IRIS Situational Judgement Tests

Online sifting tools for Graduate, Junior Management, Administrative and Customer Service roles

Author/s:: Helen Baron, Chris Lewis, Neil Scott; 2009
Administration:: Untimed (30 minutes - 1 hour), online, unsupervised
Qualification code:: Not Applicable
Scoring:: Automated

Description:

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IRIS Situational Judgement Tests (SJTs) are Pearson Assessment's new online work simulations designed to assess candidates against a broad range of behaviours or skills required for effective performance in graduate, junior managerial, administrative, customer service and sales roles.

IRIS SJTs assess work-based behaviour and decision-making underpinned by skills, motivation, and abilities commonly required across a number of different roles.

In each SJT, candidates are placed in engaging work scenarios and required to deal with a number of situations by rating a number of possible responses. Each scenario is task-driven and so provides realistic content for these roles, whilst being relevant across organisations.

Benefits
Research and Development
Content
Examples

Benefits

Cost-effective online sifting - IRIS SJTs can be completed online and unsupervised, so the costs and time associated with assessing high volumes of candidates are reduced.

Realistic scenarios and situations - SJTs provide an effective measure of potential work performance as candidates are responding to relevant siutations and scenarios they are likely to encounter at work.

Improved diversity - Research has shown that for SJTs there are reduced differences in performance between candidate groups from different backgrounds when compared with more traditional assessment methods.

Enhanced employer brand - Candidate perceptions of SJTs are more positive than some traditional recruitment methods. This can enhance employer brand and reputation and can mean that talented candidates are likely to be engaged and retained in the process.

Multiple SJTs - IRIS is currently a bank of over 50 SJTs. We can advise on the choice of most suitable SJTs and can rotate content between recruitment campaigns. This reduces the likelihood of candidates becoming familiar with the same test scenarios and content.

Rigorous research and testing - To date, over 200 subject matter experts (including line managers, trainers and job incumbents) from a diverse range of backgrounds and organisations have been engaged in the design of scenarios, tasks, content and scoring systems.

Tailoring - IRIS SJTs can be tailored specifically for an organisation or they can be designed exclusively from scratch to fit specific roles, organisational contexts and cultures.

Self-selection - Exposing candidates to realistic scenarios they are likely to encounter at work allows candidates to build an impression of the role. They can decide whether to pursue their application to the next stages. This self-selection process saves the organisation both time and money.

24/7 access - Candidates can complete IRIS SJTs at any time of the day, within the testing period, and progress can be monitored.

For more information please contact IRIS@pearson.com

Research and development of SJTs

IRIS SJTs have been thoroughly researched. In the research, design and development stages the Pearson team has analysed numerous competency frameworks across a large number of organisations in both the private and public sectors. To date they have engaged over 200 subject matter experts (including line managers, trainers and job incumbents) to design the scenarios, content and scoring systems.

For further technical information regarding the research and development of IRIS click here.

Content

To assess a wider range of work behaviours, we recommend that the SJT solution contains three different tasks (from a bank of over 50).

Completion of the three tasks takes between 20 and 45 minutes to complete (depending on the level). Candidates are asked to judge the appropriateness of a series of responses. An example of each task is outlined below.

IRIS SJTs for administrative, customer service and sales staff:

Task 1 - Working on a process
Task 2 - Supporting staff
Task 3 - Client interaction
Task 4 - Sales (under development)

IRIS SJTs for graduates, junior managers and sales managers:

Task 1 - Dealing with a mechanistic process
Task 2 - Dealing with an organic or evolving process
Task 3 - Innovation and change processes
Task 4 - Sales (under development)

For a more detailed breakdown of what is involved in each task click here

Example item from an Administrative & Customer Services IRIS SJT:

For further examples click here

What our customers say about IRIS

"I felt the (customer service) test included some interesting questions that capture the complexities of customer service roles. I think the situations used also were quite realistic, got progressively more interesting - and would definitely pick up some 'no go' candidates, judging by some of the statements"

Melanie Leaning, Team Leader, RDL. People. Development. Change.

For more information on IRIS Situational Judgement Tests by Pearson Assessment please email IRIS@pearson.com or telephone 020 7010 2866.

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