Frequently Asked Questions

SHL is a great place to work. Offering an inclusive, innovative, and collaborative environment where employees are empowered to make an impact in talent assessment and people analytics. The company values authenticity, encourages professional growth, and supports staff through flexible working options, and well-being initiatives. With diverse teams worldwide and opportunities in technology, product, client sales and more, SHL enables employees to shape the future of work. For more infomation visit SHL Careers.

SHL was founded in 1977 as Saville and Holdsworth Limited, named after its founders. The company has since expanded globally and now operates under the SHL brand while maintaining its foundation in occupational psychology research.  

The SHL global headquarters is based at The Pavilion, 1 Atwell Place, Thames Ditton, Surrey, KT7 0NE, UK. Thames Ditton is around 30 minutes by train from London Waterloo station.

For more information: SHL UK Office

Yes, SHL has several operational offices in India, including Gurgaon, Bangalore, Mumbai and Kolkata.

For more information visit shl.com/en-in

SHL helps organizations answer the questions that matter most about their people: Who should we hire? Who is ready to lead? Where are the skill gaps in our workforce? Our solutions span the full talent lifecycle from high-volume early careers hiring to executive succession and are built on the same validated science throughout. Whether you're looking to reduce time-to-hire, improve quality of hire, build a leadership pipeline, or move toward skills-based talent management, SHL has a proven solution.

Visit Solutions for more information.

SHL helps organizations screen earlier and more consistently by using validated assessment to evaluate job-relevant behaviors, reasoning, and role-specific skills. This can reduce time spent on low-fit candidates and help teams make more confident decisions.

Explore Talent Acquisition Solutions

Yes. SHL's solutions are built to scale. Whether you're hiring hundreds of contact center agents or thousands of seasonal workers, SHL can automate assessment delivery, scoring, and shortlisting — processing large candidate volumes without sacrificing quality or candidate experience. Our platform supports multi-stage hiring workflows and integrates directly with your ATS to keep the process seamless end-to-end.

Explore Volume Hiring Solutions

Yes. SHL has deep expertise in graduate and early careers assessment, with solutions purpose-built for this population. Our assessments are designed to be engaging and fair to candidates who may have limited work experience — evaluating potential and learning agility rather than past performance alone. Organizations using SHL for early careers hiring report that 88% of candidates named them as their #1 employer of choice after going through the process.

Explore Graduate & Early Careers Solutions

Yes. SHL offers targeted assessment solutions for mid-level and senior professional hiring, where the stakes are higher and the competency requirements more nuanced. Our Job Focused Assessments (JFAs) are validated for specific role families and levels, combining the right cognitive, behavioral, and skills measures for a given context — giving hiring teams a richer, more predictive picture than a CV or interview alone.

Explore Professional Hiring Solutions

Yes. SHL offers two interviewing products designed to bring the same scientific rigor as our assessments into every hiring conversation. Smart Interview on Demand is an asynchronous video solution where candidates record responses to structured questions in their own time - ideal for high-volume screening and rated excellent by 89% of candidates. Smart Interview Professional supports structured live interviews - virtual or in-person - with science-backed guides across 800+ roles, real-time interviewer prompts, and post-interview analytics that give talent leaders visibility into how interviews are being conducted across the business. Together they cover the full spectrum of interviewing needs, from first-stage screening to final-round selection.

Explore SHL Interviewing Solutions

This is one of SHL's most distinctive advantages. When a candidate completes a Job Focused Assessment (JFA) during hiring, the assessment is scoring them on the specific skills relevant to that role — but it is simultaneously collecting data across all 96 skills in SHL's UCF taxonomy. That means the Global Skills Development Report can be generated from the same hiring assessment data and used immediately for onboarding and development planning, without requiring a separate assessment. Managers receive a practical, evidence-based picture of a new hire's strengths, development priorities, and working style before their first day — enabling more personalized onboarding, faster time to productivity, and a head start on the development conversation.

Explore Skills Development Solutions

SHL's development solutions help organizations understand where their people are today against the skills they'll need tomorrow. Using validated behavioral assessments, skills gap analysis, and development reports aligned to the UCF, SHL gives individuals and their managers a clear, actionable picture of what to work on and why - supporting both individual growth and broader workforce capability planning.

Explore Skills Development Solution

Internal mobility is one of the most underutilized levers in talent strategy - and one of the areas where SHL's skills-based approach creates immediate value. Because SHL captures a consistent, validated picture of each individual's capabilities across all 96 UCF skills, organizations can match internal talent to open roles based on genuine fit rather than job title or tenure. This helps HR leaders identify who is ready to move laterally, step up, or transition into an adjacent function - reducing reliance on external hiring, improving retention, and building a culture where growth opportunities are visible and objective.

Explore: Talent Mobility Solution 

Regrettable attrition is often a development problem masquerading as a retention problem. When employees don't see a clear path forward, they leave. SHL's development solutions give individuals genuine insight into their strengths and growth areas, and give managers the tools to have meaningful, evidence-based development conversations. Combined with internal mobility capabilities that surface real opportunities, SHL helps organizations create the conditions where high performers want to stay and grow.

Explore: Talent Management Solutions

SHL helps organizations build stronger leadership pipelines by identifying high-potential talent early, developing leaders in role, and aligning succession decisions to consistent, evidence-based criteria.

SHL’s leadership solutions are built as a connected suite spanning high potential identification, enterprise leader development, and succession planning. These solutions are designed to work together on a shared dataset, so organizations can measure leadership capability once and apply that insight across multiple leadership decisions. 

Many organizations begin with the challenge they feel most acutely, identifying who is ready to step up, strengthening leaders already in role, or reducing succession risk, and expand from there. What distinguishes SHL’s approach is both the depth of the science, combining personality, cognitive ability, behavioral data, experience, and performance indicators, with the practicality of what leaders receive in return: clear insights, personalized development reports, coaching guidance, and recommendations that are actionable for leaders and managers, not just HR.

Explore: Leadership Development Solutions

Most succession planning focuses solely on competencies or finding someone who looks like the current role holder. SHL’s research shows that’s not enough: leaders who have both the right competencies and experience relevant to the specific business context they will face are 3x more likely to be strong performers in role.

SHL builds this context directly into the process, helping organizations evaluate successor fit against the specific environment a leader will inherit, not just a competency profile. The result is succession decisions that are significantly more accurate, with successors who are more engaged and perform better than those identified through conventional approaches.

Explore: Succession Planning

Yes. SHL's workforce intelligence capabilities allow organizations to understand the skills landscape across their entire workforce - not just individual roles. This supports strategic decisions around restructuring, reskilling, and workforce planning by giving leaders a clear, evidence-based picture of where capability exists today and where investment is needed for tomorrow. The Workforce Skills Maturity Calculator is a useful free starting point for organizations beginning this journey.

Try: Workforce Skills Maturity Calculator

In talent acquisition, SHL assessment solutions are used for volume and technology hiring across role levels (apprentice, graduate, professional, manager) and interviewing to enable objective, skills‑based selection and faster, fairer hiring decisions.

In talent management, they support onboarding, development, talent review, high‑potential identification, succession planning, and targeted programs such as managerial development and sales transformation to align and mobilize talent for business impact.

The SHL Global Skills Assessment (GSA) is a 15-minute behavioral assessment that measures 96 workplace skills aligned to SHL’s Universal Competency Framework (UCF). It provides organizations with a comprehensive skills profile that can be used for hiring, talent development, internal mobility, and workforce planning. Because it evaluates all 96 skills at once, it offers a scalable and flexible way to compare individuals consistently across roles.

More information on the SHL GSA

The SHL Universal Competency Framework (UCF), is a research-based model created to define and measure the competencies and behaviors associated with effective job performance. It organizes workplace skills into structed domains that apply across job families,, industries, and career levels. The UCF provides a common language and standardized set of competencies for HR processes such as hiring, development, performance management, succession planning, and workforce planning. . By offering empirically validated domains and clear behavioral indicators, the UCF helps organizations align assessments, job profiles, and reports to the same competency framework so they can apply consistent criteria across the talent lifecycle. The framework underpins many SHL assessments and reporting tools and is designed to support objective, defensible talent decisions.

Learn more about the UCF

Job-Focused Assessments - JFAs - combine predictive content specific to a role such acknowledge, cognitive personality, skills, and role-specific content into a single assessment aligned to a specific job profile. Reports provide an overall score, competency‑level insights, and a job‑match indicator to stack‑rank candidates against the competencies that matter most rank candidates against the competencies that matter most.

Read more: Job-Focused Assessments

SHL Verify is SHL's cognitive ability assessment suite measuring numerical, verbal, and inductive reasoning. Cognitive measures are often used alongside behavioral or job-focused assessments to provide a more complete view of candidate fit and improve decision quality.

Read more: SHL Cognitive Assessments

The SHL SVAR assessment is an evaluation tool used to measure a candidate’s spoken English communication skills, particularly for roles where verbal interaction is crucial. It assesses key language components such as grammar, pronunciation, fluency, and listening comprehension, typically through online or telephone-based responses to prompts. This helps organizations objectively and efficiently identify candidates with strong English communication abilities, ensuring a consistent and fair selection process.

Learn more about the SHL SVAR assessment

The SHL 360 is a multi-rater feedback assessment tool that collects structured performance input from managers, peers, and direct reports. It provides a comprehensive, 360-degree view of leadership behaviors and development needs.

Explore: SHL 360

SHL Situational Judgement Tests (SJTs) are psychometric, simulation-based assessments that measure a candidate's judgement in realistic work situations and their behavioral fit to a role and organizational culture. SJT's are designed for large applicant pools and preliminary selection stages, providing a realistic preview of the role, reinforcing employer brand while maintaining scientific rigor.

Find out more: SHL Situational Judgement Tests

SHL Smart Interview Professional (SIP) is a structured solution for live virtual or face-to-face interviews that uses validated, skills-based questions and standardized scoring to reduce bias, improve fairness, and reliably predict job performance. SIP streamlines delivery with interview guides, real-time prompts, automated scheduling, and integrated analytics and feedback to ensure process adherence, interviewer engagement, scoring consistency, and a seamless candidate experience.

Explore: SHL Smart Interview Professional

SHL offers job simulations spanning coding, customer service, office/admin productivity, trust and safety content review, and banking/teller scenarios. SHL also provides a large library of multimedia situational judgement tests presenting workplace scenarios and actions across competencies such as retail sales/service, customer care, integrity, influence, and adaptability. Simulations are designed to replicate real job tasks and measure applied skills.

Explore: SHL Skills and Simulations

Organizations often combine measures such as cognitive ability, behavioral skills, and personality because each adds different information about performance in role. Using multiple, role-relevant measures can improve decision accuracy and reduce reliance on any single data point.

SHL assessments are translated into up to 39 languages, depending on the specific product. The Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ) has the broadest coverage, with 38 languages supported by TC+. Other assessments, such as the Global Skills Assessment (GSA) and Verify Deductive Reasoning, are available in 29 to 31 languages.

SHL Online is a self-service assessment purchase portal, designed for smaller-scale requirements. SHL Online has complete global coverage and assessments are available in multiple languages.

Visit SHL Online

Yes, SHL has encryption in place for data. Data in internet transit is encrypted utilizing TLS v1.2. Network data in transit is encrypted utilizing TLS v1.2 and network is protected via firewalls and security groups.

SHL use AWS as Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS). Client data is stored on secure AWS servers dedicated to the region and as per client geographical requirements.

SHL has a Security Incident Response Process as part of ISO 27001 and a GDPR compliant Data Breach process. SHL's incident management policy serves as a formal process for reporting, investigating, and analyzing all information security events, weaknesses, and incidents. The policy further ensures that lessons are learned so preventive controls can be identified and implemented. In addition to the policy, SHL also has a comprehensive incident response process based on industry best practice. If there is a security incident that is impacting the client data, SHL will contact the client as per the arrangement within the contract and work alongside the client to provide a root cause. Clients will be notified within 48 hours in the event of a confirmed security breach via agreed communication medium.

SHL's data retention and deletion policies are based on the requirements specified by each client. Data retention periods are determined by the client, who may specify a set duration or request retention until contract termination. SHL does not automatically delete client data, as retention needs vary widely. Data is deleted either upon a formal request from the client or after the retention period specified in the client agreement. SHL deletes data within 30 days of a formal deletion request, following a GDPR-compliant process. Clients may also schedule automatic deletion at the time of project creation, and confirmation of deletion is provided via email or destruction certificate.

SHL has a documented supplier management process in place to effectively manage suppliers. Before a supplier can be approved for use and added to the Procurement software Coupa, the Procurement team shall initiate the Supplier Diligence process. This process rates suppliers and, based on the responses given, will determine whether the Procurement team shall initiate Enhanced Supplier Due Diligence.

SHL have documented DPIA and PIA procedures. SHL utilizes OneTrust as a tool to carry out PIAs and DPIAs. SHL conducts PIA on all its systems and suppliers and DPIA on its critical systems, platforms and suppliers that holds personal data. DPIA is carried out at least annually or any critical changes made to systems affecting business and client's data.

SHL has world class ITSM to have an early insight into approaching cyber threats, tailored recommendations for mitigation and improved resilience, sound context for effective risk management activities, shared awareness of risk within the business, greater visibility of security’s role in enabling the business, a process for futureproofing organisation. This is achieved by deploying various security measures like regular risk assessments, vulnerability scanning, quarterly internal audits, regular incident monitoring, end point protection for use of devices, log management, anti-virus, and malware detection software, penetration testing etc. SHL is also audited by A-Lign and BSI for various ISO certifications. SHL is GDPR compliant and is inline with GDPR regarding data protection and rights of the data subject.

SHL also has Compliance Training to share awareness of risks and importance of security. SHL is inline with industry leading security practices and has futureproof systems with built in redundancies to accommodate any updates to infrastructure and changing business needs. Support services available 24x7 SHL also utilizes subscription-based services as well as bulletins from the likes of NCSC and US-CERT to ensure we maintain visibility of contemporary and prospective threats, malicious actors, vulnerabilities, and attack vectors.

SHL follows a privacy by design and by default approach, with security and data protection requirements defined before development begins through Security Reviews and PIA/DPIA assessments during the design phase. These reviews include technical and architecture assessments, security checklists, and formal sign-offs to ensure security is embedded from the outset.

Before releasing code, SHL carries out a range of reviews and tests including peer and secure code review, system, integration, regression, load, installation, migration, and vulnerability testing. Static and dynamic code analysis are also performed using tools such as Avord and Rapid7. In addition, SHL enforces segregation of duties and environments: production, test, and development environments are physically and logically separated, developers do not have access to production environments, and client data is never used in test or development environments.

SHL performs weekly full backups and incremental backups every 15 minutes, with backups stored in encrypted S3 buckets. Backup operations are carefully managed and monitored, with all configuration changes tracked through SHL’s ticketing system and subject to documented change requests and approval before implementation. To verify recovery capability, SHL tests backup restoration and recovery at least quarterly.

SHL also maintains business continuity and disaster recovery plans, both of which are tested annually and reviewed at least once a year or whenever business processes or risks change. These plans are designed to build resilience, support effective incident response, protect key products and services, maintain the confidentiality and integrity of information, and ensure compliance with legal and regulatory obligations. For mission-critical and mission-essential processes, SHL includes remote access capabilities so staff can continue operations in the event of facility loss, personnel disruption, or a pandemic, while also ensuring staff are trained and supported to respond effectively during disruptions.

For HR teams, SHL training builds the capability required to own and sustain talent solutions. It covers areas such as psychometric principles, job analysis, validated frameworks, report interpretation, feedback, process governance, adoption planning, and Talent Intelligence. This helps HR teams support managers, explain the solution, and use outputs responsibly across talent processes.

SHL training supports implementation by helping users understand not only how to use the solution, but how to apply it correctly in real talent decisions. This reduces misuse, increases confidence, and supports adoption after launch.

Training scope depends on the agreed solution and commercial arrangement. SHL can provide enablement for relevant audiences such as HR teams, managers, and implementation owners. Training may cover solution use, assessment science, role profiling, report interpretation, feedback, adoption, governance, and Talent Intelligence depending on customer needs.

SHL supports adoption by helping customers focus on behavior change, not usage metrics alone. Training helps HR teams diagnose adoption barriers and design interventions that build understanding, confidence, belief, ownership, and reinforcement.

SHL can train managers to use assessment outputs practically and responsibly. The focus is on what results mean, what they do not mean, how to avoid over-interpretation, and how to use structured evidence alongside interviews, role requirements, and other decision inputs.

SHL manager training focuses on practical, responsible use. Managers learn what outputs mean, how to avoid over-interpretation, where judgement is required, and how to apply structured evidence alongside interviews, role requirements, and other relevant information.

SHL trains users to interpret reports by understanding score types, comparison groups, patterns, context, and limits. This helps users turn assessment data into practical insight without over-interpreting results.

SHL training supports fairness by helping users define role criteria consistently, use validated frameworks, interpret assessment outputs responsibly, and make decisions based on structured evidence rather than bias or informal judgement.

SHL training helps customers define role success through structured job analysis, validated behavioral frameworks, and clear success profiles, supporting better assessment design and fairer talent decisions.

SHL can use digital learning assets to reinforce key concepts, provide scalable refreshers, and support consistent messaging after training. Digital content is especially useful for knowledge reinforcement and ongoing access.

Live training supports complex skills by giving users space to ask questions, practise, challenge assumptions, receive feedback, and apply concepts to real decision contexts.

Training supports ROI by helping customers use SHL solutions properly, increasing confidence, improving decision quality, reducing misuse, supporting adoption, and helping talent data inform business decisions.

SHL training helps customers understand how consistent, high-quality talent data can be interpreted at individual, team, and organizational levels to support workforce planning, skills strategy, leadership readiness, and business decision-making.

SHL training helps users understand the report purpose, score types, comparison groups, patterns, strengths, risks, and interpretation boundaries. Users learn to treat assessment outputs as evidence to support judgement rather than as automatic conclusions.

SHL training supports internal mobility by helping customers define role requirements, interpret skills and proficiency data, compare individuals against role demands, and use reports for readiness and development conversations.

SHL training can support global consistency through common frameworks, shared interpretation principles, consistent digital reinforcement, and training aligned to customer governance. Local requirements, language, and regional delivery needs depend on agreed scope.

Your initial password will have been created when you registered as a new user on the SHL assessment platform. To set a new password, please click on the link from your invitation email to go to the login page, then click on the 'Forgot password?' link.You can then enter your email address and will receive an email to set up a new password on the platform. If you don't receive the email within 30 minutes, first check your junk folder, and if still not located you can contact the SHL support team who will be happy to assist you.

Most SHL assessments are mobile compatible, but not every assessment is supported on all mobile devices. Mobile availability depends on the specific assessment and delivery configuration.

Our mission at SHL is to maximize people’s potential. We support and empower our people to take ownership of their careers through self-learning and development, ready to embrace opportunities, maximise their potential and ultimately bring their best selves to the workplace. Our managers are equipped to support their teams in effective, valuable development conversations.

The SHL view of development is not just focussed on the traditional upward mobility into people management roles, but also on lateral moves across our teams. We work with an individual’s aspirations and interests to identify relevant opportunities and build out the capabilities and skills sets needed to support these career transitions across teams and functions.

Yes. We offer a range of learning and development opportunities to support career growth at every stage. We recognise that employees own and drive their careers and development, and we provide the tools, resources, and support to help them succeed.

Our programmes include structured onboarding, a mentorship programme, and regional Diverse Talent Development Programs such as LEAP, our India Women in Leadership Program. In addition, we invest in specific training for our managers to ensure they are well equipped to support, coach, and develop their teams effectively.

We also provide access to a learning platform with a wide variety of courses and resources, enabling employees to take a self-directed approach to their ongoing development.

SHL recognizes that many employees may have personal responsibilities and obligations in addition to their professional responsibilities. We also recognize that at times, it can be difficult to balance those demands and as such, we are committed to ensuring that all employees, have the necessary work life balance and feel part of a diverse and inclusive work environment. We operate a hybrid working model giving a balance between office and home working and allowing employees to balance their home and family lives.

Where possible we love to meet our colleagues in person but when not possible, we will use our internal messaging app so that we can collaborate locally and globally in real-time. SHL is an earlier adopter of AI which is already being incorporated and actively utilised in our toolkit.

This is region dependent but across all countries, we offer a comprehensive and attractive benefits package that takes care of you and your family.

We offer an Employee Assistance Program which gives our employees and their families, access to anytime, any day, free, confidential telephone counselling as well as several online resources. We also have an online wellbeing hub which gives all our employees access to a range of wellbeing resources including fitness classes, health recipes, guided mindfulness sessions.

We have also recently introduced a Hormonal Healthcare benefit which gives colleagues and a plus one, access to 121 clinical expertise on several hormonal healthcare topics including Fertility, Menopause, Pregnancy and Men’s hormonal healthcare.

Our onboarding experience is designed to help new SHL joiners feel confident, connected, and set up for success from day one. You will complete a series of central online modules and attend induction sessions that introduce you to our culture, ways of working, and key priorities.

To support a consistent experience, you will be guided by your manager and paired with a buddy who can help you navigate your first weeks. Depending on your role and location, you may also take part in additional regional or function-specific activities tailored to your team and responsibilities.

SHL employees enjoy the inclusive and supportive culture, meaningful work, flexibility and work-life balance, strong benefits package, and an innovative environment where they are trusted, developed, and encouraged to share their ideas.

SHL is a fast-paced, global environment that is continually evolving, so the most successful employees are those who are adaptable and comfortable navigating competing priorities and cross-functional complexity. For many people, that challenge is also part of the appeal - it offers the opportunity to learn quickly, work with diverse teams, and make a meaningful impact in a dynamic business.

SHL recognizes high performance by creating opportunities for people to make an impact, grow their careers, and contribute meaningfully across a global business. Success is valued not just in results, but also in collaboration, adaptability, innovation, and the ability to help customers and colleagues succeed.

SHL is a great place to work!

SHL's leadership style is collaborative, supportive, and focused on helping people grow while delivering impact in a dynamic global environment.