Assess workplace judgment that drives performance
Mercer Assessments’ situational judgment tests (SJTs) present candidates with realistic workplace scenarios designed to assess how they prioritize actions, navigate challenges, and make decisions. By evaluating behavioral competencies linked to on-the-job success, organizations gain deeper insight into role fit, leadership potential, and development needs.
Know more about our SJT offerings
Assessments that support talent decisions across the employee lifecycle
Explore SJTs that support hiring, promotion, development, and succession planning.
Behavioral traits that influence workplace success
Evaluate the traits that shape workplace effectiveness and long-term performance.
01
Planning and prioritization
Assess how individuals organize work, manage competing priorities, and allocate effort.
02
Results orientation
Measure drive to achieve goals, take ownership of outcomes, and follow through on commitments.
03
Teamwork and collaboration
Evaluate how individuals contribute to shared goals, build productive relationships, and collaborate across functions.
04
Ethical judgment
Assess responses to scenarios involving integrity, compliance, and responsible conduct.
05
Adaptability
Measure how effectively individuals respond to change, uncertainty, and evolving workplace demands.
06
Conflict management
Evaluate approaches to disagreements, difficult conversations, and competing viewpoints.
07
Interpersonal effectiveness & empathy
Assess ability to understand perspectives, build relationships, and communicate with sensitivity.
08
Negotiation skills
Measure how effectively individuals influence outcomes, balance stakeholder needs, and navigate competing priorities.
Empower stakeholders with clearer talent insights
Hiring managers
Understand a candidate's judgment, decision approach, and likely workplace behaviors.
Learning & development teams
Identify development priorities to design targeted learning journeys and coaching interventions.
Succession planning teams
Assess readiness for leadership and business-critical roles by evaluating job-relevant judgment and behaviors.
Workforce planning teams
Identify capability patterns to support internal mobility, promotion decisions, and workforce planning.
Apply SJTs across roles and leadership levels
Customer service representatives
Assess communication, empathy, and conflict resolution capabilities.
Account managers
Measure relationship management and stakeholder handling in client-facing roles.
Team leaders
Identify how individuals prioritize work, manage team dynamics, and support team performance.
First-line managers
Evaluate decision-making, accountability, and effectiveness in handling people-management challenges.
Turn behavioral insight into better talent decisions
Use SJT results to support stronger hiring, development, and succession decisions.
Promote inclusive hiring
Use standardized scenarios to evaluate candidates consistently and objectively.
Scale talent evaluation
Assess larger candidate groups efficiently through automated scoring, benchmarking, and reporting.
Improve development effectiveness
Identify behavioral strengths and development areas to create targeted learning interventions.
Support leadership development
Evaluate leadership-ready behaviors to guide development and succession planning.
Building relationships
Mercer | Mettl's platform and the science behind it are highly intuitive and systematic for the test-takers. Customized assessments, how data is aggregated, and how you can download insightful reports directly from the system - stood out for us from a process standpoint.
- Saranya Mukherjee
Lead, Early Career Development Campus & Employer Branding Reckitt Benckiser
![Modern Foods Industry Success Story [Client Testimonial]](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Ozwop59lbh4/hqdefault.jpg)
The validity of Mercer | Mettl's assessments is exceptionally robust. It enabled us to funnel people who were precisely the type we needed. Mercer | Mettl helped us to accurately identify high-potential candidates within our internal team.
- Sonal Kapur Sinha
CHRO, Modern Foods
How Mercer Assessments’ SJTs add behavioral context to talent management decisions
Features | Mercer Assessments | Traditional assessments |
|---|---|---|
Evaluates workplace judgment | Limited | |
Measures behavioral competencies | Partial | |
Uses realistic workplace scenarios | Rarely | |
Offers role-specific customization | Limited | |
Supports internal mobility | Limited | |
Provides development recommendations | No |
Frequently asked questions
Situational judgment tests can be used for campus hiring and graduate recruitment, particularly when organizations want to assess behavioral readiness and workplace judgment. However, they should be used thoughtfully, as candidates with limited work experience may be less familiar with certain workplace scenarios. SJTs are often most effective when combined with cognitive, aptitude, or personality assessments to provide a complete picture of potential.
Situational judgment assessments evaluate how candidates are likely to respond to realistic workplace challenges involving teamwork, decision-making, conflict, and stakeholder interactions. By assessing behavioral competencies that are difficult to measure through resumes or interviews alone, organizations can make more objective and informed hiring decisions.
SJTs can be delivered digitally and scored automatically, making them well-suited for high-volume recruitment programs. Organizations can assess large candidate pools consistently while reducing manual evaluation effort. Benchmarking and competency-based reporting further help recruiters identify candidates who demonstrate the behaviors needed for success.
Organizations can use situational judgment tests for leadership to evaluate key traits of an effective leader, including:
- Decision-making
- Adaptability
- Conflict management
- Collaboration
- Result orientation
For leadership and senior-level roles, advanced scoring approaches such as best-and-worst response selection can provide deeper insight into judgment and risk awareness.
SJTs support competency-based hiring by assessing behaviors linked to success in a specific role. Candidates are evaluated against competencies such as teamwork, ethical judgment, interpersonal effectiveness, and problem-solving through realistic workplace situations. This allows organizations to move beyond qualifications and experience to assess how candidates are likely to perform on the job.
Organizations can benchmark candidate performance by comparing assessment results against predefined competency frameworks, role requirements, or peer groups. Mercer Assessments’ reporting capabilities provide competency-based insights that help identify strengths, development areas, and relative performance levels. These benchmarks support more consistent and data-driven talent decisions.
Situational judgment tests are commonly used during the screening and shortlisting stages to evaluate behavioral fit before interviews. They can also be used alongside interviews and other assessments to provide additional context on workplace judgment and decision-making. Many organizations incorporate situational judgment tests for professionals as part of a broader assessment strategy for stronger selection outcomes.
Yes, SJTs can be customized to reflect industry-specific challenges, organizational contexts, and role requirements. Mercer Assessments offers role-based assessment libraries and configurable solutions aligned with an organization’s competency framework. This ensures that scenarios remain relevant to the behaviors and decisions required for success in a particular role.
SJTs typically present candidates with realistic workplace scenarios and ask them to select the most appropriate response from a set of options. Organizations can use different scoring approaches, including selecting the single best response or identifying both the best and least effective responses. These formats help capture deeper behavioral insights while maintaining a simple and engaging candidate experience.
