Mettl Situational Judgement 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: You notice that a new team member seems to be struggling and has stopped asking questions, though they have not asked for help. What is the BEST course of action?
- Leave them alone; they will ask if they need help.
- Check in informally, offer support, and share resources that helped you when you started. (Correct answer)
- Tell your manager the new hire is not coping.
- Assign them easier tasks without discussing it with them.
Correct answer: Check in informally, offer support, and share resources that helped you when you started.
A proactive, supportive check-in helps the new hire without undermining them.
New employees often hesitate to ask questions for fear of appearing incompetent. An informal, friendly check-in with an offer of help and resources addresses the issue directly and respectfully. Ignoring the situation or escalating immediately are less constructive, and reassigning tasks without discussion can feel demeaning.
Question 2: You are about to leave for the day when you realise you sent a client an email containing an outdated price list. What should you do?
- Wait until tomorrow morning to send a correction.
- Hope the client does not notice the difference.
- Ask a colleague to handle it tomorrow since you are leaving.
- Send a correction immediately with the correct price list and a brief apology, then inform your manager. (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Send a correction immediately with the correct price list and a brief apology, then inform your manager.
Prompt correction and transparency limit the risk of a costly misunderstanding.
Correcting the error immediately prevents the client from acting on wrong information and shows integrity. Informing your manager ensures they are not surprised if the client raises it. Delaying, hoping it goes unnoticed or passing it to someone else all increase the risk and reflect poorly on accountability.
Question 3: A colleague privately tells you they plan to take credit for your idea in an upcoming meeting with the director. How should you respond?
- Calmly tell the colleague you expect to be credited, and ensure your contribution is visible, for example by sharing your notes with the director beforehand. (Correct answer)
- Confront the colleague in front of the director during the meeting.
- Say nothing and let it happen to avoid conflict.
- Report the colleague to HR immediately.
Correct answer: Calmly tell the colleague you expect to be credited, and ensure your contribution is visible, for example by sharing your notes with the director beforehand.
Addressing it directly and ensuring your contribution is documented is assertive and professional.
An assertive but calm conversation makes your expectation clear, and sharing your notes in advance protects your contribution through legitimate means. A public confrontation would damage professional relationships, silence allows unfair behaviour, and an immediate HR report is disproportionate before you have addressed it directly.
Question 4: Your team is under pressure to finish a project, and a teammate suggests skipping the final quality check to hit the deadline. What is the MOST appropriate response?
- Agree, since meeting the deadline is the priority.
- Refuse to work any further until the deadline is extended.
- Explain the risk of skipping the check, and propose either a faster, focused check or a short deadline discussion with the manager. (Correct answer)
- Do the quality check secretly after submitting the project.
Correct answer: Explain the risk of skipping the check, and propose either a faster, focused check or a short deadline discussion with the manager.
Highlighting the risk and offering practical alternatives protects quality without ignoring the deadline pressure.
Skipping quality checks can lead to costly errors, so agreeing outright is poor judgement. Refusing to work is unhelpful and confrontational. The best option explains the risk and proposes solutions, such as a targeted check or escalating the timeline issue. Checking after submission does not prevent problems from reaching the client.
Question 5: You receive two conflicting instructions: your direct manager asks you to prioritise Task A, while a senior stakeholder from another department insists Task B is more urgent. What should you do?
- Do Task B, since the stakeholder is more senior.
- Do Task A and ignore the stakeholder.
- Try to do both simultaneously without telling anyone about the conflict.
- Inform your manager of the conflict, share the stakeholder's reasoning, and ask them to align on the priority. (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Inform your manager of the conflict, share the stakeholder's reasoning, and ask them to align on the priority.
Surfacing the conflict to your manager allows a proper decision on priorities.
Your manager is accountable for your priorities but may not know about the stakeholder's request. Bringing the conflict to them with the relevant context lets them align with the stakeholder and make an informed decision. Unilaterally choosing based on seniority, ignoring the stakeholder, or silently juggling both can lead to missed expectations.
Question 6: You realise that a recurring report you produce contains a formula error that has slightly overstated results for the past three months. No one has noticed. What should you do?
- Fix the formula going forward and say nothing about past reports.
- Fix the formula, inform your manager, and issue corrected figures for the affected months. (Correct answer)
- Delete the old reports so the error cannot be found.
- Wait to see whether anyone raises the issue before acting.
Correct answer: Fix the formula, inform your manager, and issue corrected figures for the affected months.
Transparency and correction of past errors maintain trust and data integrity.
Decisions may have been made based on the overstated figures, so stakeholders need corrected data. Fixing the formula, informing your manager and reissuing accurate numbers demonstrates integrity and accountability. Concealing the error, deleting evidence, or waiting for someone else to notice all compromise trust and could cause bigger problems later.
Mettl Situational Judgement 2
You notice that a new team member seems to be struggling and has stopped asking questions, though they have not asked for help.
What is the BEST course of action?