SHL OPQ results back — what does a 6 on influence mean for my application?
Just finished my SHL OPQ test for a senior marketing role and most of my scores came back in the 7-8 range, but influence and persuasion landed at a 6. Trying to figure out if that's going to hurt my chances or whether it depends entirely on the benchmark profile the employer set.
The assessment itself took about 35 minutes — 104 forced-choice questions between behavioral descriptors. I answered honestly rather than trying to game it, which I've heard is the right call since inconsistent response patterns get flagged. Still not sure if that was wise for a sales-adjacent marketing position.
What I don't fully understand is whether a 6 in one competency is actually a concern or whether the overall profile matters more. The role is more strategy and campaign management than direct client sales, so I'm hoping influence is less weighted in their specific benchmark.
Has anyone been through the debrief process with an employer after getting OPQ results? Curious how much they actually discuss the scores versus just using them as a first-round filter.
Tried to game an OPQ once and got flagged for inconsistent responses. Never said directly but I got a very short follow-up and no offer. Just answer honestly — if the role isn't a fit on paper it probably isn't a fit in reality either.
The forced-choice format makes gaming it nearly impossible anyway. You end up choosing between two positive descriptors and it's rarely obvious which one scores higher. Honesty is also just a more sustainable strategy for getting a job you'll actually be good at.
I went through the debrief for a consulting position and they walked through every score outside their band. It wasn't adversarial — more about whether the profile fit the team dynamic they were building. Be ready to discuss how you compensate for lower-scoring areas.
A 6 is mid-range, not a red flag. Employers set their own benchmark profiles and a 6 on influence for a strategy role probably isn't disqualifying. Problem scores are usually the ones that fall below 4 on competencies the role considers critical.
I've actually been through this twice — bombed my first OPQ attempt with a 5 on influence and didn't get past screening. What I changed was practicing the "most and least" question format specifically, because I was overthinking it and picking answers that seemed "safe" instead of actually reflecting how I work. The shl opq test guide helped me understand that consistency across related scales matters more than any single score.
A 6 on influence for a senior marketing role might be fine depending on what the employer benchmarked. It's not a dealbreaker on its own. Most companies look at clusters, so if your sociability and empathy scores are solid, that 6 gets balanced out. You probably won't know until you hear back, but I wouldn't panic yet.
I was in almost the exact same spot last year applying for a brand manager role. Failed the first attempt with a 5 on influence and honestly it stung because I thought I was naturally persuasive. What I changed was stopping trying to sound like the "ideal" candidate and just answering more directly based on how I actually operate at work. The OPQ isn't really testing if you're persuasive, it's testing consistency, so when I kept second-guessing myself and picking what I thought they wanted, my profile looked scattered.
A 6 isn't necessarily a dealbreaker, it really does depend on what the role profile weights. For a senior marketing position they might actually care more about your strategic thinking or creativity scores than pure influence. What helped me understand my results was looking at the sten score in context of the full wheel, not just fixating on the low ones. If everything else is 7-8 you've probably got a solid profile overall and the hiring manager will weigh it against the job fit benchmark, not just raw numbers.
I'm actually in a similar boat — just hit a 6 on influence too in a practice run yesterday, so this thread felt weirdly timed. I've been working through some of the OPQ-style material online and found shl opq/questions/shl opq test thinking styles 3 pretty helpful for getting a feel for how they frame the scenarios. It didn't magically fix my scores but it helped me understand the logic better.
Planning to sit the real one in about two weeks. From what I've read a 6 isn't a dealbreaker if the role benchmark doesn't weight influence heavily, but yeah it's frustrating when you know you can be persuasive in real life and a questionnaire makes you second-guess yourself. Good luck with yours.