Online tests and AI video interviews

The 2 kinds of online screening that come up most often at the front of a hiring process are these. One is an online test: numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning, logical reasoning, a situational judgement test, and a personality questionnaire. The other is a recorded video interview, including forms in which the assessment is assisted by AI. The method here is general. It is not written for one employer. Test vendors, question types, and rules differ from employer to employer. Follow the invitation and the instructions you receive.

Read the test invitation first

Once the test link arrives, find the following before you choose a time:

1. Which modules are included, how many questions each has, and the time limit for each.
2. Whether a calculator is allowed, whether you may use scrap paper, and whether you may go back and change an answer.
3. Whether wrong answers lose marks.
4. The period of validity and the deadline. Convert both, using the time zone shown on the invitation.
5. Whether there are practice questions. If there are, always do them first, and learn the interface.
6. Whether you must switch on the camera, use full screen, or stay in the window without switching away.

Numerical reasoning

1. A common form gives you a table or a chart and asks for a growth rate, a ratio, a difference, a currency conversion, or an average.
2. The core skills are these. Percentage change = (new value - old value) / old value. Move between a ratio and a share. Put units on the same scale (thousands, millions, billions). Get the direction of a currency conversion right.
3. Read the question before you read the chart, and pull out only the figures you need. If the options are far apart, estimate and eliminate. If they are close, calculate exactly.
4. For practice, do a full set against the clock, and note how long each question takes. Sort the ones you miss: a misread figure, a unit error, a wrong formula, a calculation error. Practise each type on its own.
5. Common losses of marks: treating a percentage point as a percentage; reading "increased to" as "increased by"; ignoring the units in a footnote to the chart.

Verbal reasoning

1. A common form gives you a passage and a statement, and asks you to judge true, false, or cannot say.
2. Judge only from the passage. Do not add your own general knowledge.
3. False means the passage clearly contradicts the statement. Cannot say means the passage does not give enough information.
4. Watch the limiting words: all, some, usually, only, may. If the statement turns "some" into "all", the answer is usually false or cannot say.

Logical reasoning (figures or rules)

1. A common form is a sequence of figures. You find the pattern and choose the next figure. Another form asks you to sort items by a rule.
2. Patterns that come up often: a number that rises or falls, the direction and the angle of a rotation, colours that alternate, a position that moves, an element added or removed.
3. Look at one feature at a time, and eliminate the options one by one.
4. When you practise, write the common patterns into a list, and check that list item by item as you work.

Situational judgement test

1. You are given a work situation. You choose the most effective action and the least effective one, or you rank each option.
2. First find the point of conflict in the situation, such as a deadline, a client, a colleague, or a compliance rule. The actions that are usually better regarded are these: speak up in time, deal with it within your own duties, escalate when you need to, do not break a rule, and keep the longer-term relationship in view.
3. Do not choose "do nothing", and do not choose an option in which you decide for someone else, beyond your authority.
4. Read the values and the competency framework the employer has published. Do not memorise answers. Stay consistent from one answer to the next.

Personality questionnaire

1. There is generally no right or wrong answer, but the questionnaire checks whether your answers are consistent.
2. Answer as you actually work. Do not pick the extreme option on every question.
3. The same trait comes back in different words. A contradiction between answers lowers how credible the result looks.

Recorded video interviews

1. A common form puts the question on the screen, gives you time to prepare (for example, tens of seconds) and time to answer (for example, 1 to 3 minutes), and you submit the recording. Some platforms allow a retake. Some allow only 1 recording.
2. Check the setup. The connection should be stable. The camera should be level with your eyes. The light should come from in front of you. The background should be tidy. Turn notifications off. Test the volume with the headset microphone.
3. Structure the answer like this. The first sentence answers the question directly. Then go through the situation, the task, the action, and the result, in that order. The last sentence ties the answer to the role.
4. Split the time. Take 2 minutes as the example: about 15 seconds for the opening conclusion, about 20 seconds for the background, about 60 seconds for the action, and about 25 seconds for the result and the reflection.
5. Look at the camera. Do not look at yourself on the screen.
6. Speak a little more slowly than you do in ordinary conversation. Keep the sentences short. Cut down on filler phrases.
7. Prepare the material in advance. Write out 5 to 8 experiences. Each one should be usable for more than one kind of question, for example teamwork, solving a problem, leadership, a failure, or working under pressure.

Video interviews assessed with AI assistance

Platforms do not all assess in the same way. Employers usually do not publish the detail of the algorithm. What you can control is the following:

1. Stay on the question. Keep each answer on the words that matter in the question, and open by restating the core of it.
2. Keep the shape clear: a definite opening, the process, and the result.
3. Keep the voice clear: distinct pronunciation, a steady volume, and no noise in the background.
4. Do not read from a script. Looking away from the camera for a long time, and a flat tone, both affect the performance. You may keep a card of key points. Do not read it out word for word.
5. Do not load the answer with keywords that have nothing to do with the experience. What you say at the start has to match what you say later.

Integrity requirements

1. The instructions usually require you to complete the test on your own. Asking someone else to take it, or using outside help, breaches the test terms. If that is found, the application may be cancelled.
2. Some tests are followed by a retest, or by a test taken in person. A large gap between the two results draws attention.
3. Using an AI tool to prepare, for example to generate practice questions or to practise interview questions, is a reasonable way to prepare. Using one during the live test is a different matter. Read the employer's rules before you do.

A 1-week preparation plan (an example)

1. Day 1: do 1 full practice set of each type of test, and find the weakest.
2. Days 2 to 4: each day, do 2 timed sets on the weakest area, and sort the questions you missed.
3. Day 5: write 5 to 8 experiences, set out as the situation, the task, the action, and the result.
4. Day 6: record 5 common questions on your phone. Watch them back, and revise the pace, the structure, and where your eyes go.
5. Day 7: run 1 full simulation, rest, and check the equipment and the connection.

Common mistakes

1. Taking, on a phone, a test that is meant to be taken on a computer, so the screen does not show the whole question.
2. Not reading whether wrong answers lose marks, and then guessing in bulk.
3. Spending the opening of a video interview on a long introduction, so the actual answer is unfinished.
4. Starting in the last few hours before the deadline, so a technical fault cannot be put right.
5. Not keeping the submission confirmation page, or the confirmation email.

Sources

• This is a general note on method. It does not draw on any specific official dataset. The rules of each employer and each test platform are the rules in the invitation and the instructions they send.