Standard Chartered SHL Skills Insight Test

What Standard Chartered says about its assessments

Standard Chartered runs one selection process for its graduate programme, internships and apprenticeships, with minor variations by market and programme. The first assessment is the Skills Insight Assessment, which the bank's early careers FAQ says is provided by SHL and bias audited every year. The same FAQ points candidates to SHL's help centre and to SHL's practice tests, so the invitation, the platform and the practice material all come from SHL.

The process, step by step

1. Online application, starting with your CV
2. Skills Insight Assessment, for everyone
3. Coding Simulation, for technology roles only
4. Workplace Scenarios, a one-way video interview
5. Assessment centre
6. Offer

Every stage is a sift. The Skills Insight Assessment has a deadline in your invitation, and the bank says results completed after it are not considered, so sit it early rather than in the last hour.

Skills Insight: the two sections

Behavioural Skills

This part is untimed. You read statements about how you typically work and choose the ones that describe you best. There is no score to chase here: answer as you are on an ordinary working day, and keep your answers consistent, because the profile is built from the pattern across all of them.

Reasoning Skills

This is the timed part: 36 minutes, and the bank says you cannot pause it or leave it once it starts. The questions ask you to analyse scenarios, spot patterns and sequences, work through numerical calculations and draw logical conclusions. Unscored practice questions come first, and you can repeat those as often as you like. Standard Chartered suggests setting aside 60 minutes for the whole assessment.

SHL's Verify G+ general ability test also mixes numerical, pattern and logic questions in one timed sitting, which makes it our closest practice for this section. For the Behavioural Skills part, our OPQ32 practice shows the kind of work-style statements SHL asks you to choose between.

Everyone who completes Skills Insight receives a feedback report, whatever the outcome. It is the only stage with one: the bank does not give reports for its other online assessments.

Coding Simulation for technology roles

If you applied for a technology role where programming is central, you are invited to a Coding Simulation as well. It takes between 45 and 85 minutes, cannot be paused, and must be done on a laptop or desktop, not a tablet or phone. Data science roles get some multiple-choice questions before the coding. SHL's practice tests include a Coding Simulation option, which is the one the bank tells you to pick.

Workplace Scenarios: the video interview

The one-way video interview shows you four workplace scenarios, each followed by one question. You get one minute to prepare and two minutes to record each answer, in any order, and one chance to re-record, in which case the second take is the one submitted. Set aside about 20 minutes. Standard Chartered says AI only checks that your camera and microphone work; a member of the early careers team watches and assesses your answers.

The questions test your motivation for applying as well as how you handle the scenario, so prepare a clear reason for choosing the bank and the business area you applied to. You can rehearse timed answers with our video interview question guides.

Programmes and application windows

• Graduate programme: the programme page describes a two-year programme starting in July, with applications from August to September. The FAQ still gives 18 months from September, so check the advert for your country.
• Internships, apprenticeships and a first-year Insight Programme
• Outside Africa and the Middle East, vacancies open from 1 July and most close by February; in Africa and the Middle East they open on 1 January and close on 30 April.
• You choose one business area per application
• If you are unsuccessful you can reapply after six months

Graduates need to be in their final year or already graduated, with the permanent right to work in the country they apply to. The bank does not sponsor work permits for internships, and US graduate roles do not consider candidates seeking OPT.

Top Tips

Clear 60 minutes before you open the link

The reasoning section cannot be paused. Do the untimed Behavioural Skills part first, then start the 36 minutes only when you know nothing will interrupt you.

Use the practice questions properly

The practice questions are unscored and repeatable. Work through them until the question types feel familiar, so the clock is spent on reasoning rather than on reading instructions.

Keep a pen, paper and calculator to hand

The numerical questions are calculations, and pattern and logic questions are faster to solve when you can sketch them.

Read your feedback report before the video interview

The report tells you how your working style came across. If you are invited on, use it to pick examples for the Workplace Scenarios answers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who provides Standard Chartered's online assessment?

SHL. Standard Chartered's early careers FAQ says the Skills Insight Assessment is provided by SHL, and it links SHL's help centre and practice tests.

Does Standard Chartered still use Pymetrics?

Its current process starts with the SHL Skills Insight Assessment and does not mention Pymetrics games. Older guides describing a Pymetrics stage are out of date.

How long is the Skills Insight Assessment?

Allow about 60 minutes. The Reasoning Skills section is timed at 36 minutes and the Behavioural Skills section is untimed.

Can I apply to more than one business area?

No. You choose one business area when you apply, and you can reapply six months after your original application if it is unsuccessful.