Graduate Screening Tests
They've all got the same degree — so how can you pick amongst them?
RightPeople's Graduate Assessments offer an unmatched and comprehensive snapshot of a candidate's abilities, style and skills — objective evidence for graduate recruitment and selection that identifies adaptable and committed candidates from a large group of applicants, often lacking work experience.
What the Graduate Assessment Measures
A comprehensive snapshot across three dimensions, built to compare graduates against their true cohort.
Cognitive Abilities
- Numerical Ability
- Abstract Reasoning
- Language Reasoning
- Agility
- Logical Reasoning
Personality
- Openness to Change
- Conscientiousness
- Social Engagement
- Amenability
- Stress Tolerance
- Independence
Other Specific Characteristics
- Time and Organisation Management
- Situational Judgement (SJT)
- Emotional intelligence
- Response validity check
The Twelve Capabilities
Graduate Employers Screen For
Across the Big Four firms, the major banks, resources companies and the Australian Public Service, the published graduate criteria have converged on the same capability vocabulary — with curiosity and learning agility now the most repeated of all. The World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs research6 ranks analytical thinking as the top core skill, with around seven in ten employers treating it as essential, followed by resilience, flexibility and agility.
Your framework. Our evidence. Every major employer has its own capability framework. Rather than asking you to translate a fixed taxonomy, RightPeople maps each of your capabilities to the assessment evidence that measures it.
Analytical thinking
Verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning
Learning agility & curiosity
Cognitive ability + personality assessment
Resilience
Personality assessment — stress tolerance
Adaptability
Personality assessment + Situational Judgement (SJT)
Drive & initiative
Personality assessment — conscientiousness
Judgement & problem-solving
Cognitive ability + Situational Judgement (SJT)
Communication
Verbal reasoning + Anytime Interview™
Collaboration & teamwork
Personality assessment + Situational Judgement (SJT)
Influence & stakeholder engagement
Personality assessment + Situational Judgement (SJT)
Integrity & accountability
Situational Judgement (SJT) + response validity check
Customer focus
Situational Judgement (SJT) + personality assessment
Values alignment & motivational fit
Work values & drivers assessment
The Graduate Test Package
Each year, hundreds of thousands of students graduate from Australian universities and seek full-time employment — in 2024 alone, 388,890 Australians commenced a university degree (Australian Government Department of Education). Apart from narrowing that number down to those with the relevant degrees, how can you determine which one, two, or even handful of graduates are right for your business?
Many organisations spend considerable time and money promoting their organisation to graduates in order to attract and retain the 'best and brightest' — participating in career fairs, offering internships for students in their final years, and providing cash incentives in the form of signing bonuses.
Graduate screening tests give that investment a scientific foundation: every applicant is assessed on the same objective measures, so the shortlist reflects genuine potential rather than interview polish.
Why a dedicated graduate package?
- Compares candidates against a graduate cohort, not the general workforce
- Uses gamified cognitive ability testing suited to early-careers candidates
- Measures potential and attitudes where work history is thin
- Screens large applicant pools quickly, entirely online
The graduate package sits within our standard assessment packages, between Level 2 and Level 3 in depth.
What to Assess in Graduates:
Psychometrics, Aptitude and Skills
In a competitive job market, five dimensions decide whether a graduate fits the role — and whether they can grow with it. Psychometric assessments, attitudes, agility, aptitude and skills each tell you something a degree can't.
1. Psychometric assessments
Personality assessment, cognitive ability tests and Situational Judgement (SJT) reveal a graduate's mental capabilities and behavioural style.
- Personality — conscientiousness predicts reliability and precision; openness predicts creativity and adaptability
- Cognitive ability — verbal, numerical, abstract and logical reasoning in a modern, visually engaging format
- Behavioural style — approach to challenges, teamwork, leadership and stress management
2. Attitudes
A graduate's attitude is often a stronger predictor of workplace success than technical skill.
- Work ethic — how they prioritise tasks, manage time and stay motivated under pressure
- Emotional intelligence — recognising and managing emotions, their own and others'
- Growth mindset — embraces challenges, learns from feedback, keeps developing
3. Agility
Agile graduates adapt quickly to new technologies, processes and changing job demands.
- Comfort with ambiguity and decisions under pressure
- Problem-solving and critical thinking on complex, unfamiliar problems
- Flexibility shown in academic projects and internships
4. Aptitude
Aptitude — the natural ability to learn — predicts performance in roles a graduate hasn't done yet.
- Aptitude tests across verbal, numerical and logical reasoning predict trainability
- High-aptitude graduates get up to speed with less time and training cost
5. Skills
Practical competence — the expertise a graduate brings on day one.
- Hard skills — software proficiency, technical expertise, subject-matter knowledge
- Soft skills — communication, teamwork, leadership and adaptability, assessed through practical exercises and Situational Judgement (SJT)
A holistic approach
Assessing graduates from a psychometric, aptitude and skills perspective gives a well-rounded view of potential and suitability — matching the right candidate to the job with room to grow. RightPeople's holistic approach to graduate assessment is a key to building a talented, agile and resilient workforce.
RightPeople Is Your Objective Partner
Graduating from university demonstrates that an individual has the academic qualifications and discipline necessary to complete a degree. It does not tell you about their personality, values, attitudes or behaviour, or whether they have the specific skill set (such as computer skills) required to be a valuable, trustworthy and dedicated member of your team.
Academic transcripts, resumes and interviews are useful recruitment tools but only tell part of the story — particularly in graduate recruiting, where job seekers have few, if any, referees and no prior experience. Further, academic achievement is only moderately correlated with overall intelligence1, which has consistently been shown to be a good predictor of job performance2,3,4,5.
RightPeople's extensive selection of pre-employment tests can help you determine whether your graduates really are the 'best and brightest', and right for your business. We have tools to assess intelligence, personality characteristics, values and attitudes, learning potential, maturity and computer and technical skills. Our assessments are based on the latest organisational psychology and social/personality psychology research and have been developed in Australia, taking into account our culture, experience and educational systems.
Graduate Screening FAQs
What is a graduate screening test?
A graduate screening test is a pre-employment assessment designed for candidates with little or no work history. Rather than relying on experience, it measures cognitive ability, personality and specific characteristics such as Situational Judgement (SJT) — giving employers an objective basis for shortlisting from a large graduate applicant pool.
Why use psychometric testing for graduate recruitment?
Because most graduate applicants hold similar degrees, qualifications alone cannot separate them. Psychometric testing measures the qualities that predict on-the-job success — problem-solving ability, work attitudes, adaptability and emotional intelligence — so organisations can identify adaptable and committed candidates before investing in interviews and assessment centres.
What does RightPeople's graduate assessment measure?
RightPeople's Graduate Assessment covers three dimensions: cognitive abilities (numerical, abstract, language and logical reasoning, plus agility), personality (openness to change, conscientiousness, social engagement, amenability, stress tolerance and independence), and specific characteristics including time and organisation management, Situational Judgement (SJT), emotional intelligence and a response validity check.
How is the graduate cognitive ability test delivered?
The graduate package uses gamified cognitive ability testing delivered in a modern, dynamic and visually engaging format. Candidates complete the assessment online from any location, which suits early-careers applicants and helps organisations maintain a positive candidate experience during high-volume campaigns.
How do employers use graduate assessment results?
Results compare each candidate against a graduate cohort, so scores reflect genuine standing among peers. Employers use them to shortlist for interview, structure follow-up questions around identified strengths and gaps, and make final selection decisions — with registered organisational psychologist support available at every step.
What is a graduate capability framework?
A graduate capability framework is the set of qualities an employer screens graduate applicants against — typically analytical thinking, learning agility, resilience, communication, collaboration, commercial acumen and motivational fit. Most large Australian employers publish their own framework, and RightPeople maps each capability in your framework to the assessment evidence that measures it.
Find the best and brightest, first time.
Contact us to set up graduate screening for your next intake.
