Global accountancy firm Ernst & Young (EY) is making a significant change to its UK graduate selection process this year with the introduction of a new test.

The test examines what candidates would do if faced with a number of situations they would be likely to encounter in the job they are applying for.

The new online test was recently launched by Capp, a leading strengths-based people management consultancy, and EY is the first company to use it, according to Capp. 

The project aims to increase efficiencies in the first stage assessment sift, ultimately reducing candidates from 19,000 to 800 over the course of EY’s graduate recruitment cycle.

The Situational Strengths Test identifies the strengths and weaknesses of a candidate relative to the role for which they are applying, by providing them with insights into a typical day in the vacancy that they are applying for, and examining what they would do in these situations.

Capp founding director Dr Alex Linley says: “Integrating our Situational Strengths Test with their existing strengths-based interviews is typical of how forward-thinking the organisation is.”