Aviva Assessment Tests

Aviva Situational Judgement Test

1. Question 1 of 10

   You are a purchase ledger clerk. Your manager asked you this morning to file last year’s invoices, which will take the day. At 10am you notice a supplier’s bank details were changed yesterday by someone outside the team, and nobody has confirmed with the supplier that the change is genuine. Your manager is at her desk. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Finish the filing exactly as she asked and tell your manager about the changed bank details at the end of the day, when the job she gave you this morning is actually complete.
   2. Send a note about the bank details over to the payments team, mark it as theirs now, and carry on with the filing without checking that anybody has picked it up.
   3. Ask the supplier directly whether they changed their own bank details, then carry on with the filing and mention it to your manager when there is a moment.
   4. Stop and tell your manager about the changed bank details now, and ask whether the filing should wait while somebody looks at where the change came from.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Stop and tell your manager about the changed bank details now, and ask whether the filing should wait while somebody looks at where the change came from.

   Least effective: B. Send a note about the bank details over to the payments team, mark it as theirs now, and carry on with the filing without checking that anybody has picked it up.

   A: Ranks the instruction above the information: a day is a long time for a change of this kind to sit unexamined.

   B: Hands off the urgent item and keeps the routine one: the payments team has no context, nobody has confirmed they picked it up, and the filing was never the thing that mattered today.

   C: Acts before anybody senior has looked: contacting the supplier on the number in the record is exactly what somebody would want to control first.

   The most effective response is to stop and tell your manager about the changed bank details now, and ask whether the filing should wait while somebody looks at where the change came from: a bank detail change from outside the team is exactly the thing worth interrupting for, she is two steps away, and the filing has no deadline at all. It beats finishing the filing as asked and telling her at the end of the day, because a day is a long time to leave it. It beats asking the supplier directly whether they changed their own details, because that destroys the evidence before anybody has looked. The least effective response is sending a note to the payments team and carrying on with the filing without checking anybody picked it up: the urgent item is pushed to a team with no context and no confirmation. That is offloading it rather than sequencing it badly. The principle: an instruction from this morning does not outrank what you have found since.

2. Question 2 of 10

   You are a compliance analyst. A department head asks you whether his team’s new process “has been approved”. Your review is half done and the parts you have seen are fine, but two sections are untouched. He wants to start using the process on Monday and is pressing for an answer today. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell him exactly which parts you have reviewed and which you have not, say when the remaining two will be done, and be clear that it is not approved yet.
   2. Tell him to raise it with your manager, since a question about whether something is approved should come from somebody more senior than you.
   3. Tell him the review is not finished and that you cannot say anything further about it until it is, without giving him any sort of date for the remaining two sections.
   4. Tell him it is fine to go ahead on Monday, since everything you have looked at so far has been perfectly in order and the rest is very unlikely to differ.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Tell him exactly which parts you have reviewed and which you have not, say when the remaining two will be done, and be clear that it is not approved yet.

   Least effective: D. Tell him it is fine to go ahead on Monday, since everything you have looked at so far has been perfectly in order and the rest is very unlikely to differ.

   B: Passes a question you can answer: you know exactly what has and has not been reviewed, and he now waits for a diary slot.

   C: Withholds the timing: he is planning a Monday start and a date is the one thing that would let him plan around it.

   D: Gives an approval you have not reached: he starts a process on Monday believing it is signed off, and two unreviewed sections carry his name and yours.

   The most effective response is to tell him exactly which parts you have reviewed and which you have not, say when the remaining two will be done, and be clear it is not approved yet: it is precise about what is done, honest about the status, and gives him a date he can plan against. It beats telling him the review is not finished and that you cannot say more, because a refusal without a date leaves him no better off. It beats telling him to raise it with your manager, because you hold the facts and she would only repeat them. The least effective response is telling him it is fine to go ahead on Monday: an approval is given for two sections nobody has read, and a department starts using the process on the strength of it. That is asserting something untrue rather than being unhelpfully vague. The principle: report the status precisely and give a date, never round it up to yes.

3. Question 3 of 10

   You are a payments assistant. A large client payment has failed and the client’s finance director needs to know within the hour. The approved route is through their relationship manager, who is on a flight. You have the finance director’s mobile number on a file you are not supposed to use for contact details. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Call the relationship manager's team now for another contact route, and tell your manager the clock so somebody with authority can decide how to reach the client.
   2. Take the finance director's mobile number from the file and telephone him directly, since he needs to know within the hour and the number is right there in front of you.
   3. Ask a colleague to telephone the client's main switchboard and try to reach the finance director without saying what it is about.
   4. Email the relationship manager and wait for her to land, since she is the approved route and the client is hers to contact.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Call the relationship manager's team now for another contact route, and tell your manager the clock so somebody with authority can decide how to reach the client.

   Least effective: B. Take the finance director's mobile number from the file and telephone him directly, since he needs to know within the hour and the number is right there in front of you.

   B: Uses a record for a purpose it is not permitted for: the restriction exists whatever the reason, and urgency is exactly the circumstance it was written to cover.

   C: Sends somebody to make a call they cannot explain: a vague approach from an unnamed colleague will not reach him inside an hour.

   D: Follows the route past the deadline: an hour is the whole window and a flight is longer than that.

   The most effective response is to call the relationship manager’s team now for another contact route, and tell your manager the clock so somebody with authority can decide how to reach the client: her team almost certainly has another route, and your manager can authorise whatever is needed if it does not. It beats emailing the relationship manager and waiting for her to land, because the flight is longer than the hour. It beats asking a colleague to ring the client’s switchboard without saying what it is about, because a call nobody can explain will not get through. The least effective response is taking the finance director’s mobile number from the file and telephoning him directly: contact details are used from a source you are specifically not permitted to use for that, on your own judgement that the circumstances justify it. That is breaching a stated restriction rather than being too slow or too indirect. The principle: when the approved route will not make the deadline, get authority for another one.

4. Question 4 of 10

   You are a branch adviser. The colleague who does the weekly cash reconciliation has left and nobody has been trained to replace her. It is due Friday. You have watched her do it a few times and there is a written procedure. Your branch manager is aware the role is vacant. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Attempt the reconciliation on Friday from the written procedure, and ask your branch manager to look over it afterwards rather than before you start on it.
   2. Tell your branch manager that the reconciliation cannot be done this week because the trained person has left, and leave it until somebody is trained.
   3. Tell your branch manager you will attempt it from the written procedure this Friday, and ask her to check it with you the first time so nothing is missed.
   4. Refer the reconciliation on to the area operations team and take it off the branch's list, without sending them the branch records they would need to do it.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Tell your branch manager you will attempt it from the written procedure this Friday, and ask her to check it with you the first time so nothing is missed.

   Least effective: D. Refer the reconciliation on to the area operations team and take it off the branch's list, without sending them the branch records they would need to do it.

   A: Puts the check after the work: a first attempt at a cash control is reviewed once it is already done rather than while it can still be steered.

   B: Treats a written procedure as no procedure: the document exists precisely so somebody else can pick it up.

   D: Passes a branch task to a team that does not do it: nobody there has the branch's records, and Friday arrives with the reconciliation no closer to being done.

   The most effective response is to tell your branch manager you will attempt it from the written procedure this Friday, and ask her to check it with you the first time: the procedure exists, you have seen it done, and asking for a check on the first attempt is what makes trying it safe. It beats attempting it from the procedure and asking her to look it over afterwards, because an unchecked first cash reconciliation is the one most likely to be wrong. It beats telling her it cannot be done this week because the trained person has left, because a written procedure is what allows the work to continue. The least effective response is referring it to the area operations team without sending them the branch records: the task goes to people who neither own it nor hold what they would need, and Friday still arrives. That is offloading it rather than attempting it unsafely or declining it. The principle: pick it up from the procedure, and ask to be checked the first time.

5. Question 5 of 10

   You are a research assistant. For the fourth time this month a manager has sent you a “quick” change at 5pm that takes three hours. You have stayed late each time. Tonight you have plans. He is not your line manager and does not know about the previous three. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell him in front of the team that he clearly cannot organise his own deadlines and that other people are not there to absorb the consequences.
   2. Stay late again tonight and raise the pattern with your own line manager tomorrow, rather than having the conversation with him directly.
   3. Reply that you cannot do it tonight and leave, without mentioning the previous three or proposing anything about future changes.
   4. Tell him tonight that this is the fourth 5pm change this month, that you cannot do it this evening, and ask to agree a cut-off time for changes.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Tell him tonight that this is the fourth 5pm change this month, that you cannot do it this evening, and ask to agree a cut-off time for changes.

   Least effective: A. Tell him in front of the team that he clearly cannot organise his own deadlines and that other people are not there to absorb the consequences.

   A: Makes a workload problem a public attack on a colleague: the pattern he does not know about is never explained, and what he remembers is being criticised in the open.

   B: Escalates without asking: he does not know he is doing it, and a fourth late night funds the delay.

   C: Refuses the instance and leaves the pattern: tomorrow's 5pm change is exactly as likely as it was this morning.

   The most effective response is to tell him tonight that this is the fourth 5pm change this month, that you cannot do it this evening, and ask to agree a cut-off time for changes: it declines tonight, gives him the information he genuinely does not have, and proposes the one thing that stops it recurring. It beats staying late again and raising the pattern with your own line manager tomorrow, because he cannot fix a habit nobody has told him about. It beats replying that you cannot do it tonight and leaving without mentioning the previous three, because refusing once changes nothing about next week. The least effective response is telling him in front of the team that he clearly cannot organise his own deadlines: a legitimate complaint is delivered as a public character judgement, so the pattern goes unaddressed and the relationship is damaged as well. That is personalising it rather than under-reacting. The principle: name the pattern to the person causing it, and propose the fix.

6. Question 6 of 10

   You are an accounts assistant. The month-end file is due at 9am and you are an hour behind at 8am. The only way to make it is to skip the second review of the intercompany balances, which has caught an error twice this year. Nobody checks whether that review was done. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Send the file at 9am with a note saying the intercompany review has not been done, so the deadline is met and the gap is stated.
   2. Do the intercompany review properly and send the file when it is finished, without telling anybody in advance that it will be late.
   3. Message your manager at 8am to say the file will be late by about an hour because the intercompany review is outstanding, and ask whether to hold or send.
   4. Skip the intercompany review to make the 9am deadline, and keep to yourself that the review everybody assumes has happened was not done this month.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Message your manager at 8am to say the file will be late by about an hour because the intercompany review is outstanding, and ask whether to hold or send.

   Least effective: D. Skip the intercompany review to make the 9am deadline, and keep to yourself that the review everybody assumes has happened was not done this month.

   A: Meets the deadline and leaves the risk live: a note does not perform the review, and the error it catches twice a year is still in the file.

   B: Chooses correctly and says nothing: the review gets done, and whoever is waiting at 9am has no idea why nothing has arrived.

   D: Hides a missing check behind an on-time file: the file looks exactly like every other month, and the one fact that would tell anybody otherwise is held by the only person who knows.

   The most effective response is to message your manager at 8am to say the file will be about an hour late because the intercompany review is outstanding, and ask whether to hold or send: an hour late with the review done is probably the right trade, but it is her trade to make, and 8am is early enough. It beats sending the file at 9am with a note saying the review has not been done, because a note does not do the review. It beats doing the review properly and sending it late without warning, because the right answer delivered unannounced still leaves people waiting on nothing. The least effective response is skipping the review to make 9am and keeping that to yourself: a check with a track record of catching real errors is dropped, and the fact is kept from everybody who would want to know. That is concealment rather than a defensible trade. The principle: the choice between late and unchecked belongs to your manager, and they need it early.

7. Question 7 of 10

   You are a management accounts assistant. A pack you and a colleague produced together went out yesterday with a £6,000 error in a table you built. Your colleague spotted it this morning and says she will “just fix it in next month’s version” so neither of you has to raise it. Both your names are on the pack. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Agree to keep it between the two of you and let it be corrected quietly in next month's version, since nobody has queried the figure and the amount is not large.
   2. Send the correction yourself without discussing it with her first, so that it goes out today whatever she thinks about it.
   3. Raise it with your manager and ask them to decide whether a correction should go out, rather than settling it between the two of you.
   4. Tell her you would rather flag it now, and send a short correction today to everybody who received the pack, making clear which figure has changed.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Tell her you would rather flag it now, and send a short correction today to everybody who received the pack, making clear which figure has changed.

   Least effective: A. Agree to keep it between the two of you and let it be corrected quietly in next month's version, since nobody has queried the figure and the amount is not large.

   A: Agrees to hide an error you made: the recipients keep a wrong figure for a month, and two people have now decided together that they will not be told.

   B: Acts around a colleague whose name is on it: she is entitled to know before a correction with her name attached goes out.

   C: Escalates a decision you can make: a £6,000 correction on your own table is within your gift, and involving a manager first makes it a bigger event than it is.

   The most effective response is to tell her you would rather flag it now, and send a short correction today to everybody who received the pack: the error is yours, the fix is a short note, and telling her first respects that her name is on it too. It beats sending the correction yourself without discussing it with her, because a correction carrying her name should not surprise her. It beats asking your manager to decide whether a correction should go out, because your own table error does not need authorisation to be honest about. The least effective response is agreeing to keep it between you and correct it quietly next month: two people agree the recipients will not be told, and a simple mistake becomes a month of a wrong figure somebody chose not to correct. That is concealment rather than a clumsy route to the same correction. The principle: correct it now, and tell the person whose name is on it first.

8. Question 8 of 10

   You are a settlements assistant. The daily control log should be completed each afternoon and you have not filled it in for four days. Everything was actually checked. Your supervisor reviews the log weekly and it is due tomorrow. Filling in the four days now would look identical to filling them in on the day. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Mark the four days as checked on their own dates so the log reads as complete, since the checks genuinely were done and the timing of the entry changes nothing about that.
   2. Complete the four days now without any note about when they were entered, since the substance is accurate and nobody asked about entry times.
   3. Complete the four days now, mark clearly that they were entered late, and tell your supervisor before the review so she knows what she is looking at.
   4. Leave the four days blank and tell your supervisor tomorrow morning that the checks were all done but the log was simply not kept up, so nothing inaccurate is written down at all.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Complete the four days now, mark clearly that they were entered late, and tell your supervisor before the review so she knows what she is looking at.

   Least effective: A. Mark the four days as checked on their own dates so the log reads as complete, since the checks genuinely were done and the timing of the entry changes nothing about that.

   A: Records four entries as made on days they were not: the log's value is that it shows when a check happened, and your supervisor reviews it believing exactly that.

   B: Leaves out the one fact that matters: an unmarked backfill is indistinguishable from a contemporaneous entry, which is the whole question.

   D: Discards a real record: the checks happened and the log should say so, just with the entry date visible.

   The most effective response is to complete the four days now, mark clearly that they were entered late, and tell your supervisor before the review: the substance is captured, the lateness is visible, and she reviews the log knowing what it represents. It beats completing the four days now without any note about when they were entered, because an unmarked backfill looks exactly like a contemporaneous entry. It beats leaving them blank and telling her the checks were done but the log was not kept up, because throwing away accurate information helps nobody. The least effective response is marking the four days as checked on their own dates: entries are dated to days on which they were not made, so a log that exists to show when checks happened is made to show something untrue. That is falsifying the record rather than under-documenting or over-correcting. The principle: backfill if you must, and say on the face of it that you did.

9. Question 9 of 10

   You are a compliance analyst. A customer has been locked out of her account for four days waiting on identity checks and is becoming distressed. You can see her documents are genuine. The rule is that a second checker must release the account, and the only trained checker is off until Wednesday. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Escalate it to the head of compliance today as a customer detriment case, so that somebody senior forces a release before Wednesday.
   2. Ask your manager today whether another trained checker can be found or the case prioritised, and tell the customer exactly where things stand and when you will update her.
   3. Release the account yourself since the documents are plainly genuine, and have the second checker confirm it on Wednesday when she is back at her desk.
   4. Tell the customer nothing can be done until Wednesday, and leave the case where it is until the trained checker is back at work.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Ask your manager today whether another trained checker can be found or the case prioritised, and tell the customer exactly where things stand and when you will update her.

   Least effective: C. Release the account yourself since the documents are plainly genuine, and have the second checker confirm it on Wednesday when she is back at her desk.

   A: Escalates over two heads first: your own manager has not been asked, and a four-day identity check is not yet a detriment case.

   C: Steps around a two-person control: the second check exists precisely because one person being sure is not the standard, and confirming it afterwards cannot restore what was skipped.

   D: Accepts the constraint without testing it: nobody has been asked whether another checker exists or the case can jump the queue.

   The most effective response is to ask your manager today whether another trained checker can be found or the case prioritised, and tell the customer exactly where things stand: it tests the constraint with the person who can change it, and gives her the thing she is most short of, which is information. It beats telling the customer nothing can be done until Wednesday, because nobody has yet asked whether another checker exists. It beats escalating to the head of compliance as a detriment case, because going over your manager for a four-day check spends credit you will want. The least effective response is releasing the account yourself and having the second checker confirm it on Wednesday: a control designed so that no single person can release an account is set aside by a single person, and a retrospective confirmation is not the check. That is breaching a stated control rather than escalating too little or too far. The principle: press hard on the constraint, and never step through it alone.

10. Question 10 of 10

    You are a risk assistant. Three weeks ago your team leader ruled that a colleague’s risk rating should be overridden by yours. Since then he has declined to attend the weekly session you both run, sending apologies each time. The session is thinner without him and nobody has said anything. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

    1. Stop inviting him to the session altogether so that you do not have to deal with him each week, and leave your team leader to notice the change herself.
    2. Carry on sending the invitation and never mention the absences, on the basis that he will come back when he is ready to.
    3. Ask him directly for ten minutes, say the session needs him and that you would rather clear the air about the rating than keep working around it.
    4. Tell your team leader that he has missed three sessions since the ruling, and ask her to require him to attend.
    Show the answer

    Most effective: C. Ask him directly for ten minutes, say the session needs him and that you would rather clear the air about the rating than keep working around it.

    Least effective: A. Stop inviting him to the session altogether so that you do not have to deal with him each week, and leave your team leader to notice the change herself.

    A: Answers a withdrawal with a withdrawal: the invitation is removed so the awkwardness goes away, and a working relationship the team needs is quietly ended.

    B: Waits out a pattern three weeks old: nothing about the situation is changing on its own and the session keeps degrading.

    D: Escalates before speaking to him: he has not been asked, and being ordered back by the person who ruled against him makes it worse.

    The most effective response is to ask him directly for ten minutes, say the session needs him and that you would rather clear the air about the rating: it is direct, it separates the ruling from the working relationship, and it is the only response that gives him a way back without losing face. It beats carrying on sending the invitation and never mentioning the absences, because three weeks of apologies is a pattern, not a mood. It beats telling your team leader he has missed three sessions and asking her to require attendance, because an instruction from the person who ruled against him hardens it. The least effective response is dropping him from the session so you do not have to deal with him each week: it ends the working relationship to avoid the discomfort and hides the whole thing from the person who could help. That is answering payback with payback rather than under-reacting or over-escalating. The principle: ask him directly, and keep the door you control wide open.