Philip Morris Assessments

Careers at Philip Morris

A career at PMI can fall within one of these specialties: Sales, Commercial, Consumer, Corporate or External Affairs, Communication, Finance, IT, Life Sciences, Operations, People and Culture, Strategy or Product. The opportunity to work cross-functionally starts from day one, even if you join via the Graduate Accelerator Programme (EVOLV).

There are roles based in up to 50 different locations worldwide. Entry-level graduates can visit PMI’s HQ in Switzerland plus another country it operates in, depending on the relevance of a project.

The EVOLV programme focuses on training graduates across four key stages:

• Induction: a three-month period to get familiar with the overall business and key teams within the company.

• First Assignment: five months of project work, to gain initial insights within the commercial team and start collaborating with other departments.

• Second Assignment: another five months to delve deeper on a strategic level and build relationships with key stakeholders, as part of the strategy team.

• Third Assignment: the last five months before moving onto a potential permanent role, mainly working on managing projects and people.

With such a varied structure, EVOLV and many other roles at PMI require candidates to be entrepreneurial, adaptable, communicative, creative and analytical. Below is how it explores these qualities in a job applicant.

The recruitment process at PMI consists of four main stages: first, applicants submit their CV and answer initial screening questions for the online application, followed by a number of aptitude tests depending on the requirements of the role.

If successful, the next step is a video interview with a manager and finally an assessment centre. There is usually a four-week waiting time between rounds, though this can vary based on how large each cohort is.

Similar to many other graduate schemes, EVOLV opens each year for one to two months, although PMI can close this application process sooner if the maximum number of candidates is reached sooner than expected. Therefore it’s worth researching the role and practising all aptitude tests as soon as you receive the email invitation.

Philip Morris online application and CV

Once signed up for an account on PMI’s career site, you can submit your CV. This should be concise and focused on your skills, experience and achievements relevant to the job role.

After that, you should receive an automated email to fill in an application, with specific questions to assess your suitability to the company, its culture and the position.

The CV and screening questions form the first part of the recruitment process, before taking candidates to the online psychometric tests stage. The tests used by Philip Morris are typically provided by SHL or Saville.

Philip Morris Aptitude Tests

Philip Morris numerical reasoning test

Numerical reasoning tests measure a person’s numeracy proficiency and analytical thinking. Using graphs, charts and data tables, these assessments present candidates with practical numerical problems related to the business and industry.

You’ll only get about one minute to complete each question, and topics can range from basic arithmetic and unit conversion to more challenging combinations of percentage, average, ratio and even financial analysis.

As a rule of thumb, the type of aptitude test you’ll take – and its difficulty – very much depends on the role. In the case of the EVOLV programm, which has commercial, strategy and management assignments – all of which require the skill to interpret data and form meaningful conclusions – numerical reasoning tests are definitely the ones to focus on.

Philip Morris verbal reasoning test

Another important type of test to practice is verbal reasoning. These tests are designed to assess literacy proficiency and critical thinking.

Test takers will be provided with paragraphs of about 250 words containing fairly complex topics related to professional fields. They must then decide whether a statement about that passage is ‘true’, ‘false’ or ‘uncertain’.

The amount of time given and the number of questions are both similar to numerical reasoning tests: typically 15 to 20 questions, with around one minute per question.

Philip Morris inductive reasoning test

Inductive reasoning tests tend to overlap with diagrammatic reasoning tests in many ways. For those who are new to aptitude assessments in general, diagrammatic reasoning tests evaluate one’s logical thinking ability and natural intelligence via sequences of shapes, figures and diagrams which follow certain rules and patterns.

Inductive reasoning tests differ slightly as they might also use forms, or letters and sentences, rather than just images; their main aim is to get test takers to induce, or develop a generalised theory, based on specific, limited observations.

Philip Morris Hogan personality test

Personality tests are probably the easiest to do, and yet the hardest to pass out of the three tests.

Unlike the other types of tests mentioned earlier, they do not require any previously acquired skill or specialist knowledge. They are made up of questions about who you are, how you think and why you make certain decisions in both professional and general day-to-day hypothetical scenarios.

Not only do these tests help employers choose a good fit for the team, they also aid candidates in deciding whether a company or a career is right for them.

Philip Morris uses the Hogan style personality test to assess candidates in this section of the assessment.

Philip Morris Saville aptitude test

You might hear the Philip Morris assessment referred to by the publisher name “Saville aptitude tests” which describes the official publisher for the assessment.

The Saville assessment is a collection of tests made up of the four sections discussed earlier. Each section contains a series of questions that get progressively more difficult. The test takes about two hours to complete.