Rio Tinto Graduate Online Assessment (SHL)

Who runs the online assessment

Rio Tinto says so itself. Its graduates and interns page answers "What are the assessments like?" with: "If selected to progress through the recruitment process, you may be invited to complete an online assessment administered by SHL. The assessment typically takes approximately 30 minutes and includes numerical reasoning and preferred working style evaluations."

Two details in that answer matter. It says "may be invited", so not every applicant sits it. And the 30 minutes covers both parts, so the numerical section on its own is shorter than that. Rio Tinto does not say how the time is split or which SHL instruments it uses.

The six stages

Rio Tinto sets out the same six stages for graduates and interns, with its own advice for each.

1. Apply. Submit your application while the campaign is open and answer the application questions carefully. Rio Tinto suggests drawing on study, part-time work, projects, volunteering, languages, sport and leadership, and checking the eligibility rules for your country.
2. Online assessment. The SHL assessment, usually with 24 to 48 hours to complete it.
3. Phone screen.A conversation about your interests, experience and motivation. Rio Tinto's advice is to have two or three examples ready from university, work or projects, and questions of your own.
4. Interview. A longer conversation with a leader from the team about your strengths, your experience and where you want to take your career. Rio Tinto suggests reflecting on moments that stretched you, and being ready to talk about challenges honestly, not just successes.
5. Offer and pre-employment. A verbal offer, then a written one. Once you accept, checks begin, which may include medical assessments and background checks, and relocation support where relevant.
6. Getting ready to start. Pre-boarding between the offer and day one.

The phone screen and interview reward the same preparation: real examples, told in order. The STAR method is a reliable way to structure them.

The numerical reasoning part

Rio Tinto names numerical reasoning without naming the test. SHL's best-known numerical tests give you tables and charts of business data and ask questions that need a few steps of arithmetic, against a clock that is tight for most people. The skills that move scores are reading the right row and column first time, working with percentages and ratios quickly, and not spending three minutes on one question.

Tactics are in SHL Verify test tips, and the format in general is explained on the numerical reasoning page.

The preferred working style part

This is a questionnaire about how you like to work, not a test with right answers. Rio Tinto does not name it. Answer as you actually work rather than as you imagine the ideal mining graduate would, and keep your answers consistent: questionnaires like this often ask about the same preference more than once in different words, so a profile that contradicts itself stands out. There is more in how to approach a personality questionnaire and on the personality test page.

Who can apply, and when

The graduate program is a two-year, full-time permanent role. You need to be in your final year of study or have finished your degree within the last two years, with the right to work in the country where the job is based. Rio Tinto recruits across engineering and operations, technology, science, people, communities and communications, and business.

The intern program runs for 12 weeks and is open to students from second year to penultimate year who are returning to university afterwards. Rio Tinto says successful interns get early access to apply for graduate roles.

Recruitment follows local university calendars, so timing depends on where you are:

Chile, Colombia, Peru, France and England are listed for intern opportunities only, which come up throughout the year.

For a sense of an Australian listing: the 2027 Mechanical Engineer graduate role in the Pilbara iron ore business, advertised on GradConnection, closed on 17 April 2026 for a start around March 2027. It offered a base salary of $90,000 to $100,000, involved FIFO and Perth-based rotations, and required a current C class manual driver's licence by the start date. For how other Australian graduate employers assess, see Australian graduate assessments.

Other things Rio Tinto says

• Late applications are not accepted.
• You can apply for more than one location if you are eligible for each.
• If you are unsuccessful, Rio Tinto encourages you to apply again for future roles.
• Adjustments are available at any stage of the process if you ask.
• The program is full-time only, everyone completes the full two years whatever their experience, and requests to pause it are considered case by case.
• Graduates who relocate receive a relocation package.
• Genuine recruitment emails come only from an @riotinto.com address, and Rio Tinto will never ask you to pay as part of recruitment.

Practise for the SHL assessment

The two parts Rio Tinto names:

• Numerical Reasoning (18 questions · 17 minutes) - Tables and charts against the clock, in SHL’s Verify format. Rio Tinto names numerical reasoning but not which SHL numerical test, so treat this as practice for the format.
• OPQ32 Personality Questionnaire (24 questions · 25 minutes) - SHL’s main workplace personality questionnaire: choose the statement most and least like you from each block. Rio Tinto says "preferred working style" without naming the questionnaire.

And a free starting point:

• Inductive Reasoning (24 questions · 24 minutes · free) - Free. Not one of the two parts Rio Tinto names, but a free way to get used to sitting a timed SHL-style test before you pay for anything.

The full SHL set is on the SHL practice hub.