NGDP online tests: sample questions

Situational judgement test (SJT)

All SJT questions give candidates 4 answers, and they must pick the option they are most likely to do, and the option they are least likely to do (the best and worst answers).

Question 1

You are engaged in a very busy project to develop a carbon reduction monitoring framework for your council and a key report is due soon. Another manager approaches you at the end of a meeting and asks you to carry out some urgent research on a topic you are interested in but it is outside of the remit of your placement. You are unsure if you will have time to complete this work.

1. Ask some questions to find out exactly what the work is then check with my manager before committing to it.
2. Identify who else could work on the report and ask them to step in to work with me so I can achieve both tasks.
3. Explain politely that I need to say no on this occasion but to please bear me in mind for future assignments.

Question 2

You are in a project meeting and a senior colleague makes a strongly worded comment about another team's competence without any evidence to support this. You have a good relationship with this colleague and have previously had open and constructive conversations. Having worked in this team you feel this is somewhat unfair. You are concerned by this, and want to understand more about their perspective. 

1. Approach her in private afterwards expressing my interest in the source of her views as I am keen to understand her perspective.
2. Ask her for her reasons during the meeting as others may have the same view as me and part of my role as a graduate is to question and challenge.
3. Raise my concern to my line manager as this is a sensitive issue and I need to be mindful of how to approach senior colleagues.

Question 3

You are working on a research task that requires responses from staff across the council to provide you with sufficient data for your analysis and report. You have followed the required protocol for requesting the feedback and set a time limit of two weeks for replies. The deadline is tomorrow and you have already sent a chaser email two days ago. You have had a good response rate but your report would really benefit from the input of another 10 key stakeholders who are yet to respond.  

1. Contact the line managers of the people who need to provide the feedback and see if they can encourage their staff to complete it.
2. Ask for an extension to the work and send out another request with the extended deadline to give them more time.
3. Telephone the stakeholders and ask for the information or any supplementary feedback they can provide over the phone.