Costco Assessment Tests

Careers at Costco

Opportunities at Costco are varied, from usual retail positions like customer assistant and cashier, to stockroom positions and store management.

There are also business support roles, like HR and marketing, and Costco also looks for specialists such as butchers and tyre fitters, with a number of seasonal roles available.

Working at Costco gives you a competitive wage, whether as an hourly paid employee or through a salary. Both types of employee can take advantage of life insurance, as well as optical and dental support.

The benefits of working at Costco also include an Employee Assistance Program and specific offers and discounts within the store and in other high street shops, including restaurants and entertainment venues.

Before you apply for a role at Costco, take some time to read about the business and understand what its values are, and what is important to the company.

Costco has a specific code of ethics that it follows in all its business dealings, with customers, suppliers, employees, and shareholders. This is important information to understand how the company works, and knowing this code will help you answer questions throughout the application process.

There are also ‘Costco Qualities’ that are part of the way the business runs; bearing these in mind during interviews and assessments will make a good impression. These are:

• Commitment to quality
• Entrepreneurial spirit
• Employee focus

Online application

All available roles at Costco are found on its careers page, which can be searched by job area, location or specific role type.

In the job description, you will find details about the qualifications, experience, skills, and competencies that are needed for the role. This information should be used to ensure that your resume highlights the way you match the job role profile, ensuring that you are recognised as meeting the minimum criteria.

Once you have submitted your application, the recruitment team will sift through the candidates and invite those shortlisted to take some job assessment tests.

Costco Aptitude Tests

The structure of the assessments you will take will depend on the role you have applied for; the recruitment team will let you know in advance what tests you need to take.

You will be sent a link to complete the assessments at home and in your own time, with a deadline.

Costco verbal reasoning test

Verbal reasoning is a skill that is assessed in many job roles where communication is important.

While verbal reasoning is not designed to be an English language test, it does require fast reading and comprehension skills alongside making reasoned decisions.

You will be presented with a passage of text, followed by a question or statement. You need to read, understand and analyse the text to decide if the statement is true, false, or you cannot say, based on the information provided.

Some verbal reasoning questions might assess your knowledge of spelling, grammar and sentence construction through missing word challenges, or by selecting the right synonyms or antonyms for a word.

No former knowledge is needed to answer verbal reasoning questions, since all the information is provided in the text, but you might want to prepare for verbal tests beforehand.

Costco numerical reasoning test

Numerical reasoning is an assessment of how well you solve problems using basic math skills when you are presented with unfamiliar information.

The usual structure involves numerical data presented in a table or graph, followed by a question. You will have to perform a basic mathematical operation (multiplication, division, addition or subtraction) to find the correct answer from a number of possible answers given.

To prepare successfully for a numerical reasoning test, you might want to brush up on your basic math skills, including the four operators, as well as ratios, percentages and fractions. While the level of maths is no higher than that of a typical school leaver, the added pressure of answering multiple questions in a tight time limit adds to the challenge.

Costco diagrammatic reasoning test

A diagrammatic reasoning test is designed to see how well you can use unfamiliar information to draw a logical conclusion. The questions are based on matrices that contain a series of shapes or images; you need to find the pattern in the matrix and use that to find a missing part.

The trick is to find the rule that governs the sequence – how the shapes or images move between boxes, whether that is through size, mirroring, or any number of permutations – and apply that to the blank space.

Costco Hogan personality test

Developed in the 1980s, the Hogan Personality Inventory assesses the way a candidate reacts to the world around them when they are at their best (what is described as their ‘bright side’ personality).

Based on the Five Factor Model of Personality, the Hogan Personality Inventory has 206 items, short statements that assess a candidate across seven primary scales:

• Adjustment
• Ambition
• Sociability
• Interpersonal Sensitivity
• Prudence
• Inquisitive
• Learning Approach

For each question or statement, you need to assess yourself and answer based on how much you agree or disagree with it.

Personality tests tend not to have ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers, but the results are compared to an ‘ideal’ candidate. As such it is important to answer honestly, while keeping in mind the type of person that the recruitment team is looking for.

Costco situational judgment test

A situational judgment test is used to assess your behaviour at work and the way you prefer to deal with problems.

In the assessment, you will be provided with a number of realistic work-based scenarios and given several possible courses of action to follow to deal with the scenario.

You need to decide which of these actions would be most effective to deal with what has happened. This is another assessment where there is not a clear right answer to choose; in fact some of the possible actions might be quite similar.

Choosing the answer that is most like your own behaviour is the best bet, but there are some tips for situational judgment tests to consider.

Interviews

The interview is the final stage in the application process, and if your assessment results match what the recruitment team is looking for, you will be invited to the interview.

Depending on the role you have applied for, you might need to have more than one face-to-face interview; that will be communicated with you and where possible they will be conducted on the same day,

During the interview, you will be asked a series of questions related to your motivations, competencies and skills.

Some questions might be looking to find out why you have applied for this role in particular, and what your future plans are. Some are aimed at finding out why you chose Costco as a potential employer, while others might be about what motivates you personally.

These questions are reasonably straightforward to answer, and as long as you have done some research you will be able to offer more than a bland response. Make sure that you demonstrate your knowledge about the history of Costco, who its competitors are, and how it is moving forward.

The competency questions are designed to ensure that you have what it takes to be successful in the role. They are phrased to allow you to provide an example of a competency, for example: “Tell me about a time when you led a team.” You would want to give a structured and concise example from your work or school experience that shows you have good leadership skills.

There will also be opportunities for you to ask your own questions during the interview, so be sure to think of some considered things to ask.