Tesco Tests

Careers at Tesco

Tesco is one of the world’s best-known supermarket brands, and the third-largest retailer in the world, with over 450,000 employees.

Tesco believes in recruiting candidates at the start of their careers, offering them progression and training opportunities, and nurturing talent. It actively seeks candidates from diverse backgrounds.

Tesco graduate careers

Tesco offers graduate placement schemes in seven different areas:

• Business
• Finance
• Technology
• Product
• Software engineering
• Cybersecurity
• Store management

Graduate salaries at Tesco typically range from £28000 to £32000, and so, although there are plenty of opportunities at Tesco for graduates from all sorts of backgrounds, placements are snapped up quickly.

Tesco’s graduate recruitment process operates on a rolling basis. Between September and August, you can apply for one graduate placement only. So it is advisable to apply early and choose a placement that genuinely motivates you and aligns with your career goals.

Application process

Tesco’s graduate application process is relatively informal but still thorough.

Although the company website emphasises that the process is two-way and an opportunity to learn about the business while they assess your suitability, only 40% of applicants will be invited to video interview after the games assessments.

Online application

Tesco’s online application requires you to submit your personal details and an up-to-date CV.

You will also be asked to answer a series of short essay questions. These will assess your drive, integrity, decision making, and how customer-focused you are, as well as allowing you to detail any professional or academic successes you feel are relevant to the job.

Once you have submitted the application and it has been reviewed, you may be sent links to Tesco’s games-based assessments.

Games based assessments

Tesco’s psychometric tests are integrated into four fast-paced games that can be played on your own phone, tablet, or laptop. These tests can be taken anywhere you choose.

Even though the Tesco psychometric tests are delivered in a game format, like any psychometric testing process it is worth preparing for them. The games test your cognitive abilities at the same time as your capacity to work under pressure, and so you should be used to answering questions accurately at speed by the time you take them.

There are four games:

• Cognitive assessments
• Behavioural preferences assessments
• Numerical assessments
• Abstract reasoning assessments

The tests take a total of 15 minutes to play through.

Cognitive assessments

Cognitive ability assessments are designed to evaluate a candidate’s general mental ability. This means that the questions will shift between subjects, covering verbal, numerical and logical reasoning.

Most roles at Tesco require a broad range of professional skills, and Tesco looks for candidates who are willing to develop in multiple directions. The cognitive ability assessment game gives a snapshot of a candidate’s general ability to perform day-to-day business tasks under pressure.

The questions might include problem-solving challenges, reading tasks, and pattern spotting, extracting business information from tables, or reading memos and correcting them. The questions chosen will depend on the business stream to which you have applied.

Although the level of the questions might relatively simple, the pace of the game and the speed at which questions are answered accurately will make or break your success.

Behavioural preferences assessment

These questions are similar to standard psychometric tests, and assess how well you might be able to work with a team of differently minded people or react in challenging work situations.

Each question contains a short paragraph describing a workplace dilemma or challenge, with a series of potential responses beneath. Candidates must choose the one which best describes the way they would react.

As this is such a fast-paced test, there is no time to consider what the best way to react might be, and so the games-based assessment ensures Tesco builds an honest and accurate picture of how a candidate might work in a team environment.

Numerical reasoning

Tesco’s numerical reasoning game presents questions that are roughly at GCSE maths level, but the complexity of the test will depend on the specific role you have applied to.

These are presented in addition to the cognitive reasoning tests, as many business tasks require a high level of numeracy, especially in accounting and strategy roles.

In these tests, a graph, chart, table, or equation will be presented on the screen, with a series of questions appearing underneath it. Candidates will have fewer than 45 seconds to answer each question.

The test is therefore to see how well you can perform mathematical tasks under pressure. The questions may contain tricks designed to distract a candidate under pressure.

Abstract reasoning

The abstract reasoning questions on the Tesco games-based assessment are equivalent to an IQ test. There are no words or numbers in the questions, just shapes, and illustrations which follow patterns.

As the questions go on, the patterns become more and more complex and abstract, and the shapes change in less discernible ways.

These questions can feel rushed, as they also need to be answered in 45 seconds.

Once you have completed the 15-minute games, you will be given feedback straight away. If you pass the test, your results will be sent to the recruitment team, and you may be invited to interview. Only 40% of all applicants pass this stage.