How to Do Well on the USA Hire Occupational Interaction Assessment
The Occupational Interaction Assessment is sometimes viewed as being 'easy' because it is a personality test that does not test skills or knowledge. However, it is actually fairly challenging, as it evaluates the candidate’s personality traits to screen for personal qualities that are seen as useful for potential Federal employees.
In this article, we discuss the Occupational Interaction Assessment, as well as provide advice for answering its questions and preparing for them.
What Is the Occupational Interaction Assessment?
The Occupational Interaction Assessment is a personality test used as part of the USA Hire process. It is an extensive questionnaire composed of over 150 questions about the candidate’s habits, interests, and workplace preferences.
Like many other personality tests, the Occupational Interaction Assessment asks candidates to rank statements in accordance with how much they feel the statement describes them or how often they perform the actions described or feel the emotions mentioned.
The Occupational Interaction Assessment is sometimes also called the Computer Adaptive Occupational Interaction Assessment, which means it makes use of computer algorithms to select the next questions that are going to be shown based on your answers to the previous questions. This means it is not possible to ‘game the system' by memorizing questions.
Note, the OIA is not to be confused with the SHL Occupation Personality Questionnaire.
Occupational Interaction Sample Question
Read the following statement and think about the answer that best describes you most of the time:
If I forget to fill out a form with information that others need, I make sure to follow up.
courtesy of USA Hire. Source
Whereas self-discipline indicates a desire and ability to work and is therefore essential in the majority of jobs, other characteristics may be essential for one job but not so important for another.
For example, another group of statements could examine strategic thinking and macro thinking.
This might look like this:
"I am the kind of person who sees the big picture, focusing less on the small details."
Here, this quality is essential for candidates applying for managerial positions like heads of departments, team leaders, campaign managers, etc. However, it is less desirable for a position requiring attention to the fine details and doing a more meticulous work like analysts, accountants, and proofreaders.
How To Prepare for the Occupational Interaction Assessment
As you can see, there are two main capabilities that will ensure you succeed in answering personality questions according to what's expected of qualified employees:
1. Identify the underlying qualities behind each question.
2. Know which characteristics and the most essential for your position and choose answers accordingly. These are the qualities your employer expects potential employees to demonstrate in order to become successful on the job.
The only way to become skilled at quickly recognizing the qualities behind questions and choosing answers that show you possess essential qualities for your position is by practicing answering the test and learning from feedback.
JobTestPrep's Occupational Interaction Practice Test provides job-specific feedback for your position, following a full sample test and study guide, so you can quickly identify qualities and optimize your answers to match the job requirements.
Or click here to read more about our USA Hire PrepPack.
See also: USA Hire Occupational Reasoning Test
Tips for the Occupational Interaction Assessment
- Get a good rest the night before the test and eat a healthy breakfast.
- Take the entire test in one sitting. This will ensure you’re focused and alert.
- Pay attention to the questions. If you get a low score, you will need to wait a year to retake the test.