Transdev Assessment Practice

What Transdev uses, and where the evidence comes from

Transdev, the international public transport operator, appears in a first-party case study published by Assessio, the Stockholm assessment publisher behind Matrigma and MAP. The case study describes recruiting for thirty train driver roles on Roslagsbanan, the Stockholm commuter line, and says Assessio was used "in the first step to screen all candidates to identify the most suitable ones", with psychometric job profiles and an integration into the applicant tracking system.

The case study does not name which Assessio products were used. Assessio's catalogue at that level of hiring centres on Matrigma for cognitive ability and MAP for personality, but the source does not say so and neither will we. Prepare for both formats and confirm the specific test with your recruiter.

First-step screening changes the arithmetic

This is the opposite end of the pipeline from most Assessio use we can evidence. Every applicant sits it, which means you are being compared against the whole applicant pool rather than against a shortlist, and the result is being used to decide who gets a conversation at all.

The practical consequence is that the cognitive test matters more here than it would later in a process. At shortlist stage a test is one input among several a human is weighing. At first-step stage it is often the thing that decides whether a human looks at you. Practising the format so you are not learning the mechanics under time pressure is worth proportionally more.

Driver roles usually involve more than the online test

Worth setting expectations on, because it is a common surprise. Train driver selection in Europe is a safety-critical process and typically includes regulated medical and psychological assessment alongside whatever the operator buys commercially, covering things like reaction time, sustained attention and vigilance. Those stages are set by the regulator and the operator rather than by an assessment publisher.

We do not simulate those stages and we are not going to pretend the Assessio practice here covers them. What it covers is the online psychometric step: the reasoning test and the personality questionnaire. If your invitation mentions a medical or a separate psychological examination, that is a different process and your recruiter is the right source on it.

What to expect from the Assessio formats

• Matrigma is matrix reasoning: a 3x3 grid of figures with the bottom right cell missing, six options, one correct. The adaptive version runs 12 minutes with a separate 60-second clock on every item. The classic version is 35 items in 40 minutes on one clock.
• MAP is a Five Factor personality questionnaire: 200 statements, untimed, reported per dimension against a norm rather than as a score.
• Nothing is deducted for a wrong answer. An unanswered item is a certain zero and a guess among six options is not, so always answer.
• Speed does not score. Assessio states this outright for Matrigma, so spare time is better spent checking than saving.
• Results come back as a C-score from 0 to 10, mean 5 and standard deviation 2, rather than as a percentile. Our Assessio hub explains the bands.

Frequently Asked Questions

What assessment does Transdev use?

Assessio, the Swedish assessment publisher. Assessio's own case study names Transdev and describes using its assessments in the first step to screen all candidates for thirty train driver roles on the Roslagsbanan line, with psychometric job profiles and an ATS integration. The specific products are not named in the source.

Does every applicant sit the test?

In the process the case study describes, yes. It says the assessment was used in the first step to screen all candidates. Transdev operates in many countries and runs many different recruitment processes, so confirm with the recruiter for the role you are applying to.

Is there anything else in a driver selection process?

Usually. Train driver roles are safety-critical and typically involve regulated medical and psychological assessment on top of any commercial psychometric test. Those stages are set by the regulator and the operator, we do not simulate them, and the practice here does not substitute for them.

What is a good score on the Assessio test?

Assessio reports a C-score from 0 to 10 with a mean of 5 and a standard deviation of 2, so 5 is the middle of the population. Employers set their own bar and Assessio does not publish one. Assessio also advises treating a C-score as carrying roughly plus or minus one point of measurement error rather than as an exact figure.