SHRM-SCP Practice Exam Questions and Answers

A rapidly growing technology start-up company with 200 employees forms a new team to handle recruitment for the company that is independent of the HR team. The recruitment team does not have any specific guidelines for hiring. The HR director wants to establish guidelines to prevent the theft of intellectual property and insists that the recruitment team begin conducting background checks to verify applicants' criminal histones. The recruitment director feels that background checks create unnecessary delays and that the multiple interviews used to make selection decisions serve the same purpose as a background check.

In addition to background checks, the HR director would like for the recruitment director to begin using evidence based selection tools. What would be the most effective way to do this, given that the company is growing rapidly?

What job evaluation approach should be used to determine the degree to which jobs being evaluated are composed of selected compensable factors?

A small company in the energy industry has a policy that states that employees who work overtime hours will be compensated with leave rather than with cash. Due to the nature of the industry, overtime work is common for employees who work in departments within the company’s core areas of operations. Employees throughout the company have been unhappy with this policy for many years, but have remained willing to work overtime hours when asked. However, managers are becoming increasingly reluctant to approve the leave that employees have earned because it leads to staffing shortages. As a result, more and more employees are refusing to work overtime hours. Senior leaders ask the company's HR business partner (HRBP) to investigate the problem further and to provide a solution. Senior leaders accept a recommendation from the HRBP to amend the current overtime policy to provide overtime pay to employees in the core areas of operations. Because they work so little overtime no change is recommended for employees in the administrative areas.

Senior leaders are concerned that the new policy will provide an opportunity for employees to abuse the system in order to earn more pay. What should the HRBP do?

Which element is fundamental to an inclusive global workplace?

Which describes an appropriate use of a personality assessment during the hiring process?

A regional government office runs a media broadcasting station that is funded almost entirely by individual and corporate donations. An eight-person team is in charge of planning and coordinating the receipt of gifts including entertaining guests with the CEO and asking philanthropists for large contributions. The manager of the team is results-driven and has consistently led the team to achieve challenging goals for five years. The manager recently moved further away from the office to afford higher quality education. The manager sends an urgent email to the HR director indicating an immediate need to work remotely three days per week. The manager also wants to avoid commuting traffic and come into the office after 11 am. The office has a flexible schedule policy but it has not been reviewed in some time.

The manager is one of the office's top-performing employees with considerable influence over other employees' opinions about how the office is managed. What should the HR director do to prevent disruption to station operations while the flexible schedule policy is reviewed?

A small company in the energy industry has a policy that states that employees who work overtime hours will be compensated with leave rather than with cash. Due to the nature of the industry, overtime work is common for employees who work in departments within the company’s core areas of operations. Employees throughout the company have been unhappy with this policy for many years, but have remained willing to work overtime hours when asked. However, managers are becoming increasingly reluctant to approve the leave that employees have earned because it leads to staffing shortages. As a result, more and more employees are refusing to work overtime hours. Senior leaders ask the company's HR business partner (HRBP) to investigate the problem further and to provide a solution. Senior leaders accept a recommendation from the HRBP to amend the current overtime policy to provide overtime pay to employees in the core areas of operations. Because they work so little overtime no change is recommended for employees in the administrative areas.

The administrative employees complain that the new policy is unfair. What should the HRBP do?

Which step should an HR professional take first when an employee submits a verbal or written allegation that a supervisor is creating a hostile work environment?

An HR director is hired to address the executive team's concerns about negative workplace culture and its impact on financial performance. During an initial investigation the HR director discovers that the two division directors often fail to communicate with each other and their employees. Each division maintains separate workplace policies, and the workspaces for the divisions are spread out across multiple floors. For employee management, the director of the client services division is assisted by a small HR team. The director of operations does not work with the HR team and instead uses company funds to seek employee management advice from an executive coach, who has no official coaching training. The HR director suspects facilitating change at the company will be challenging because engagement data indicates many employees distrust the company’s leadership and HR.

Which action should the HR director take to improve the flow of information throughout the company?

A small organization recently hired a new CEO with a strong marketing background. The CEO establishes a new sales approach focused on expanding business opportunities through the creation of new products, which will be marketed and sold by the sales force. The CEO believes her effectiveness is impaired by having too many direct reports. The CEO meets with the CFO and HR director. They decide to reduce the CEO's number of direct reports to those most relevant to the CEO's vision for the organization. The remaining employees are reassigned to the CFO who already oversees a team of three. This change allows the CEO to more effectively focus on the vision HR releases a memo informing employees of the change in reporting structure.

The CEO learns that the change in reporting structure has resulted in disappointment for the employees who are no longer direct reports and asks the HR director for advice. What action should the HR director advise the CEO to take?