 10

   You are a product assistant. Five weeks ago a customer asked for a change to how a report is filtered. You logged it and never went back to her. She has not chased. Today you are choosing which four requests go into next month’s work, and hers is one of eleven candidates with no recent activity against it. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Email her today asking whether the request still matters and how much, and use the answer when you choose the four rather than guessing from the silence.
   2. Put her request into next month's four on the basis that five weeks is too long to have waited, whether or not she still needs it now.
   3. Leave hers out of the four, since five weeks without a chase almost certainly means she found another way round it or it was never that important.
   4. Ask the support team whether she has raised it again through any other route, and decide about next month once you hear back from them.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Email her today asking whether the request still matters and how much, and use the answer when you choose the four rather than guessing from the silence.

   Least effective: C. Leave hers out of the four, since five weeks without a chase almost certainly means she found another way round it or it was never that important.

   B: Buys back the delay with the wrong currency: a place in next month's four may go to something she no longer wants, and three other customers lose it.

   C: Assumes the silence away: she stopped chasing because nobody replied, and the request is now dropped on the strength of your own failure to answer.

   D: Checks the wrong side of the silence: she can tell you today whether it still matters, and the support team can only tell you whether she asked twice.

   The most effective response is to email her today asking whether the request still matters and how much, and use the answer when you choose the four. Only she can say whether it is still live, one email settles it, and next month’s four should be chosen on what customers currently need. It beats putting her request into next month’s four because five weeks is too long to have waited, since a slot given out of guilt may go to something she has stopped wanting while three others lose their place. It beats asking the support team whether she has raised it again elsewhere, because they can only report whether she asked, and she can tell you whether she needs it. The least effective response is leaving hers out because five weeks without a chase means she found another way round it: it is worse than either of the other two, because both act on the request, while this reads her silence as her having stopped needing it, when the likelier cause is that nobody answered her. The principle: five weeks of silence after you failed to reply is evidence about you, not about how much the customer wants it.

7. Question 7 of 10

   You are a service desk analyst. Every Friday you send a note confirming that all sixty open tickets have been reviewed and updated. This week you have got through forty-five; the last fifteen belong to a colleague who is off sick and whose notes you cannot see. Three managers use that note to decide where to put people next week. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Record all sixty as checked and updated. The fifteen have not changed hands this week, and nobody reading a Friday note is going to open them one by one.
   2. Send the note saying forty-five were reviewed and fifteen could not be, name why, and say when you expect to reach the last fifteen.
   3. Hold the note until Monday when your colleague is back, and tell the three managers that this week's version is going to arrive late.
   4. Send the note covering only the forty-five you did review, without mentioning anywhere that another fifteen tickets exist behind it.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Send the note saying forty-five were reviewed and fifteen could not be, name why, and say when you expect to reach the last fifteen.

   Least effective: A. Record all sixty as checked and updated. The fifteen have not changed hands this week, and nobody reading a Friday note is going to open them one by one.

   A: Certifies work that was not done: the note's only value is that somebody looked, and three managers will place people next week on fifteen tickets nobody read.

   C: Delays a note that is used before Monday: the placement decisions are made on Friday, so a complete note on Monday informs nothing at all.

   D: Omits the part that matters: a clean note about forty-five reads as a clean note about everything, and the gap is invisible to the people relying on it.

   The most effective response is to send the note saying forty-five were reviewed and fifteen could not be, name why, and say when you expect to reach the last fifteen. The managers need to know what was checked and what was not, on Friday, and the reason turns your problem into one somebody can cover. It beats holding the note until Monday when your colleague is back, because the decisions are taken on Friday. It beats sending a note covering only the forty-five you did review, because a note listing forty-five reads as a note about the whole queue. The least effective response is recording all sixty as checked and updated: it is worse than either of the other two, because both leave a reader able to work out what was covered, late or incomplete, while this states that all sixty were reviewed when fifteen were not. The principle: a status note earns its value from being accurate about its own gaps, so report the part you did and name the part you could not.

8. Question 8 of 10

   You are a junior developer. Reading through tonight’s release you have noticed that a change renames a field that a report your colleague owns depends on. Her report runs every Tuesday morning and she is not working today. The release goes out at eight this evening. You may have misread it, and nobody has asked you to check anything. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Email your colleague so that she sees it tomorrow morning, and leave the release alone, since she is the one who owns the report and should decide about it.
   2. Leave it. You may have misread it, nobody asked you to check the release, and the person who owns the report is the one who should have spotted it.
   3. Change the release yourself to keep the old field name alongside the new one, so that her report carries on working whichever way it turns out to be.
   4. Raise it now with whoever is running tonight's release, say what you think you have seen and that you may have misread it, and let them decide before eight.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Raise it now with whoever is running tonight's release, say what you think you have seen and that you may have misread it, and let them decide before eight.

   Least effective: B. Leave it. You may have misread it, nobody asked you to check the release, and the person who owns the report is the one who should have spotted it.

   A: Sends a warning that arrives after the event: she reads it on Tuesday, by which time the release went out on Monday evening and her report has already run.

   B: Stays silent on something only you have seen: the release goes out at eight whether or not you misread it, and nobody else is looking at this at all.

   C: Acts on a reading you are not sure of: it edits somebody else's change on the evening it ships, on the strength of something you think you saw.

   The most effective response is to raise it now with whoever is running tonight’s release, say what you think you have seen and that you may have misread it. There are hours left, they can check it in minutes, and saying openly that you may be wrong costs nothing and lets them weigh it. It beats emailing your colleague so she sees it tomorrow morning, because that arrives after Monday evening’s release and after her report has run. It beats changing the release yourself to keep the old field name alongside the new one, because editing somebody else’s change on the evening it ships, on a reading you are unsure of, risks more than it protects. The least effective response is leaving it because you may have misread it and nobody asked you to check: it is worse than either of the other two, because both act on what you saw, while this leaves the only observation anybody has made unspoken until Tuesday. The principle: an uncertain observation with hours to spare goes to whoever can check it, and uncertainty is a thing to say aloud rather than a reason to stay quiet.

9. Question 9 of 10

   You are a security analyst. A project has finished and left eleven unused software licences that nobody has asked about. Two colleagues have already taken one each for personal machines and told you it is normal. The licences cost the company four hundred pounds each per year and renew automatically next month unless somebody cancels them. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Cancel the nine that are left before the renewal and say nothing about the two that have already gone, so that the money is saved without anybody being named.
   2. Take one of the licences for your own use as the others have, and cancel the rest before the renewal date, which still saves the company most of the money.
   3. Tell whoever owns the project budget that eleven licences are renewing next month and that two are already on personal machines, so that they decide what happens to all eleven.
   4. Raise it with the two colleagues and ask them to hand theirs back, then cancel all eleven before the renewal without involving anybody else in it.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Tell whoever owns the project budget that eleven licences are renewing next month and that two are already on personal machines, so that they decide what happens to all eleven.

   Least effective: B. Take one of the licences for your own use as the others have, and cancel the rest before the renewal date, which still saves the company most of the money.

   A: Solves the cost and buries the rest: four hundred pounds a year is still walking out on two machines and the practice is left described as normal.

   B: Takes an advantage the role forbids: you are the person who saw the licences, and the saving does not buy you one of them.

   D: Settles it privately with the people who took them: it may work, and the budget holder still never learns that eleven licences nearly renewed unnoticed.

   The most effective response is to tell whoever owns the project budget that eleven licences are renewing next month and that two are already on personal machines. The renewal is a real deadline, the budget holder can act on it, and the two already gone are part of the same fact rather than a separate accusation. It beats cancelling the nine that are left and saying nothing about the two, because two are still being paid for and the practice goes unexamined. It beats asking the two colleagues to hand theirs back and cancelling all eleven yourself, because that may resolve today without anybody learning that eleven licences sat unnoticed. The least effective response is taking one of the licences for your own use as the others have: it is worse than either of the other two, because both end with you holding nothing, while this has the person who spotted the problem taking a share of it. The principle: when you find something valuable that nobody is watching, the finding goes to whoever owns it, and finding it earns you none of it.

10. Question 10 of 10

    You are an access administrator. You and a colleague check each other’s access requests before they are granted. Last month he wrote on one of yours that you had clearly not looked at the job titles. He was right and it was fairly put, but you have thought about it since. Three of his requests are now sitting in your queue. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

    1. Check the three requests today as you always would, and mention to him when you next speak that the comment landed harder than he probably intended it to.
    2. Stop checking his requests after that comment, and leave the three of them in the queue for whichever of the other checkers gets to them first.
    3. Check the three and go through them far more slowly than usual, so that nothing at all could be said about the care you have taken over them.
    4. Ask to be paired with a different checker in future, so that the two of you are not marking each other's work and last month cannot happen again.
    Show the answer

    Most effective: A. Check the three requests today as you always would, and mention to him when you next speak that the comment landed harder than he probably intended it to.

    Least effective: B. Stop checking his requests after that comment, and leave the three of them in the queue for whichever of the other checkers gets to them first.

    B: Withdraws help after a fair correction: three people are waiting on access, and the reason their requests stopped moving exists nowhere they could find it.

    C: Turns a correction into over-caution: the queue slows for everybody, and the extra time buys accuracy nobody needed on requests that were fine.

    D: Rearranges the team around one remark: it is a real fix for a problem that may not exist, and it costs the pairing that caught your mistake.

    The most effective response is to check the three requests today as you always would, and mention when you next speak that the comment landed harder than he probably intended. The correction was right and fairly made, three people are waiting, and saying it stung is a smaller thing than rearranging your work around it. It beats checking the three and going through them far more slowly than usual, because that buys no accuracy on requests that were already sound and the queue pays. It beats asking to be paired with a different checker in future, because the pairing worked exactly as intended. The least effective response is stopping checking his requests and leaving the three in the queue: it is worse than either of the other two, because both keep them moving, while this simply stops and the three people waiting have no way of knowing why. The principle: a correction you agree with is worth saying out loud, and it is never worth paying for out of other people’s queue.