Nestle is the largest food and drink company in the world, headquartered in Switzerland. Nestle prides itself on nurturing innovation across the 2000 brands that make up its portfolio, and this starts with the Nestle Academy, where all apprentices and graduates begin their Nestle career.
Nestle tests are typically centered around your cognitive abilities, personality traits, and possibly your technical or job-specific skills, depending on the role you’re applying for.
This route covers Nestlé Academy opportunities in the UK and Ireland. Other countries may use a different process.
Strengths-based scenarios and assessment centre activities
Nestlé’s online tests can include ranking, choosing or categorising responses, written answers and recorded video. Its assessment centre includes an individual strengths interview and a group activity. The current guide does not give one universal question count or duration.
Process sources checked 11 September 2026 · Your invitation takes priority for role and location details.
Consider how to respond when a client is frustrated by a delay. Choose the most effective response in our independent workplace scenario. This is not a Nestlé assessment item.
Practise with our independent preparation tests, then review the working behind each answer.
Nestle uses the Nestle Academy to grow future leaders; each applicant can make one application to the academy per year on the graduate schemes.
The schemes on offer vary from year to year, but recent Nestle Academy graduate schemes span sales, supply chain, engineering (mechanical, electrical and automation), technical leadership, and research and development, including product development.
These functions include a variety of work placements on real Nestle brands at various offices around the UK (York and Gatwick to name two). Coaching and mentoring is offered as part of the programmes.
You will need to carefully consider your qualifications and aspirations, and choose which function suits best your skills and personality.
The application process includes pre-screening eligibility questions, a short online application form and online assessments.
Lastly, there is an assessment centre day, which is held in person at one of the Nestle sites.
The eligibility questions are designed to make sure that only candidates who are eligible to work in the UK and Ireland are able to make an application. Other questions may include ones in relation to your employment history and gap verification.
You must be able to answer yes to all the questions before you can go on to complete the online application form.
Nestle is looking for a particular blend of strengths, skills and values which mirrors its working culture. Remember to research and showcase your suitability on each of the questions on the online application form.
The online application form is a series of short questions in which you will need to balance showcasing your strengths and values with your own personal preferences.
This is your first chance to stand out from the thousands of other applicants. Your answers will also form the basis of any future interview questions, so you should research carefully the role and Nestle as a whole.
Upon successful submission of your application, you may be invited to take some online assessments.
The online aptitude tests are used by Nestle to shortlist top candidates from their talent pool. This is a critical stage in the hiring process and your test score and performance will determine if you will move on to the next stages in the recruitment process.
The core of the online assessment is a situational strengths test. These tests assess whether you are likely to be successful at the workplace in question. They also allow you to gain insight into the sorts of scenarios you might encounter, allowing you to make a better decision as to whether the role is right for you.
The assessment is interactive and immersive. You will work through a series of scenarios, based on real-life situations that you could encounter or could arise if you were to work at Nestle.
For each scenario, you will be presented with a number of different options or outcomes. You may need to select the best or least likely, rank or rate the options, or give short written and recorded video responses.
Remember there may not be a perfect answer that exactly matches your thoughts, so you will need to make a judgement call as to which is most (or least) appropriate, bearing in mind what you know about the role and the values at Nestle, as well as your own moral code.
Situational strengths tests are similar to situational judgment tests - practicing either can help prepare for this type of test.
Depending on the role you apply for, you may also face numerical reasoning questions. These measure a candidate’s numerical aptitude and their ability to interpret, analyse and draw conclusions from sets of data.
Any numerical questions are based on those likely to be found in a working day in the role you have applied for, so could include basic maths skills like calculating percentages.
Some questions within the online assessments ask you to record a video response, rather than a separate video interview stage. These are done via computer and webcam, so it is important you have somewhere quiet and uninterrupted to record your answers.
This part is automated, and you will be asked questions visually on screen. Then you will have a timed section to record your answer to the camera.
This is your chance to build a better picture of your skills and strengths, as well as your passion for working at Nestle. It’s an opportunity to expand on the answers that you gave during your online application.
Research Nestle’s values, mission and vision, and remember that in interviews like this you will want to demonstrate your own competencies. It can be helpful to use the STAR technique and for each question set out the Situation, Task, Action and Result, which allows you to frame each answer.
The final stage in the Nestle Academy recruitment process is to attend an assessment centre to carry out a series of exercises designed to showcase your skills.
The assessment centre is an in-person event held at one of the Nestle sites, and typically includes an individual strengths-based interview and a group activity, along with a presentation that you are briefed on in advance.
You should be prepared to be asked to take part in one or all of the following:
Group exercises are tricky to get right since you’ll need to work collaboratively as part of a team to achieve a solution to a brief. At the same time, you want to stand out as a leader who can persuade the team to either agree with your solution, or to stand by your own views if you do not agree with the rest of the group.
Following on from your application form and video interview you should also be expected to answer strength-based and motivational questions, where you’ll want to demonstrate your enthusiasm and passion for working at Nestle, along with your skills and strengths. Again you’ll want to prepare fully in advance for this, using the STAR system outlined above.
The presentation task during the assessment day is usually briefed in advance to allow you to prepare, and will include technical knowledge as well as an assessment of your presentation skills, structure and style.
You will want to practise this in advance, so you are comfortable with the material you have prepared and have considered in advance questions you may be asked afterwards.
What candidates ask us most often
The difficulty of Nestle tests widely varies, intended to assess a range of skills from potential employees of different levels, but thorough preparation can make them more manageable.
The best method to prepare for Nestle tests is through practicing similar assessments to become familiar with the content and format. Practice Aptitude Tests offers a plethora of resources to help you prepare.
The length of Nestle’s recruitment process can vary, but it generally involves multiple stages including tests and interviews, taking several weeks from start to finish.
Nestle’s core values include respect, collaboration, and a commitment to quality and sustainability, as it aims to enhance quality of life and contribute to a healthier future.
Rated 4.8 out of 5 across 44 reviews. A selection:
I think the time should be forwarded small, so you have time to think and calculate, cause some people are really good but slow in answering questions
Am also like how to interact my brain to find the answer without calculator,and this this kind of test suppose to give me more time since that calculator is not allowing
I love everything about the online test just that trying to work out and input he answers were a challenge.I also noticed that the questions were more of mathematics and it did not include other subject areas
Nestle is a trademark of its respective owner. Practice Aptitude Tests is not affiliated with Nestle and our practice tests are not endorsed by them. Visit Nestle careers.
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