What Is Siena?
Siena is a consulting firm based in Princeton, New Jersey. They provide human resources services to businesses to help them identify and secure the best employees. Siena develops and analyzes assessment systems and helps companies with the task of identifying and developing the leadership potential in their employees. They provide not only pre-employment assessment tools but also internal employee promotion tests. Siena prides itself on its commitment to people and their ability to help their clients find top tier talent through their assessment tests and leadership development systems.
The Sienna Psychometric Tests
Siena Consulting has researched and developed tests that are widely used as pre-employment assessments by businesses in the United States. While they have developed many assessment tests, and interview systems for use by specific clients, there are four pre-employment tests they are well known for that are utilized by a number of companies that you may encounter as you go about your job search.
The Siena Reasoning Test
The Siena Reasoning Test, or SRT, was developed to help evaluate the cognitive abilities of job applicants. This test is broken into verbal and non-verbal sections.
The verbal section is made up of three separate tests. Each test in the verbal section requires you to read a brief passage. The first test requires you to make conclusions about the information you have just read. You will have several choices and will need to find the correct one. The second test will have you decide whether statements about the passage in the test are true, false, or inconclusive, and the third test will require you to pick the correct conclusion about the passage you are presented with from a small group of choices.
The nonverbal section is a logical reasoning test. Instead of coming to conclusions by using numbers or words, you will need to use abstract thought. You will be given a series of sequences and patterns which you will need to complete based on the piece of the sequence you have been given.
The number of questions on the test and the time you are allotted may vary depending on the company you are taking it for. Some companies use a shorter version that is 25 questions long and allows you 25 minutes, and others have a 40-question version, that you have 40 minutes to finish.
The Siena Preferences Inventory
The SPI is a personality test developed by Siena. The test has a basic format, consisting of three styles of question. The first style presents you with a situation and asks you to determine which personality trait you think best represents you. The second has you decide if you agree or disagree with a series of statements you are given.
Siena Practical Judgment Test
The Siena PJT is their version of a situational judgment test. You will be given a set of situations that you might encounter professionally and select the answer that most closely corresponds to the way you would handle the situation. This test is parallel to situational judgement tests (SJT) in other assessment companies.
The Siena Organizational Fit Diagnostic
The OFT was developed to help employers identify the employees that seemed to best fit the work environment. It is made up of questions that require you to choose the type of work environment you prefer, and your work style. The answers are presented in a multiple-choice format.
How to Prepare for the Siena Assessments?
You have found out you will be required to take one or more of the Siena assessment tests, so what now? The idea of online assessment tests can seem daunting. Knowing the types of tests you will have to take, and the types of questions they will ask you will help you prepare yourself. Preparing for cognitive tests requires a different methodology than preparing for psychometric tests such as personality and situational judgment tests. Knowing how to approach both of these will benefit you no matter which company designed the test.
Prepare yourself for cognitive reasoning tests like the SRT by practising your verbal and non-verbal reasoning skills. This can be accomplished by playing crosswords doing logic puzzles and finding ways to exercise the abstract reasoning centres in your brain. There are puzzles online that are designed to help with this.
Personality and situational judgment tests that have no “right answer” seem like they may be harder to practice for than a test you can study for. To ready yourself for these tests, learn as much as you can about the company you are applying for. This will give you clues about the answers that they find most desirable.
Online assessment tests are becoming a common tool in the hiring arsenal. Accepting them as a normal part of the process will help you succeed. Prepare for them as well as you would prepare for an interview, and you will come out ahead every time.
