How on earth do you pass online assessments for job applications?

pink.1970

As the title says how on earth do you do it?

My partner has just had 2 rejection letters this week as he didnt pass the online assessments which means he wont even get an interview.

The 2 companies were Asda and Royal Mail both were driving/delivery jobs. Surely seeing a person face to face is way better than online assessments.

~Beanie~

The questions are usually designed to find out what type of person you are and whether you would fit into the role. They make sure that only the best candidates are interviewed, rather than interviewing hundreds which takes time and costs money.

Your partner obviously wasn't giving the answers that Asda (or the Royal Mail) wanted unfortunately.

Takeaway_Addict

Be realistic though, these companies will get hundreds if not thousands of applicants. If they can whittle this down to a quarter or a fifth before letting a human look at it then it only makes sense as they will still have a more than capable pool.

AP007

Some such as Primark are set for the type of person they want working for them.

Such as there was one that I did for a cash office member of staff so not even on the shop floor yet the assessment questions were all about the shop floor.

One was something like if a customer asked for a particular t shirt in a different size what would be your answer.

They gave you 3 or so replies and you picked the best one. Since I had worked for House of Fraser and Bentalls in my day I replied like I have been taught as in you try to get the customer the size they are after ie you check the stock room, call the buying office and then other shops in the area but I failed as that was the wrong answer for them and I know as I asked for feedback and this was one example they gave me. They said they would prefer they customer buy something else.

pink.1970

How can you ever give the right answer, you have to answer as you would deal with the situation they have listed as AP007 has said.

My partner has years of delivery driving experience in this area, so how they can say he isnt right for the jobs. He has driven for Parcelforce, DHL, Yodel, he has been a bus driver, worked in the hotel business so he does have people skills.

Takeaway_Addict

pink.1970 wrote: »

How can you ever give the right answer, you have to answer as you would deal with the situation they have listed as AP007 has said.

My partner has years of delivery driving experience in this area, so how they can say he isnt right for the jobs. He has driven for Parcelforce, DHL, Yodel, he has been a bus driver, worked in the hotel business so he does have people skills.

Because they can? Do you understand they have to whittle down A LOT of applicants?

Why has he driven for so many companies? That would put me of to a certain extent as it looks on the scant information that he cannot hold a job at one of those. (though I am sure there is some valid reason)

[Deleted User]

I symapthise so many hoops to jump through.. sure some businesses must love wasting money

Recently following an application form with assessments questions, attended an assessment half day, followed by a telephone role play, then social network stimulation test, (I think I'm seeing the light!) all this scored, and this is before getting a 1-2-1 interview, all in all taken over a month now.... for a glorified call centre job, oh there has been no opportunity of feedback except hearing your through to the next stage! yep if this isn't wasting money I don't know what is!

pink.1970

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

Because they can? Do you understand they have to whittle down A LOT of applicants?

Why has he driven for so many companies? That would put me of to a certain extent as it looks on the scant information that he cannot hold a job at one of those. (though I am sure there is some valid reason)

Yes there is a valid reason, most of the bus companies closed down, so the drivers were made redundant, the otherdriving jobs were with agencies and therefore short term.

And yes I understand the fact there must be lots of applicants.

DKLS

It may help to know how some of the bigger organisations recruit, many use HR software to manage the recruitment process. A lot of times applications and cvs arent read until interview day!

I have used a few types of HR software and within a couple of mouse clicks I could narrow 700 applicants down to 10-15 that are worth inviting to interview based on a pre-defined criteria, e.g. its all about keywords in your cv or application.

Or I could create an online test and filter large numbers out that way, its a very simple way of managing large volumes of applications.

~Beanie~

pink.1970 wrote: »

How can you ever give the right answer, you have to answer as you would deal with the situation they have listed as AP007 has said.

My partner has years of delivery driving experience in this area, so how they can say he isnt right for the jobs. He has driven for Parcelforce, DHL, Yodel, he has been a bus driver, worked in the hotel business so he does have people skills.

As you say, they are looking for how the applicant would deal with a certain situation. Your partners answers obviously didn't fit with what they were looking for, which would show that he would not deal with these situations in the way that they wanted.