Online psychometric tests

We use psychometric tests as part of the firefighter recruitment process. They help us to find the most suitable people by matching their abilities and skills with the role. 

Psychometric tests give us a real measure of a person's strengths and limitations. Research has consistently shown that people who do well on the tests usually go on to do well in the job itself. 

The tests that you will undergo are as follows: 

• cognitive ability  
• personality and preference  
• situational judgement 

Your performance on these assessments will be validated by further testing of these skills at various stages of the recruitment process.

This is a timed assessment that takes 12 minutes. It will assess the following skills which a firefighter would be required for their role. 

• Verbal skills
  • Understand and work with information of a type that a firefighter is likely to experience within their daily routine. 
• Numerical skills
  • Basic mathematical calculations. This can be for interpreting gauges on Breathing Apparatus or calculating how much hose is needed at a fire.
• Abstract reasoning skills
  • Understand and interpret written information and use information to solve problems. 

Personality questionnaires aim to uncover your preferred work style and personality traits that drive your behaviour. 

This test is untimed but takes approximately 10 minutes to complete.  

Your answers should reflect how you really feel you are at work, not how you would like to be or how you would like to be seen by other people. 

This test is designed to assess your aptitude and suitability for the role of firefighter.   

No additional operational experience or knowledge is required. The test is untimed but should take approximately 30 minutes to complete. 

SJT questions are structure as follows.  

1. Brief description of a situation that you might be faced with at work.  
2. List of possible actions that could be taken to respond to the situation.  

You will be asked to rate and/or rank the responses according to their effectiveness. 

Full instructions will be provided for all assessments. Ensure that you read the instructions carefully. The assessments can be completed using a computer, tablet or mobile phone. We recommend that you take the test in a suitable quiet environment where you will not be disturbed. 

Practice tests are available. 

In particular, you are advised that a further written calculation test requires to be undertaken and successfully completed at the practical selection testing session. Example questions are available.