HP Chance Assessment Tests

HP Situational Judgement Test

1. Question 1 of 10

   You are a service desk analyst. After a fortnight of covering two people’s work you missed a callback you had promised, and the customer has written a complaint naming you. Your manager has forwarded it and asked for your account by the end of the day. The customer has complained twice before about things that were not anybody’s fault. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Point out in your account that this customer complains about everything, so that whoever reads it weighs the two earlier complaints alongside this one.
   2. Write that the callback was missed and apologise, and leave out the fortnight of double cover, so that it does not read as though you were making excuses.
   3. Write that you missed the callback and that a fortnight of covering two people is why, and ask what should be dropped, since the cover is still running.
   4. Ask for a day's grace before replying, so that you can go back through a fortnight of tickets and give a complete account rather than a rushed one.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Write that you missed the callback and that a fortnight of covering two people is why, and ask what should be dropped, since the cover is still running.

   Least effective: A. Point out in your account that this customer complains about everything, so that whoever reads it weighs the two earlier complaints alongside this one.

   A: Personalises a complaint that was accurate: the callback was genuinely missed, and answering it with the complainer's record puts them on trial instead of the facts.

   B: Withholds the cause that could be fixed: the apology is right and the workload that produced the miss goes unrecorded, so the next fortnight looks the same.

   D: Delays a reply that needs no research: you already know why the callback was missed, and the customer is waiting while a fortnight of tickets is reread.

   The most effective response is to write that you missed the callback and that a fortnight of covering two people is why, and ask what should be dropped. The complaint is accurate, so the account is about cause rather than fault, and the double cover is the one thing your manager can act on. It beats writing that the callback was missed and apologising while leaving out the fortnight, because an apology with the cause removed leaves the workload invisible. It beats asking for a day’s grace to give a complete account, because you already know what happened and the customer waits for a fact you have. The least effective response is pointing out in your account that this customer complains about everything: it is worse than either of the other two, because both concede the miss, while this answers a justified complaint by arguing about the person who made it. The principle: under sustained pressure, own the thing that was missed and name the pressure as a cause, never as a counter-accusation.

2. Question 2 of 10

   You are a delivery coordinator. You proposed a different way of running the weekly planning session, and after a discussion the team decided to keep things as they were. There was no argument and nobody was unpleasant about it. The session is now on the calendar every Thursday and your name is on it as one of the regular contributors. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Keep going and contribute as before, and never raise the proposal again, since the team has heard it once and voted on it clearly enough.
   2. Keep going and contribute as before, and ask in a month whether the session is working, so the question is revisited on evidence rather than on preference.
   3. Stop attending the Thursday session after that, and let the team run it the way they voted for, since they have made it clear they do not need you there.
   4. Keep attending but stop preparing beforehand, so that the time you were putting into a session run the wrong way goes somewhere more useful instead.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Keep going and contribute as before, and ask in a month whether the session is working, so the question is revisited on evidence rather than on preference.

   Least effective: C. Stop attending the Thursday session after that, and let the team run it the way they voted for, since they have made it clear they do not need you there.

   A: Retires a good idea after one hearing: the reasons for it may still hold in three months, and nobody will know because the person who saw them has stopped.

   C: Withdraws from the team after losing a vote: the session loses a regular contributor, and the reason is a decision that was taken fairly.

   D: Withdraws the useful half quietly: your name is still on the session and what you bring to it has been reduced without anybody agreeing to that.

   The most effective response is to keep going and contribute as before, and ask in a month whether the session is working. The decision was taken fairly and is worth honouring, and proposing to check it against evidence keeps the idea alive without reopening a settled discussion. It beats keeping going and never raising the proposal again, because the reasons behind it may still be true later and dropping it means nobody finds out. It beats attending but no longer preparing beforehand, because the team still expects what you used to bring, and quietly bringing less is a change nobody agreed to. The least effective response is stopping attending the Thursday session: it is worse than either of the other two, because both keep you in the room, while this removes a regular contributor as a response to a decision reached properly. The principle: losing a fair decision is not a reason to leave the room, and the honest way back to the idea is to test it later on evidence.

3. Question 3 of 10

   You are a service desk analyst. The same alert about a failing overnight job has fired every night for a week. The rota shows a colleague on call each of those nights. He has not mentioned it and there is nothing written against any of the alerts. You are not on that rota and have never worked on that job. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Ask him today whether he has the overnight alert in hand, and if he has not, say so in the team channel so somebody picks it up before tonight.
   2. Write a note against tonight's alert saying it has now fired seven nights running, so that whoever looks at it next has the history in front of them.
   3. Raise it directly with the manager who owns the rota, since a week of unanswered alerts is a rota problem rather than something to take up with him.
   4. Take it that the colleague on the rota has it in hand, since he is the one being paged and would surely have said something if he needed help with it.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Ask him today whether he has the overnight alert in hand, and if he has not, say so in the team channel so somebody picks it up before tonight.

   Least effective: D. Take it that the colleague on the rota has it in hand, since he is the one being paged and would surely have said something if he needed help with it.

   B: Documents the pattern for a reader who may not exist: seven nights suggests nobody is reading these alerts, and the note joins them.

   C: Escalates over a question: he may have a perfectly good answer, and going past him first makes an ordinary check into a complaint about his week.

   D: Assumes somebody else has it: a week of silent alerts is the evidence against that assumption, and you are now the second person not looking.

   The most effective response is to ask him today whether he has the overnight alert in hand, and if he has not, say so in the team channel. One question settles whether this is covered, it goes to the person actually being paged, and it costs nothing if he does have it. It beats writing a note against tonight’s alert recording that it has fired seven nights running, because seven nights with nothing written is evidence the notes are not being read. It beats raising it directly with the manager who owns the rota, because he may have a good answer and going over him turns a check into a complaint. The least effective response is taking it that the colleague on the rota has it in hand: it is worse than either of the other two, because both put the pattern somewhere, while this rests on an assumption a week of silence has already tested and failed. The principle: when an alert has been firing for a week, ask the person on the rota rather than concluding from the rota that somebody has it.

4. Question 4 of 10

   You are a quality assurance analyst. Three weeks ago you asked a testing supplier to confirm they would provide results in the new format from this month. They never replied. In today’s review meeting the person chairing asks whether the supplier confirmed, and the plan on the screen assumes they did. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Say the supplier confirmed without checking the thread again, since they raised no objection in three weeks and correcting the screen would derail the meeting.
   2. Say you would rather check your emails before answering, and come back to the chair after the meeting once you have looked at the thread properly.
   3. Say you asked three weeks ago and have had no reply, so the plan should not assume it, and offer to get a yes or a no from them by the end of the week.
   4. Say the supplier has not confirmed and ask the chair to take the point offline, so that the meeting can carry on with the rest of its agenda.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Say you asked three weeks ago and have had no reply, so the plan should not assume it, and offer to get a yes or a no from them by the end of the week.

   Least effective: A. Say the supplier confirmed without checking the thread again, since they raised no objection in three weeks and correcting the screen would derail the meeting.

   A: Asserts a confirmation that never arrived: the plan on the screen is now agreed on the strength of a reply nobody in the room has seen.

   B: Delays an answer you already have: you know no reply came, and the plan is agreed in the meantime by a room that thinks the point is open.

   D: Reports the gap and removes it from the room: the plan on the screen still assumes a confirmation, and the people agreeing it are not told it matters.

   The most effective response is to say you asked three weeks ago and have had no reply, so the plan should not assume it, and offer to get a yes or a no by the end of the week. The plan on the screen is wrong in a way that matters, the room is where that gets corrected, and the offer turns your gap into a commitment. It beats saying you would rather check your emails and come back to the chair afterwards, because you already know no reply came and the room agrees a plan meanwhile. It beats saying the supplier has not confirmed and asking the chair to take it offline, because that leaves the plan on the screen unchanged. The least effective response is saying the supplier confirmed without checking the thread again: it is worse than either of the other two, because both leave the room with something true, delayed or incomplete, while this supplies a confirmation that does not exist. The principle: correct the assumption in the room where it is being made, and answer about what actually arrived.

5. Question 5 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.

6. Question 6 of 10

   You are an access administrator. An alert saying an unused administrator account is still active has fired every day for nine days. The rota shows a different person on call each of those days. You have a joiner-and-leaver batch to finish today that forty new staff are waiting on. Nothing has been written against any of the nine alerts. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Spend ten minutes now finding out whether anybody has the alert, close the account or name an owner for it, so that day ten is not the same as day nine.
   2. Close the unused account yourself straight away and carry on with the batch, so that the alert stops firing and forty people are not held up.
   3. Get on with the joiner batch and assume the people on the rota have the alert, since they are the ones being paged and forty staff are waiting on you today.
   4. Add a note to today's alert recording that this is the ninth day, so that whoever is on call tonight can see the history and pick it up from there.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Spend ten minutes now finding out whether anybody has the alert, close the account or name an owner for it, so that day ten is not the same as day nine.

   Least effective: C. Get on with the joiner batch and assume the people on the rota have the alert, since they are the ones being paged and forty staff are waiting on you today.

   B: Acts on the alert without asking why nine people did not: the account closes and the reason nobody responded for nine days goes unexamined.

   C: Assumes somebody else has it: nine days of nothing written is the evidence against that, and forty waiting staff is a reason it feels defensible.

   D: Writes for a reader nine days of silence suggests is not there: the note joins eight others that nobody has acted on.

   The most effective response is to spend ten minutes now finding out whether anybody has the alert, and either close the account or name an owner. Ten minutes is affordable even against forty waiting staff, and the useful question is why nine consecutive people did not act. It beats closing the unused account yourself and carrying on with the batch, because that removes the symptom and leaves a rota where nine alerts went unanswered. It beats adding a note recording that this is the ninth day, because eight previous alerts with nothing written against them show the notes are not being read. The least effective response is assuming the people on the rota have it because they are the ones being paged: it is worse than either of the other two, because both do something about day nine, while this relies on an assumption nine days have already disproved. The principle: when the same alert has been ignored for over a week, the ten minutes goes on finding the owner, and a busy day is not evidence that somebody else has it.

7. Question 7 of 10

   You are an access administrator. You are handing a customer’s account migration to the evening shift before a week off. Everything is ready except that two of the customer’s own staff have not confirmed which of them keeps the senior permissions, and they have disagreed about it twice. The migration is scheduled to run tonight at eleven. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Hand the migration over with the checklist and leave the permissions question with the customer, whose disagreement it is and who will have to settle it themselves.
   2. Postpone the migration until you are back in a week, so that nothing runs tonight with an open question hanging over who gets which permissions.
   3. Write the permissions question into the handover note with the history, and go, so that the evening shift has it in front of them when they start.
   4. Tell the evening shift directly what is unresolved and that the two of them have already disagreed twice, and give the customer a time by which it must be settled tonight.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Tell the evening shift directly what is unresolved and that the two of them have already disagreed twice, and give the customer a time by which it must be settled tonight.

   Least effective: A. Hand the migration over with the checklist and leave the permissions question with the customer, whose disagreement it is and who will have to settle it themselves.

   A: Passes the problem on without naming it: the evening shift runs a migration believing it is ready, and the one unresolved thing sits with two people who have already failed twice.

   B: Buys certainty with a week of the customer's time: the disagreement may settle tonight, and only the customer can judge whether waiting is worth it.

   C: Puts a live problem into a document: a note read at seven is better than nothing and it is not the same as the shift knowing what it is walking into.

   The most effective response is to tell the evening shift directly what is unresolved and that the two of them have already disagreed twice, and give the customer a time by which it must be settled. Two things have to happen before eleven and only you can supply either. It beats postponing the migration until you are back in a week, because that is a real cost to the customer and they should weigh it against a question that may settle in an hour. It beats writing the permissions question into the handover note with the history, because a note describes the problem while a conversation makes sure it has been received. The least effective response is handing the migration over with the checklist and leaving the permissions question with the customer: it is worse than either of the other two, because both leave the risk visible to somebody, while this hands over a migration described as ready. The principle: name the unresolved thing to the people who inherit it, and give whoever must decide a time to decide by.

8. Question 8 of 10

   You are an incident coordinator. A fault that had been dropping calls on a customer’s phone system stopped on Sunday, and nothing was changed. Nobody knows why. The customer’s own IT manager rings the bridge line and asks whether it is fixed, because he is about to send an all-staff email telling people the phones are reliable again. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell him it is sorted and he can send his email, since nothing has gone wrong for three days and he is waiting on the line for a straight answer.
   2. Tell him you have no information at present and that the engineers will publish something once they do, and leave the email entirely to his own judgement.
   3. Tell him the fault has stopped but the cause is still unknown, and offer to draft him a line for the email that says exactly that in plain words.
   4. Ask him to hold the email until the engineers close the incident formally, and promise to ring him the moment that happens so nothing goes out early.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Tell him the fault has stopped but the cause is still unknown, and offer to draft him a line for the email that says exactly that in plain words.

   Least effective: A. Tell him it is sorted and he can send his email, since nothing has gone wrong for three days and he is waiting on the line for a straight answer.

   A: Gives an assurance the evidence does not support: three quiet days with an unknown cause is not a fix, and a whole organisation will act on your word.

   B: Withholds what you do know: the fault stopping on Sunday is a real fact he can weigh, and it is being kept back because it is not a conclusion.

   D: Delays a message he has good reason to send: his staff are working round a phone system they do not trust, and formal closure may be weeks away.

   The most effective response is to tell him the fault has stopped but the cause is still unknown, and offer to draft him a line for the email that says exactly that. He is about to make a claim to his whole organisation, so what he needs is the two facts you have, in a form he can use. It beats telling him you have no information at present and leaving the email to his judgement, because the Sunday stop is a real and useful fact. It beats asking him to hold the email until the engineers close the incident formally, because his staff are already working round phones they do not trust and closure could take weeks. The least effective response is telling him it is sorted and he can send his email: it is worse than either of the other two, because both leave him with an accurate picture, thin or late, while this gives him a false one and an entire organisation is told the phones are reliable on the strength of it. The principle: give a customer what is known and what is not, and let them write their own claim.

9. Question 9 of 10

   You are a security analyst. Three weeks ago a colleague in another team asked you to look at how her team’s data is stored. You meant to reply and did not. She has not chased. You have since heard that her team is about to sign a contract that depends on getting that storage arrangement right. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Leave it where it is, since three weeks without a chase means she has almost certainly found somebody else and would say so if she had not.
   2. Reply today, apologise for the three weeks, ask whether she still needs it, and say you can look this week if the contract turns on the storage.
   3. Ask around your own team whether anybody else picked her question up, and reply to her only if it turns out that nobody did.
   4. Look at the storage arrangement now and send her a full assessment, without asking first whether the question is still live for her.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Reply today, apologise for the three weeks, ask whether she still needs it, and say you can look this week if the contract turns on the storage.

   Least effective: A. Leave it where it is, since three weeks without a chase means she has almost certainly found somebody else and would say so if she had not.

   A: Assumes the silence away: she may have stopped asking rather than found an answer, and a contract is about to be signed on whichever it is.

   C: Checks the wrong side of the silence: she is the one person who knows whether she still needs an answer, and asking her is quicker.

   D: Answers a question that may have moved: three weeks on, the contract may have changed shape, and the work could be aimed at the wrong thing.

   The most effective response is to reply today, apologise for the three weeks, ask whether she still needs it, and say you can look this week if the contract turns on the storage. Only she knows whether the question is live, the apology costs nothing, and the timescale gives her something to plan with. It beats asking around your own team whether anybody picked her question up, because they cannot tell you whether she still needs an answer and she can. It beats looking at the storage arrangement now and sending a full assessment, because three weeks is long enough for the contract to have changed. The least effective response is leaving it on the basis that she has almost certainly found somebody else: it is worse than either of the other two, because both try to close the gap, while this reads her silence as resolution when it is at least as likely to be her giving up on you. The principle: an unanswered request that has gone quiet is a reason to ask, because silence is evidence of nothing except silence.

10. Question 10 of 10

    You are a deployment assistant. Before each release you run a performance check and record one result. Today it failed twice and passed on the third attempt, after you restarted the service between runs. The release goes tonight and the people running it read the result field and nothing else. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

    1. Record the passing run as the result and put the two failures in the free-text notes, so the number is clean and the detail is there for anyone who opens the record.
    2. Record the first failure as the result, since the first run shows how the service behaves when nobody has just restarted it for you.
    3. Record that the check failed twice and passed once after a restart, and tell whoever owns tonight's release what the pattern means, so that they decide on it.
    4. Record the check as complete on the third run, since that is the one performed under the conditions it is meant to measure and the other two are noise.
    Show the answer

    Most effective: C. Record that the check failed twice and passed once after a restart, and tell whoever owns tonight's release what the pattern means, so that they decide on it.

    Least effective: D. Record the check as complete on the third run, since that is the one performed under the conditions it is meant to measure and the other two are noise.

    A: Puts the finding where the readers do not go: the stem says they read the result field, so a pass is what tonight's release will be told.

    B: Picks the worst run on principle: it is as arbitrary as picking the best, and it reports one figure where the real finding is that the answer changes.

    D: Writes up the run that suited: two failures are the finding, and the record will tell tonight's release that the service passed its performance check.

    The most effective response is to record that the check failed twice and passed once after a restart, and tell whoever owns tonight’s release what the pattern means. The finding is not a single figure, it is that the check only passes after a restart, and the people releasing need that rather than a pass or a fail. It beats recording the passing run as the result with the two failures in the notes, because the stem says they read the result field. It beats recording the first failure as the result, because choosing the worst run is as arbitrary as choosing the best and still hides the variation. The least effective response is recording the check as complete on the third run and calling the other two noise: it is worse than either of the other two, because one leaves the failures written down somewhere and the other reports a real failing run, while this records a pass on the evening of the release. The principle: when a check gives different answers, the pattern is the result, and choosing which run to write up is choosing the answer.