Canada Revenue Agency Assessment Tests

Canada Revenue Agency Situational Judgement Test

1. Question 1 of 10

   You are an internal helpdesk adviser at Calder Group. Two colleagues in the same team, Tom and Priya, have fallen out over who owns the shared inbox rota. Since Friday neither has picked the rota up, and the inbox now holds forty unanswered staff requests, some of them four days old. You need the rota running to close your own tickets. Both are at their desks. Your team leader is back tomorrow. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Work round the problem by answering the forty requests yourself today and leaving the rota question for your team leader to settle when they are back tomorrow.
   2. Email both of them and your team leader setting out how many requests are waiting and how old the oldest is, and ask for the rota to be decided.
   3. Ask Tom and Priya together for fifteen minutes and agree who covers the inbox today and tomorrow, since the forty waiting requests need an owner before the rota question is settled.
   4. Tell each of them separately what the other has been saying about the rota, in the hope that hearing it will embarrass them both into picking the inbox back up.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Ask Tom and Priya together for fifteen minutes and agree who covers the inbox today and tomorrow, since the forty waiting requests need an owner before the rota question is settled.

   Least effective: D. Tell each of them separately what the other has been saying about the rota, in the hope that hearing it will embarrass them both into picking the inbox back up.

   A: Absorbs the failure quietly: doing both people's inbox shift hides the fact that the rota has stopped working, and the same forty requests build again tomorrow.

   B: Escalates prematurely: the two people who can restart the rota are at their desks and have not yet been asked, and a message to their team leader answers on Wednesday a question that could be settled this morning.

   D: Personalises the conflict: it makes the dispute about what each has said rather than about forty waiting requests, and a colleague who hears their words repeated back is less likely to cover the inbox, not more.

   The most effective response is to ask Tom and Priya together for fifteen minutes and agree who covers the inbox today and tomorrow: forty staff requests are waiting on a rota nobody is running, both people who can restart it are available, and getting them together separates the cover from the argument. It beats answering the forty requests yourself and leaving the rota to your team leader tomorrow, because covering the inbox yourself leaves the rota broken. It beats emailing both of them and your team leader with the numbers and asking for a decision, because it does not need somebody who is away until tomorrow. The least effective response is telling each of them separately what the other has been saying: it adds a second grievance to the one already stopping the work, and gives neither of them a reason to pick the inbox up. That makes it worse than covering it yourself, which at least clears today’s requests, and worse than the email, which is slow but puts the real problem in front of somebody who can settle it. The principle: separate the immediate work from the dispute, and deal with the dispute on the facts rather than on what people have said about each other.

2. Question 2 of 10

   You are a contracts assistant at Redhill Directorate. The contracts database has been down since yesterday. Orders normally go through it so that spend is checked against each budget before it is committed. Three budget holders are asking you to raise urgent orders today. You can raise orders directly with suppliers by email, which the system was brought in to stop, and there is no other way to check the spend. Your manager is available. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell the three budget holders that nothing can be raised until the database is back, and leave it to them to decide how urgent their orders really are.
   2. Tell your manager the database is down and ask which of the three orders genuinely cannot wait, and what check should stand in for the budget check today.
   3. Raise all three orders by email to the suppliers this afternoon, since the budget check can be done retrospectively once the database comes back up again.
   4. Raise the one order from the budget holder who shouts loudest and hold the other two, and mention it to your manager at the end of the day.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Tell your manager the database is down and ask which of the three orders genuinely cannot wait, and what check should stand in for the budget check today.

   Least effective: C. Raise all three orders by email to the suppliers this afternoon, since the budget check can be done retrospectively once the database comes back up again.

   A: Declines without escalating: three budget holders calling something urgent is exactly the situation a manager exists to rank, and an outage is not a decision you have to take alone.

   C: Breaches the control the system exists to enforce: three orders are committed with no budget check at all, and a check made after the money is committed cannot stop anything.

   D: Substitutes volume for priority: which order is genuinely urgent is decided by who complained hardest, and the manager who could have decided hears about it after the order has gone.

   The most effective response is to tell your manager the database is down and ask which of the three orders genuinely cannot wait, and what check should stand in for the budget check today: the outage removes the only check that exists, three people are calling their orders urgent, and both the ranking and the substitute check belong to her. It beats telling the three budget holders nothing can be raised until the database is back, because an outage does not settle which of three orders is genuinely urgent. It beats raising the one from the budget holder who shouts loudest, because volume is not urgency. The least effective response is raising all three by email this afternoon on the basis that the budget check can be done retrospectively: three orders are committed with no check, and one performed afterwards cannot stop money already promised to a supplier. That makes it worse than refusing all three, which keeps the control, and worse than raising one, which exposes a single order rather than three. The principle: when a system failure removes a control, ask what replaces the control, rather than treating the failure as permission to go without it.

3. Question 3 of 10

   You are a data quality administrator at Calder Group. Your colleague who runs the monthly regulatory data return is off sick and you have been asked to cover. You have watched the process once. Six of the twenty checks in the sign-off sheet require judgements you do not know how to make. The return is due on Friday, it is Tuesday, and the person who signs it off relies entirely on the sheet. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Complete the fourteen checks you can, list the six you cannot make and why, and give the sheet to the person signing with those six clearly left open.
   2. Wait for your colleague to come back and tell the person signing that the return will be late, because six of the twenty checks need judgements you cannot make.
   3. Complete the fourteen checks you can and leave the other six blank on the sheet, and let whoever signs it notice the gaps for themselves.
   4. Complete all twenty checks, marking the six you are unsure about as checked, and leave a note in your own diary to look at them again next month.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Complete the fourteen checks you can, list the six you cannot make and why, and give the sheet to the person signing with those six clearly left open.

   Least effective: D. Complete all twenty checks, marking the six you are unsure about as checked, and leave a note in your own diary to look at them again next month.

   B: Answers a knowledge gap by missing the deadline: fourteen of the twenty checks are within reach, and a regulatory return that is simply late spends a certainty to avoid an uncertainty.

   C: Leaves the gap without naming it: a blank box and a box nobody could complete look identical, so the signer cannot tell what was not done or why.

   D: Marks judgements as checked that were never made: the signer relies entirely on the sheet, so six unknowns are converted into six confirmations and the return goes out on them.

   The most effective response is to complete the fourteen checks you can, list the six you cannot make and why, and give the sheet to the signer with those six left open: you can do fourteen, the six are a fact the signer needs rather than a reason to stop, and a sheet that says exactly what was and was not checked lets them decide about the rest. It beats waiting for your colleague and telling the signer the return will be late, because fourteen checks are within reach and a regulatory deadline is a poor thing to spend. It beats completing the fourteen and leaving the other six blank, because a blank box and an unmakeable judgement look the same to the signer. The least effective response is marking the six you are unsure about as checked: six unknowns become six confirmations on a sheet the signer relies on entirely. That makes it worse than being late, which is honest, and worse than the blank boxes, which claim nothing. The principle: when you are covering work you have not been trained for, do what you can and name what you cannot, rather than filling the gap with a confirmation.

4. Question 4 of 10

   You are an application assessor at Calder Group. An applicant’s case turns on whether a qualification she holds is recognised. Only the standards team can say, and they answer in five working days. She is due in front of a panel on Thursday, in three days, and the panel will refuse the application if recognition is unresolved. You have seen similar qualifications accepted before. The standards team have a same- day route for panel cases. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Send the question to the standards team by the normal route and tell the applicant the answer will not arrive before Thursday's panel.
   2. Give her the recognition as settled on the strength of similar cases, and put it to the standards team afterwards as a formality.
   3. Put the qualification to the standards team today using their same-day panel route, and tell the applicant it is being checked and when you expect an answer.
   4. Put your own view that the qualification is equivalent into the panel pack, and note that the standards team have not been asked to confirm it.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Put the qualification to the standards team today using their same-day panel route, and tell the applicant it is being checked and when you expect an answer.

   Least effective: B. Give her the recognition as settled on the strength of similar cases, and put it to the standards team afterwards as a formality.

   A: Uses the slow route when a fast one exists: a same-day panel route is available, and the normal five days is what turns an open question into a refusal on Thursday.

   B: Gives a recognition as settled that nobody has decided: she prepares for Thursday believing the question is closed, and the panel refuses the application if it is not.

   D: Substitutes your own judgement for the qualified answer: a panel reading an assessor's view that a qualification is equivalent has been given something that looks like a finding and is not.

   The most effective response is to put the qualification to the standards team today using their same-day panel route, and tell the applicant it is being checked and when you expect an answer: only they can answer, they have a route built for exactly this deadline, and she can prepare properly once she knows the question is live. It beats sending it by the normal route and telling her the answer will not arrive before Thursday, because the same-day route exists and the normal one guarantees a refusal. It beats putting your own view of equivalence into the panel pack with a note that standards have not been asked, because that looks like a finding and is not one. The least effective response is giving her the recognition as settled on the strength of similar cases: she prepares for Thursday on a certainty that does not exist and the panel refuses her. That makes it worse than the slow route, which is honest about timing, and worse than your own view in the pack, which at least tells the panel what it is looking at. The principle: when only another team can answer, use the fastest route they have and tell the person waiting what has actually been done.

5. Question 5 of 10

   You are an internal helpdesk adviser at Calder Group. The colleague who handles payroll queries is on leave for two weeks and you have been asked to cover the queue. You have no payroll training. Callers are asking questions about tax codes and pension deductions where a wrong answer changes what somebody is paid. There is a payroll specialist in another office who answers emails within a day. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Take the details, tell callers you will get a payroll answer rather than give one, and send the questions to the specialist each day for a reply.
   2. Answer the tax code and pension questions from what you can find on the intranet, and reassure callers that the figures you give them are right.
   3. Tell callers that payroll queries cannot be dealt with for two weeks, and ask them to ring back when your colleague is home again.
   4. Log every query and hold the whole queue until your colleague returns, without telling callers that anything is being held at all.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Take the details, tell callers you will get a payroll answer rather than give one, and send the questions to the specialist each day for a reply.

   Least effective: B. Answer the tax code and pension questions from what you can find on the intranet, and reassure callers that the figures you give them are right.

   B: Gives an assurance you are not qualified to give: a wrong tax code answer changes what somebody is paid, and the reassurance is what stops them checking it with anybody else.

   C: Closes a service that is available: a payroll specialist answers within a day, so two weeks of nobody being helped is a choice rather than a constraint.

   D: Holds a queue silently: the callers are waiting for answers they think are coming, and the specialist who could have provided them is never asked.

   The most effective response is to take the details, tell callers you will get a payroll answer rather than give one, and send the questions to the specialist each day: you cannot answer payroll questions and should not, but the specialist can and replies within a day, so routing keeps the service running without you giving a single figure. It beats telling callers payroll queries cannot be dealt with for two weeks, because the service is available and two weeks of refusal is a choice. It beats logging every query and holding the queue until your colleague returns, because a silent queue leaves callers waiting for answers nobody is preparing. The least effective response is answering the tax code and pension questions from the intranet and reassuring callers the figures are right: untrained answers are given where being wrong changes what somebody is paid, with a reassurance that stops them checking. That makes it worse than the two-week refusal, which is harmless, and worse than the silent queue, which gives no wrong figures. The principle: when you are covering work you are not trained for, become the route to somebody who is, and never dress a guess as an answer.

6. Question 6 of 10

   You are a contracts assistant at Calder Group. You have committed today to producing a tender evaluation summary that a panel meets to discuss on Monday. At eleven a supplier’s insurance certificate expires at midnight and the replacement has not arrived; without it a team of six cannot work on site from tomorrow. Chasing the certificate will take most of the afternoon. Your team leader is available. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell your team leader at once that the certificate expires tonight and that chasing it will cost the afternoon, and agree between you which of the two gets your day.
   2. Chase the certificate all afternoon and carry on with the evaluation summary tomorrow, without telling anybody that Monday's panel paper is now at risk.
   3. Finish the evaluation summary as committed and leave the certificate to expire, telling the site team tomorrow morning that they cannot start.
   4. Ask a colleague who has never chased a certificate to do it while you carry on with the summary, and check on them at the end of the day.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Tell your team leader at once that the certificate expires tonight and that chasing it will cost the afternoon, and agree between you which of the two gets your day.

   Least effective: B. Chase the certificate all afternoon and carry on with the evaluation summary tomorrow, without telling anybody that Monday's panel paper is now at risk.

   B: Withholds a risk somebody is relying on: the panel meets on Monday to discuss a paper that may not exist, and the only person who knows that has decided not to say so today.

   C: Ranks a movable commitment above an immovable one: a summary due for Monday has the weekend behind it, and six people cannot be on site tomorrow if the certificate lapses tonight.

   D: Delegates the urgent task to the least prepared person: an untrained colleague chasing a certificate that expires at midnight is the arrangement most likely to end with it expiring.

   The most effective response is to tell your team leader at once that the certificate expires tonight and that chasing it will cost the afternoon, and agree which of the two gets your day: one thing expires tonight and cannot be recovered, the other has a weekend behind it, and the call should be made with both facts in front of him. It beats finishing the evaluation summary and letting the certificate expire, because a summary due Monday has a weekend behind it and six people on site do not. It beats asking a colleague who has never chased a certificate to do it, because they are the least likely to catch one expiring at midnight. The least effective response is chasing the certificate all afternoon without telling anybody that Monday’s panel paper is now at risk: the right work is done and the panel expects a paper nobody has flagged, so the weekend passes with the problem invisible. That makes it worse than letting it expire, which chooses badly but openly, and worse than the poor delegation, which keeps both jobs alive. The principle: when a late arrival displaces committed work, the displacement is the thing to tell people about, not just the work.

7. Question 7 of 10

   You are a contracts assistant at Ashmere Trust. You run the desk where budget holders bring purchase requests for checking. One request in front of you has a complicated funding split and will take about forty minutes. Seven people are now waiting, and five of their requests look like two-minute checks. Two of the seven say their orders must be placed today. The desk closes at 4pm and it is half past two. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Work through the queue strictly in the order people arrived and let the desk overrun past four until everybody waiting has been seen.
   2. Ask the two people whose orders must be placed today to leave their requests with you, and check those two for them after the desk has closed at four this afternoon.
   3. Set the forty-minute request aside, tell its owner you will come back to it at three, and work through the five quick checks and the two urgent ones first.
   4. Assure everyone waiting that they will all be seen before four, and carry on with the complicated request in the order people arrived.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Set the forty-minute request aside, tell its owner you will come back to it at three, and work through the five quick checks and the two urgent ones first.

   Least effective: D. Assure everyone waiting that they will all be seen before four, and carry on with the complicated request in the order people arrived.

   A: Treats order of arrival as the only fairness: forty minutes on the first request leaves five two-minute checks and two same-day orders standing behind it, and an overrun is a cost paid by everybody.

   B: Defers the urgent work past its own deadline: an order that must be placed today cannot wait for a check made after the desk closes, and the two people leave without knowing whether it will happen.

   D: Gives an assurance the clock does not support: ninety minutes cannot cover forty minutes of one request plus seven others, so the promise is untrue when it is made and those who could have returned tomorrow stay in the queue.

   The most effective response is to set the forty-minute request aside, tell its owner you will come back to it at three, and work through the five quick checks and the two urgent ones: seven people are waiting behind one request, five need two minutes, and moving the long one costs its owner half an hour while clearing everybody else. It beats working strictly in arrival order and letting the desk overrun past four, because forty minutes at the front leaves the same-day orders unplaced. It beats asking the two with same-day orders to leave their requests and checking after the desk closes, because a check made after four is too late for an order that must go today. The least effective response is assuring everyone they will be seen before four and carrying on in arrival order: ninety minutes will not cover it, some are not seen, and the ones who could have come back tomorrow have waited instead. That makes it worse than arrival order with an overrun, which at least sees everybody eventually, and worse than checking after four, which mishandles the urgency but is honest about timing. The principle: when a long case is blocking a queue, move the case rather than the queue, and never buy calm with a promise the clock cannot keep.

8. Question 8 of 10

   You are a contracts assistant at Brantwood Services. You manage twelve live contracts, which your team agrees is a full load. Your manager asks you to take four more from a colleague on long-term sick leave, starting today. Two of your twelve are at renewal and need a fortnight of work each in the next month. Nobody else in the team is under twelve, and your manager has asked for an answer this morning. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Refuse the four, pointing out that twelve is what the whole team agrees is a full load, and leave your manager to find somewhere else for them before the end of today.
   2. Tell your manager you can take the four, and set out that the two renewals need a fortnight each next month so they can decide what moves or slips.
   3. Take the four and hand two of your existing contracts over to a colleague without telling your manager which ones you have moved.
   4. Take the four and say nothing about the two renewals, and work through the month at whatever pace it turns out to need.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Tell your manager you can take the four, and set out that the two renewals need a fortnight each next month so they can decide what moves or slips.

   Least effective: C. Take the four and hand two of your existing contracts over to a colleague without telling your manager which ones you have moved.

   A: Answers the number and not the problem: nobody else in the team is under twelve, so a refusal leaves four contracts with nowhere to go and gives your manager nothing new to work with.

   C: Passes work on without owning it: two contracts move to a colleague who is also at twelve, your manager does not know which ones, and nobody can tell who is responsible for them.

   D: Accepts the load and hides its shape: sixteen contracts including two renewals needing a fortnight each is not a month that can be worked at whatever pace it needs, and nobody has been told.

   The most effective response is to tell your manager you can take the four, and set out that the two renewals need a fortnight each next month: the four have to go somewhere and nobody is under twelve, so refusing solves nothing, and the renewals are the fact that actually changes the decision. It beats refusing the four and pointing to twelve as a full load, because that leaves them with no home and your manager with no new information. It beats taking them and saying nothing about the renewals, because sixteen contracts with two renewals in them is not a load that can be absorbed silently. The least effective response is taking the four and handing two existing contracts to a colleague without saying which: they go to somebody also at twelve, your manager is not told, and responsibility is unclear to everybody. That makes it worse than refusing, which leaves ownership clear, and worse than silent absorption, which keeps the work with the person who knows it. The principle: when you are asked to go past a full load, accept or decline on the record and give the decision-maker the fact that changes their options.

9. Question 9 of 10

   You are a shared services administrator at Ashmere Trust. Your team runs the central line that customers ring about refunds. A customer has been waiting eleven weeks for a refund of two hundred pounds and is angry on the phone. The delay is entirely with the operations division, which holds the authorisation, and your team cannot release money. You can see that nobody in operations has opened her case for three weeks. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell her the operations division is hopeless, that your team has been complaining about them for months, and suggest she puts in a formal complaint naming that division.
   2. Explain that refunds are authorised by another division entirely and that your team has no way at all of releasing money, and give her the number for the operations enquiry line to ring instead.
   3. Log her call as a chase on the case, tell her it has gone to operations again, and let their normal timescales take their course.
   4. Apologise for the eleven weeks, tell her plainly that the authorisation sits with operations and has not been opened for three weeks, and say you will escalate it today and call her back.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Apologise for the eleven weeks, tell her plainly that the authorisation sits with operations and has not been opened for three weeks, and say you will escalate it today and call her back.

   Least effective: A. Tell her the operations division is hopeless, that your team has been complaining about them for months, and suggest she puts in a formal complaint naming that division.

   A: Recruits the customer into a complaint about a colleague: her two hundred pounds is no closer, and she now has a grievance about the organisation's internal relations on top of an eleven- week wait.

   B: Ignores the customer's actual need: a number for another line asks somebody who has waited eleven weeks to start again with a division that has not opened her case for three.

   C: Records a chase in place of doing one: normal timescales are what produced eleven weeks, and a logged call reaches nobody who can authorise the money.

   The most effective response is to apologise for the eleven weeks, tell her plainly that the authorisation sits with operations and has not been opened for three weeks, and say you will escalate it today and call her back: she has waited eleven weeks, the fault is visible to you, and the truth plus an escalation and a call back are the only things you can actually give her. It beats explaining that refunds are authorised elsewhere and giving her the operations enquiry number, because that makes her start again. It beats logging her call as a chase and letting normal timescales run, because a logged chase reaches nobody who can authorise the money. The least effective response is telling her the operations division is hopeless and suggesting a formal complaint naming them: she gets an internal grievance instead of her refund. That makes it worse than the enquiry number, which is unhelpful but points somewhere real, and worse than the logged chase, which at least records the call. The principle: when the fault is somebody else’s, own the customer’s problem to the limit of what you can do, and do not hand them your view of a colleague.

10. Question 10 of 10

    You are a programme support officer at Redhill Directorate. Two weeks ago you told a board that a supplier survey would be ready for their meeting on the twelfth. You have since realised you never sent the survey out, and it needs ten working days in the field. Today is the fourth and the board papers deadline is the tenth. Nobody has asked you about it. Your programme manager is in the office today. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

    1. Send the survey out this afternoon and keep it to yourself that it was never issued, and hope the responses come back fast enough to cover the gap.
    2. Send the survey out today and tell the board on the twelfth that responses are still coming in and that the full analysis will follow at their next meeting in six weeks.
    3. Email the board secretary to withdraw the survey item from the twelfth's agenda, and say nothing about why it is being withdrawn.
    4. Tell your programme manager today that the survey was never issued and that it cannot be ready for the twelfth, and ask what the board should be given instead.
    Show the answer

    Most effective: D. Tell your programme manager today that the survey was never issued and that it cannot be ready for the twelfth, and ask what the board should be given instead.

    Least effective: A. Send the survey out this afternoon and keep it to yourself that it was never issued, and hope the responses come back fast enough to cover the gap.

    A: Keeps your own failure quiet and hopes: ten working days of fieldwork cannot fit into six, so the board still gets nothing on the twelfth, and by then nobody has had a chance to arrange anything else.

    B: Reports a delay and not its cause: the board hears about response rates rather than about a survey that was never issued, so the next report they commission is planned on a false picture.

    C: Removes the item without the explanation: the board loses the paper and never learns why, and the programme manager who could have offered them something else is not asked.

    The most effective response is to tell your programme manager today that the survey was never issued and cannot be ready for the twelfth, and ask what the board should be given instead: it cannot exist by then on any arithmetic, the failure is yours, and the six days before the papers deadline are exactly when she could put something else in front of the board. It beats sending the survey today and telling the board responses are still coming in, because that describes a different problem from the one that happened. It beats emailing the secretary to withdraw the item without saying why, because that leaves nobody able to replace it. The least effective response is sending the survey and keeping it to yourself that it was never issued: the cause is hidden on a bet that ten days of fieldwork fits into six, so the board gets nothing anyway and the usable days are gone. That makes it worse than misdescribing the delay, which gives notice, and worse than the silent withdrawal, which frees the agenda. The principle: when a commitment cannot be met and the cause is your own, the cause goes in first, while there is still time to do something else.