FREE Situational Judgement Question and Answers
On a busy Saturday afternoon, you are working a shift at the cash register. You are manning the main bank of tills near the store's entrance, where customers can come from all over to make purchases. One of the team leaders informs you that it will be 15 minutes before the system provider can fix the issue after the credit card transaction system abruptly stops functioning. Customers are lined up in a long waiting line.
Review the following responses and choose the one you feel is the one you would be "least likely to make" in the given circumstance.
Explanation:
This is the least effective response as you do not know for sure that most customers will have to pay later and you are leaving your colleagues and team leader to deal with the situation without checking what else you could do to help.
After roughly 10 minutes of browsing in your sector, a customer is starting to become impatient and frustrated. He comes up to you and asks if you have a specific book that he is looking for, and after looking it up on your computer, you have to tell him that it is "out of stock" right now.
Review the replies that you feel best to describe the decision you would "most likely" make in the given circumstance.
Explanation:
This is the most effective response as you are trying to give the customer what he wants without him having to do too much more. By telling the customer how long it will take to order, he can make an informed decision as to whether he wishes to take this option
On this Tuesday morning, a coworker in the stationery department is absent due to illness. When you pass by the stationery section on your way to the staff room to grab a quick cup of tea at 11 a.m., you notice that it is reasonably disorganized. The shelves are messy, there are items on the wrong shelves, and items have fallen to the floor and been left there.
Review the following responses and then choose which one you think would be your "least likely to make" in each situation.
Explanation:
This is the least effective response as you are making assumptions that the problem will be dealt with and the whole store will suffer if one section looks scruffy. It will give customers a poor impression of your More Than Pens branch.
Sarah Arkwright, a senior manager in the finance division, sent you an email. She will oversee your placement when you join the team in three months. She wants you to be aware that you'll be starting at the department's busiest time. The busiest time for financial planning is January, when you are scheduled to begin working in finance. The team will put in all-out effort to create the annual business plans and budget allotments for each department at Sutton & Sykes and to match these with the company's projected profit and loss. In order for you to "hit the ground running" when you join the team, your supervisor believes it is crucial that you are aware of this. You've never held a position in finance before.
Review the following responses and then choose the one that you feel is the situation's "least effective" response.
Explanation:
This is the least effective response as, although if you took the other approaches suggested it may turn out that you would have to wait until this time for the specific details of projects, at least with those responses you could be doing work to prepare much earlier than a few weeks before the start of your placement.
Late June has come. Your team just finished its monthly meeting for the "book section," and your team leader has given you a specific goal for the following month. You are expected to work toward a 15% increase in children's book sales over last July's figures. Since it is the end of the summer term and families are less likely to spend money on children's books or stationery at this time, July is always a challenging month for children's products. You won't have any extra money to use toward achieving this objective.
Review the following responses and choose the one you feel would be "most likely to make" in the given circumstance.
Explanation:
This is the most effective response as you are actively promoting the summer-themed books and helping customers to find them. You may worry that this approach is slightly ‘pushy’ but without any budget for creating visual publicity this is the best and most dynamic way to raise customer awareness. You can also be on hand to offer help and advice if a customer shows an interest in buying books for the summer holidays.
"You're attending a meeting with Marinell, your boss. You have been asked to attend the meeting with the representatives of Jack Lanis Stores, a prospective new retail client. A sizable group of department stores known as Jack Lanis Stores (JLS) has developed a solid reputation as an ethical and responsible retailer. The chain takes pride in offering British-made, environmentally friendly, and ethically sourced products on the UK high street. Jack Lanis examines potential suppliers' records with regard to the moral and equitable treatment of employees because the company is run as a co-operative in which all of the employees own a portion of the business. Pay rates and the terms and conditions of an employee's employment contract are included. A significant agreement could be signed for Sutton & Sykes to supply the retail chain with 40,000 washing machines and 14,000 tumble dryers annually if this meeting goes well (i.e., the Jack Lanis representatives leave confident that Sutton & Sykes are a fair and ethical company with regard to how it treats its employees). You are a relative newcomer to the company when Nazib Khan, the senior buyer from JLS, turns to you halfway through the meeting and inquires about your opinion of Sutton & Sykes.
Review the following responses and then choose the one that you feel is the situation's "least effective" response.
Explanation:
This is the least effective response as you are failing to respond at all to Mr Khan’s interest in getting a ‘personal’ perspective on the issue.
"On a Monday morning at 9 a.m., your boss, Mary Alvarez, sends you an email requesting that you move up the due date for a small research project you were working on for her so that it "closes of play" today. She claims that since she has an urgent meeting tomorrow morning regarding the matter, she needs the written report from you sooner than she originally anticipated (she told you about the report on Friday and said it would be due by the end of the following day). You haven't even begun writing the report, but you anticipate finishing it in 4 or 5 hours. You have two additional emails in your inbox. One comes from a coworker in HR who is out with the flu today but was scheduled to join the head of the research department for an HR liaison meeting in Southampton. According to the email, Mary has agreed to let you go in his place after hearing from him. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 11 am, and it takes about an hour to travel from Alton to Southampton. The Graduate Development Manager (GDM) sent a feedback form to all Graduate Trainees a week ago, and the third email serves as a reminder about it. He wants to know your thoughts on how to make the trainee program better for the incoming class in January. You quickly scan the sheet and notice that it is a four-page questionnaire that needs thoughtful answers from you. To give him time to review the feedback and put it to good use, the GDM needs the form back by the end of the day. Review the following responses and choose which you think is the situation's "most effective" response.
Explanation:
This is the most effective response as, by limiting the length of the meeting there is sufficient time in the day to complete the two urgent and important tasks. The GDM feedback report is important but not time-critical as the new trainee intake don’t arrive for another 3 months.