HSF Blended Online Assessment

[thelawnet]

Not sure if anyone else has done this one, but I found it a bit strange.

It had two parts, a set of spoken question (which could equally have been done as text) where you had a work scenario and had to choose one "best" and one "worst" answer. They had one sample question, where they told you the best and worst answers afterwards, so it's clear there is a right and wrong answer, although they subsequently don't tell you what you got wrong.

The second part they had four statements like "I relate well with other people" or "I am always confident about expressing myself at work", and then you can choose 1 to 5, where 1 is 'least like me' and 5 'most like me', but can't choose the same option twice.

However the subsequent feedback didn't really seem to relate to the answers. Not sure if anyone experienced the same?

It says

© SOVA Assessment 2024

 

[yasmars]

Yes! I felt the exact same way and others on the forum have said similar things

 

[thelawnet]

Yes! I felt the exact same way and others on the forum have said similar things

Do you have a link to this feedback from other forum users?
Another user messaged me saying they felt the feedback was odd.
I am not sure whether I should contact HSF: the feedback report didn't seem to be reconcilable with my answers.

 

[yasmars]

What do you aim to achieve by contacting them?

 

[thelawnet]

What do you aim to achieve by contacting them?

If the assessment is worthless, due to a basic programming error, they should know.

 

[tholds]

Had the same issue - was just wondering if you contacted them at all, and if so, would you mind letting me know when/if they reply? I was thinking of emailing their Grad Recruitment team but didn't want to come off as pedantic.

 

[thelawnet]

Had the same issue - was just wondering if you contacted them at all, and if so, would you mind letting me know when/if they reply? I was thinking of emailing their Grad Recruitment team but didn't want to come off as pedantic.

I've just sent them an email. Hopefully will hear back next week.

 

[liv]

Hey, I would really appreciate any advice !!! I’m taking the assessment today and wanted to check is it just the two sections you mentioned the best-worst and personality test, or is there a verbal reasoning section (the statement being, true false or cannot say). I’m reallyyyyy stressing about the assessment so would appreciate any advice. At the same time as you mentioned you had issues that it was not accurate so maybe my excess revision isn’t worth it ???? Thank you guys

 

[Uch21]

Hey, I would really appreciate any advice !!! I’m taking the assessment today and wanted to check is it just the two sections you mentioned the best-worst and personality test, or is there a verbal reasoning section (the statement being, true false or cannot say). I’m reallyyyyy stressing about the assessment so would appreciate any advice. At the same time as you mentioned you had issues that it was not accurate so maybe my excess revision isn’t worth it ???? Thank you guys

Hey, there's no verbal reasoning section.

 

[BobThebIlly]

Hey, I would really appreciate any advice !!! I’m taking the assessment today and wanted to check is it just the two sections you mentioned the best-worst and personality test, or is there a verbal reasoning section (the statement being, true false or cannot say). I’m reallyyyyy stressing about the assessment so would appreciate any advice. At the same time as you mentioned you had issues that it was not accurate so maybe my excess revision isn’t worth it ???? Thank you guys

girl im in the exact boat as you. i did their practice test and completely bombed it lmfao

 

[BobThebIlly]

Hi! I just did their test too. What do you mean you bombed it? What does your report say?

It said that I had limited capabilities in every single category… even in categories where I put those traits as “most like me” 🤡

 

[yasmars]

It said that I had limited capabilities in every single category… even in categories where I put those traits as “most like me” 🤡

I wouldn’t take the feedback personally. After all, they’re just to filter candidates.

 

[yasmars]

This is so true

And I definitely do think firms sometimes miss out on employing the best candidates because of these arbitrary tests. That’s why I respect those that don’t use them.

 

[BobThebIlly]

And I definitely do think firms sometimes miss out on employing the best candidates because of these arbitrary tests. That’s why I respect those that don’t use them.

Completely agree with this! If firms are gonna use SJTs, they should be part of interviews so candidates can explain their answers properly. Online SJTs make it seem like there’s a clear right or wrong, but it’s never that simple because context matters so much. In an interview, you can at least ask questions and justify your reasoning, which makes way more sense...

 

[yasmars]

It’s a lazy way of filtering candidates. I’m sure White & Case gets thousands and still doesn’t use tests.

 

[thelawnet]

I received a reply from HSF:


We are not aware of any programming errors on our end related to the online assessment. Our assessments and reports have been designed by qualified psychologists who undertook a thorough job analysis and design process to create them. They have been piloted with our trainees and the resultant data has been statistically analysed too to meet our requirements.

I appreciate that you find the report does not paint a full picture of yourself, but it is important to note that each skill is measured via multiple question types. An aggregate of these responses forms the scores, so answering different questions can contribute to specific skills even though it doesn't directly ask about conscientiousness for example.

It is also worth noting is that these types of psychometric assessments are ‘norm-referenced’ which means that an applicant’s absolute scores are compared to a benchmark group and the absolute score is then converted to a relative score using this comparator. Narrative reports are therefore driven by someone’s relative standing within the comparison group so can be generic and is only there to guide the skills we're looking for in individuals and may not provide a specific outline of your skills in the report. The report is a direction of skills we are looking for and is generic for candidates answering questions similar to yourself.

I hope this reassures you of the quality of our approach.

My reading of "we are not aware" is "we haven't asked the question", but who knows?