Sabre Corporation Assessment Tests

Sabre Corporation Situational Judgement Test

1. Question 1 of 10

   You are a deployment assistant. Preparing tonight’s release you notice that one change will stop a colleague’s overnight billing job from running. He is on holiday. The billing job produces invoices that go out on Friday. You have four other releases to prepare before six o’clock and no time spare. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Stop preparing for ten minutes and tell whoever is running tonight's release that the billing job will not run, then carry on with the other four.
   2. Email your colleague so that he sees it when he is back, and prepare the other four releases, since he is the person who owns the billing job.
   3. Prepare all five releases as planned and raise the billing job tomorrow. There is no time tonight, and one missed run can be caught up before Friday.
   4. Take the billing change out of tonight's release yourself, so the job runs, and mention it to the release owner at some point in the morning.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Stop preparing for ten minutes and tell whoever is running tonight's release that the billing job will not run, then carry on with the other four.

   Least effective: C. Prepare all five releases as planned and raise the billing job tomorrow. There is no time tonight, and one missed run can be caught up before Friday.

   B: Sends the warning to the one person who cannot act: he is on holiday, the job runs tonight, and the invoices go on Friday.

   C: Withholds a consequence only you can see: the decision about tonight is being taken by people who do not know the billing job is in it.

   D: Edits somebody's release on your own reading: the change may be there for a reason you cannot see, and the person who owns tonight is told afterwards.

   The most effective response is to stop preparing for ten minutes and tell whoever is running tonight’s release that the billing job will not run, then carry on with the other four. Ten minutes against four releases is affordable, and only they can weigh a broken billing job against whatever the change was for. It beats emailing your colleague so he sees it when he is back, because he cannot act from holiday and the job runs tonight. It beats taking the billing change out of tonight’s release yourself, because that may break something else and presents the release owner with a decision already made. The least effective response is preparing all five as planned and raising the billing job tomorrow: it is worse than either of the other two, because both act on what you saw, while this lets tonight’s decision be taken by people who cannot see the consequence you found. The principle: ten minutes to hand a consequence to whoever owns the decision beats any amount of time spent working around it alone.

2. Question 2 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.

3. Question 3 of 10

   You are an access administrator. Your team is measured on how many access tickets it closes each week, and you are four short of the target with an hour to go. Four tickets are waiting on a manager’s approval that has not come. The people who raised them still cannot do their jobs, and all four have asked when they will get access. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Mark all four as done and reopen them next week if anybody complains. The target is measured on closures, and the approvals will almost certainly arrive by Monday.
   2. Leave the four open and say nothing further to the people waiting, since the approval is the blocker and there is nothing you can do about it today.
   3. Leave the four open, email all four people saying who holds the outstanding approval, and tell your manager the target will be four short, so that nobody is guessing.
   4. Close the four and note in each one that the approval is still outstanding, so that the queue is right and the record still carries the truth of it.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Leave the four open, email all four people saying who holds the outstanding approval, and tell your manager the target will be four short, so that nobody is guessing.

   Least effective: A. Mark all four as done and reopen them next week if anybody complains. The target is measured on closures, and the approvals will almost certainly arrive by Monday.

   A: Records work as resolved that is not: four people still cannot do their jobs, and the queue now says otherwise to everybody who reads it.

   B: Leaves four people without a word: the tickets are honest and the four who asked are told nothing about why nothing has moved.

   D: Puts the truth where the measure will not read it: a closed ticket counts as closed, and the note lives underneath a status that contradicts it.

   The most effective response is to leave the four open, email all four people saying who holds the outstanding approval, and tell your manager the target will be four short. Missing by four is a fact she can work with, the four waiting can chase the approver once they know who it is, and nothing in the record says something untrue. It beats leaving the four open and saying nothing further to the people waiting, because telling them who holds the approval is the one useful thing available. It beats closing the four with a note that the approval is outstanding, because a closed ticket is counted as closed whatever the note says. The least effective response is marking all four as done and reopening them if anybody complains: it is worse than either of the other two, because both leave the tickets open and honest, while this reports four resolutions while four people still cannot work. The principle: report the shortfall and its cause, and never let a status say a thing is finished so that a measure comes out right.

4. Question 4 of 10

   You are a graduate software engineer. You are writing the summary of a week of load testing for a customer. The system handled the target load on Tuesday and failed it on Thursday after a configuration change that has since been reversed. The summary has one headline figure and the customer reads it as a yes or a no. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Give Thursday's failing figure as the headline, since a system that failed once could fail again and the customer should plan for the worse of the two.
   2. Give Tuesday's figure as the headline and say plainly underneath that Thursday failed after a change that has been reversed, so the customer sees both runs.
   3. Record the week's testing as complete on Tuesday's figure. Thursday's configuration has been reversed and no longer describes the system the customer is buying.
   4. Give both figures with no headline at all, and let the customer decide for themselves which of the two weeks of testing better describes what they are buying.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Give Tuesday's figure as the headline and say plainly underneath that Thursday failed after a change that has been reversed, so the customer sees both runs.

   Least effective: C. Record the week's testing as complete on Tuesday's figure. Thursday's configuration has been reversed and no longer describes the system the customer is buying.

   A: Reports the worse run as the answer: it is as one-sided as reporting the better one, and it leaves out that Thursday had a configuration since reversed.

   C: Writes up the run that suited: Thursday is a real result about a real system, and the customer reads a clean pass with no sign that anything failed.

   D: Declines to interpret work you did: the customer reads the summary as a yes or a no, and two numbers without a view puts your job on them.

   The most effective response is to give Tuesday’s figure as the headline and say plainly underneath that Thursday failed after a change that has been reversed. Tuesday is the honest headline because the Thursday configuration no longer exists, and stating the failure means the customer is not learning about it later from somebody else. It beats leading with Thursday’s failing figure so they plan for the worse of the two, because that misdescribes what they are getting. It beats giving both figures with no headline, because they read this as a yes or a no, and refusing to give one hands them a judgement you are better placed to make. The least effective response is recording the week’s testing as complete on Tuesday’s figure alone: it is worse than either of the other two, because both put Thursday in front of the customer, while this produces a clean pass with no indication that anything failed all week. The principle: lead with the result that describes the system as it will be, and never let a summary hide a failure it had to choose not to mention.

5. Question 5 of 10

   You are a service desk analyst. Working late in a busy week, you and a colleague restored a customer’s mailbox without the confirmation step that the customer is meant to give first. It worked and nobody was harmed. She has asked you not to raise it, because she is three weeks from a promotion decision and has had a difficult year. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell her you will not raise it now but that you will if it ever comes up, so she is not caught out and the promotion decision runs its course first.
   2. Raise it with your manager without naming her, so that the missed step is recorded and the promotion decision is not affected by something you reported.
   3. Agree not to mention it. Nobody was harmed, the mailbox was restored, and raising it now would cost her a promotion over a step in a process nobody checks.
   4. Tell her you are going to raise it, that you will say plainly it was both of you and why the week was what it was, and then raise it today.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Tell her you are going to raise it, that you will say plainly it was both of you and why the week was what it was, and then raise it today.

   Least effective: C. Agree not to mention it. Nobody was harmed, the mailbox was restored, and raising it now would cost her a promotion over a step in a process nobody checks.

   A: Trades a disclosure for a date: the step was skipped either way, and the condition simply moves the decision three weeks and makes it hers.

   B: Reports a fact and withholds half of it: two people did this, and an account with one of them removed is a version rather than a record.

   C: Conceals a missed step by agreement: the confirmation exists so a customer authorises access to their own mailbox, and now two people have a reason to stay quiet.

   The most effective response is to tell her you are going to raise it, that you will say plainly it was both of you and why the week was what it was, and then raise it today. The step exists so a customer authorises access to their own mailbox, so it is not yours to waive, and telling her first means she is not ambushed. It beats promising not to raise it now but to do so if it ever comes up, because that leaves the same gap unrecorded and hands her the timing. It beats raising it with your manager without naming her, because you were both there and an account with her removed is a version rather than the record. The least effective response is agreeing not to mention it: it is worse than either of the other two, because both end with the missed step reaching somebody, while this turns a lapse into an agreement between two people to say nothing. The principle: when somebody asks you to be quiet about something you both did, the pressure they are under is a reason to tell them first, not a reason to agree.

6. Question 6 of 10

   You are a security analyst. Last week you gave the number of accounts with administrator rights as forty for a report going to the board this afternoon. Since then a clear-out has taken it to twenty-six. You are the only person who knows. You are also mid-way through an urgent access review your manager wants finished by four o’clock today. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Send a two-line correction to whoever is compiling the report now, so that the board sees twenty-six, and go straight back to the access review afterwards.
   2. Finish the access review without telling anybody the figure has changed, since the board will not act on a headcount and the review is what your manager wants today.
   3. Send the correction with a full explanation of the clear-out and what it means, which takes half an hour out of an access review due at four.
   4. Mention it to your manager when you next see her and let her decide whether the report is worth stopping for a difference of fourteen accounts.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Send a two-line correction to whoever is compiling the report now, so that the board sees twenty-six, and go straight back to the access review afterwards.

   Least effective: B. Finish the access review without telling anybody the figure has changed, since the board will not act on a headcount and the review is what your manager wants today.

   B: Withholds a correction while the report goes out: the board reads forty this afternoon, and the only person who could have stopped that was busy elsewhere.

   C: Spends thirty minutes where two lines would do: the board needs the number corrected, not the history, and the review is the thing with a deadline today.

   D: Routes a two-minute fix through somebody else's diary: she is not compiling the report, and the correction is not a decision that needs making.

   The most effective response is to send a two-line correction to whoever is compiling the report now, so the board sees twenty-six, then go back to the access review. Two lines is a trivial cost against a board paper going out with a number you know to be wrong. It beats sending the correction with a full explanation of the clear-out and what it means, because the board needs the corrected figure rather than the story, and half an hour is real against four o’clock. It beats mentioning it to your manager when you next see her, because the correction is not a judgement anybody needs to make. The least effective response is finishing the access review without telling anybody the figure has changed: it is worse than either of the other two, because both get the number corrected today in some form, while this lets a board read forty when the figure is twenty-six and only you could have said so. The principle: a two-minute correction to a document about to be published outranks an hour of anything else.

7. Question 7 of 10

   You are a procurement assistant helping to compare two training suppliers. One of them runs a half-day workshop you have wanted to attend, normally closed to non-customers. Their account manager says he can put you on next month’s session, and adds that he hopes the comparison is going their way. Your write-up is due on Friday. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Accept the gift of the place and write the comparison as you would have anyway, since half a day of training is small and the answer was never in any doubt.
   2. Say you cannot take the place while the comparison is open, and tell whoever owns the decision it was offered, so that they read your write-up knowing about it.
   3. Take the place but say nothing about it, since declining would be awkward and the workshop has no bearing at all on how the two suppliers actually performed.
   4. Ask the account manager to hold the offer open until after Friday, so that the place is not connected to the comparison and can be accepted cleanly afterwards.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Say you cannot take the place while the comparison is open, and tell whoever owns the decision it was offered, so that they read your write-up knowing about it.

   Least effective: A. Accept the gift of the place and write the comparison as you would have anyway, since half a day of training is small and the answer was never in any doubt.

   A: Takes an advantage the role forbids: the place is offered by a supplier whose fate you are writing up, and its worth does not depend on whether it changed your mind.

   C: Keeps a benefit the decision-makers cannot see: they read the write-up without the one fact that would make them read it differently.

   D: Reschedules the problem rather than removing it: the offer still arrived while you were writing, and the timing is the only thing that has changed.

   The most effective response is to say you cannot take the place while the comparison is open, and tell whoever owns the decision it was offered. Your write-up is an input to a decision between two suppliers, so its value rests on being visibly uninfluenced, and reporting the offer settles that at no cost. It beats asking the account manager to hold the offer open until after Friday, because moving the date does not change that it was made by an interested party during the comparison. It beats taking the place and saying nothing about it, because the people deciding cannot weigh something they have not been told. The least effective response is accepting the place and writing the comparison as you would have anyway: it is worse than either of the other two, because both leave the timing or the silence as the only problem, while this takes the benefit and reasons that doing so was harmless because the answer was already settled. The principle: when you hold a say in who wins, decline what the parties offer and tell the people who own the choice that it was offered.

8. Question 8 of 10

   You are a product assistant. A supplier mentioned on a call that the reporting tool your company resells will stop supporting exports in March. Nobody else was on the call. On Thursday the sales team presents a twelve-month plan to a customer that is built around those exports. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Email the sales team today with what the supplier said, and ask them to check it with the supplier directly before Thursday's presentation.
   2. Say nothing until the supplier confirms it in writing, since it was a passing remark on a call and repeating it early could damage a supplier relationship.
   3. Ask the supplier to confirm it in writing and forward their answer to sales the moment it arrives, whether or not that turns out to be before Thursday.
   4. Raise it at the weekly product meeting next Tuesday, where sales and everybody else will hear it at the same time and can react together.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Email the sales team today with what the supplier said, and ask them to check it with the supplier directly before Thursday's presentation.

   Least effective: B. Say nothing until the supplier confirms it in writing, since it was a passing remark on a call and repeating it early could damage a supplier relationship.

   B: Stays silent on a fact only you hold: sales will commit a customer to twelve months of exports on Thursday, and nobody in the room can know what you heard.

   C: Chases a confirmation past the deadline it was needed for: written proof is worth having and Thursday does not move to wait for it.

   D: Saves it for a forum that meets too late: Tuesday is after Thursday, so the plan is presented before the meeting that was going to discuss it.

   The most effective response is to email the sales team today with what the supplier said, and ask them to check it directly before Thursday’s presentation. Thursday is fixed, they can verify a supplier’s remark faster than you can, and one email gives them both the warning and the means. It beats asking the supplier to confirm in writing and forwarding their answer when it arrives, because that may not come before Thursday and the presentation happens either way. It beats raising it at the weekly product meeting next Tuesday, because that falls after Thursday. The least effective response is saying nothing until the supplier confirms it in writing: it is worse than either of the other two, because both get the fact moving somewhere, while this leaves a twelve-month customer plan resting on an export feature you alone know is ending. The principle: an unconfirmed fact that a decision depends on goes to the people making the decision, with its uncertainty attached.

9. Question 9 of 10

   You are a junior developer. A change you own must be finished by four o’clock, when the release branch closes for the week. A colleague on another team messages you asking for help with a piece of code you wrote last month; he is blocked and has said so. Your change needs about two more hours. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Stop your own change and talk him through the code straight away, since he is blocked now, your deadline is still two hours away, and the code is one you wrote yourself.
   2. Finish the change so it makes the four o'clock branch close, and reply to him now with a time this afternoon, since he needs to know when help is coming.
   3. Work on both at once, answering his messages between edits, so that neither of you is left waiting on the other for very long this afternoon.
   4. Send his question on to the general engineering channel, since somebody with free time will probably pick it up, and carry on with your own change.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Finish the change so it makes the four o'clock branch close, and reply to him now with a time this afternoon, since he needs to know when help is coming.

   Least effective: D. Send his question on to the general engineering channel, since somebody with free time will probably pick it up, and carry on with your own change.

   A: Abandons own committed work: it protects a colleague who can wait two hours by risking the one thing here with a fixed weekly cut-off attached to it.

   C: Splits effort so nothing finishes: a change edited between messages is the one most likely to miss four o'clock, and help given in fragments teaches him least.

   D: Passes responsibility to others: it moves the request to a place where no named person has agreed to answer it, so he waits and nobody owns his block.

   The most effective response is to finish the change so it makes the four o’clock branch close, and reply to him now with a time this afternoon. The branch close is fixed for the week and his block is not, so the two demands are not equally urgent, and a reply costs a minute while telling him when help is coming. It beats stopping your own change to talk him through the code straight away, because dropping a change two hours from a weekly cut-off trades a real loss for a delay he can absorb. It beats working on both at once and answering between edits, because a change edited that way is the one most likely to miss four o’clock, and an explanation in fragments is worth less than one proper conversation. The least effective response is sending his question to the general engineering channel: it is worse than either of the other two, because both keep the question with the only person who wrote the code, while a general channel gives it to nobody in particular. The principle: when you cannot help now, own the answer and give a time, rather than moving the request somewhere nobody owns it.

10. Question 10 of 10

    You are a release coordinator. You mentioned to a colleague that a release script had failed twice and that you were looking into it. Without telling you, he raised it with the head of delivery, and it is now a tracked action with your name on it. You had agreed to cover his release duty next Thursday so he could attend a family event. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

    1. Cover Thursday as agreed and say nothing about the escalation, since it is now a tracked action either way and complaining about it changes nothing.
    2. Withdraw from Thursday's cover after that, since somebody who takes your problems straight to the head of delivery can arrange the family day himself.
    3. Cover Thursday as agreed, and tell him beforehand that being raised upwards without a word to you first is what you took issue with, so that it is actually said.
    4. Cover Thursday and ask the head of delivery to take your name off the tracked action, since it was raised without your knowledge in the first place.
    Show the answer

    Most effective: C. Cover Thursday as agreed, and tell him beforehand that being raised upwards without a word to you first is what you took issue with, so that it is actually said.

    Least effective: B. Withdraw from Thursday's cover after that, since somebody who takes your problems straight to the head of delivery can arrange the family day himself.

    A: Lets the pattern stand: he learns nothing about going over your head, and the next thing you mention to him will travel the same way.

    B: Retaliates by withdrawing: Thursday and the escalation have nothing to do with each other, and a family event is being spent to make a point about a tracked action.

    D: Fights the symptom upward: the action is reasonable work, and asking to be removed from it addresses the record rather than the colleague.

    The most effective response is to cover Thursday as agreed, and tell him beforehand that being raised upwards without a word to you first is what you took issue with. The cover was agreed and a family event cannot be rearranged, while the real grievance is being gone over, and only saying so could change it. It beats covering Thursday and saying nothing about the escalation, because he cannot stop doing something nobody has told him is a problem. It beats covering it and asking the head of delivery to take your name off the tracked action, because the action is perfectly reasonable work and that corrects the record without touching what actually happened. The least effective response is leaving him to arrange the family day himself: it is worse than either of the other two, because both honour the agreement, while this spends a colleague’s day to make a point and calls it a rota decision. The principle: keep the commitment you made, and take the grievance to the person directly rather than through the arrangement you had with them.