What Is a Situational Judgment Test?
The short answer: a situational judgment test puts a candidate in a realistic moment from the job and asks what they would do. Instead of asking what the person knows or how they describe themselves, it shows how they weigh the choices the work actually throws at them. Employers use the method because it reads judgment on the job's own problems, which is the part an interview and a resume rarely reach.
How a situational judgment test works
Each item is a short scene from the work: who is involved, what just happened and what is at stake. The candidate then responds. Formats vary. Some ask for the best response, some ask the candidate to rank several, and some ask which move they would make first.
What matters is where the scenes come from. A good set is drawn from the real hard moments of the seat: the calls where a wrong instinct costs a callback, a customer or a day's schedule. Generic office scenes tell you little about a technician or a dispatcher.
What the situations look like in the trades
Three examples, written the way a trades item would be:
- A dispatcher facing three ringing lines. One is a no-heat call on the coldest night of the week, one is a technician asking for parts approval from a job site, and one is a contractor customer chasing an invoice. The board is already full. Which call gets picked up first, and what happens to the other two?
- A technician alone with an unhappy customer. The repair is done, the bill is higher than the customer expected, and they say the last company quoted less. No manager is on the phone. Does the tech walk through the work, call the office, or offer something to settle it?
- A CSR with a double-booked day. Two customers were promised the same morning window, and both are on the line confirming. One is a maintenance member, one is a first-time caller with a leak. Who moves, and how is it said?
None of these has a trick answer. Each has reasonable moves that pull in different directions, and the seat decides which one fits.
How scoring against a written standard works
A situational judgment test needs something to score against. In many tests, a panel of experienced people agrees a best answer for each item, and the candidate earns credit for matching it.
First Move Assessment works from a written standard for each seat: a plain description of the instincts that seat needs, such as checking first or jumping in, fixing what keeps causing the problem or the one in front of them, handling it or passing it to the right person. The candidate reads situations from the seat and picks the move they would make first. Each moment offers two reasonable moves, so there is no correct answer to study for. The report scores the candidate out of 100 against the seat's standard, with a margin of error printed beside the score, and shows where their instincts pull away from what the seat needs.
How long it takes
Situational judgment tests run from a few minutes to most of an hour, depending on how many items they hold. A First Move Assessment takes a candidate about 10 to 20 minutes on a phone, with no app and no account.
What the research says about the method
Situational judgment is a hiring method with 30 years of published evidence. What the published research on the method has found:
- A meta-analysis pooling 118 results found situational judgment tests predicted job performance at .26 (McDaniel, Hartman, Whetzel and Grubb, 2007, Personnel Psychology).
- Tests built around teamwork situations predicted at .38, and leadership situations at .28 (Christian, Edwards and Bradley, 2010, Personnel Psychology).
- The approach lines up with decades of research on tacit knowledge, the practical know-how that separates experienced performers (Sternberg and Wagner, 1985; Lievens and Motowidlo, 2016).
The limits page explains how these findings on the method relate to First Move Assessment.
Where it fits in your hiring
A situational judgment test does not measure skill or trade knowledge, so pair it with a skills check for technical seats, and keep the structured interview. It works best early, before the in-person interview, where it can point the interview at the moments that matter. Like any hiring tool, use it the same way for every candidate for a seat; our guide to whether pre-employment assessments are legal covers what that means for a contractor.
To see the seats First Move Assessment covers, start with the HVAC or plumbing page. To see how it stands next to other hiring assessments, see the comparisons, and every price is on the pricing page.
Frequently asked questions
What is a situational judgment test?
A hiring method that puts a candidate in realistic situations from the job and asks what they would do. It reads judgment on the work's own problems rather than knowledge or self-description.
What is an example of a situational judgment question?
A dispatcher with three lines ringing at once: a no-heat call, a technician waiting on a parts approval and a customer chasing an invoice. The question is which call comes first and what happens to the other two.
Can you study for a situational judgment test?
You can learn the format, but a well-built set leaves little to memorize. In First Move Assessment each moment offers two reasonable moves, and the seat decides which one fits, so there is no correct answer to look up.
How is a situational judgment test scored?
It depends on the test. Many score each answer against a key that experienced people agreed. First Move Assessment scores the candidate out of 100 against a written standard for the seat, with a margin of error beside the score.
Is a situational judgment test the same as a personality test?
No. A personality inventory asks people to describe themselves. A situational judgment test shows them a situation from the work and asks what they would do.
How long does a situational judgment test take?
Anywhere from a few minutes to most of an hour. A First Move Assessment takes about 10 to 20 minutes.
First Move Assessment reads the move a candidate reaches for first in situations from one seat in your trade: get the three sample reports.