BBE SKILLS – HR Workshop placement test

Questions 1 to 5. Listen to the following telephone call. Choose the best word or phrase – a, b or c – to complete the sentences. 

 



 

1. Sofia has a problem with her __________________ .

2. Alan asks about the computer’s __________________ .

3. Sofia spells her __________________ .

4. Alan __________________ .

5. Sofia has a meeting __________________ .

Questions 6 to 10. Listen to Claudia, Max and Paul talking about training. Complete the information with numbers or maximum 2 words. 

 



 

6. Training budget: €______________

9. Previous schedule used for training: _____________ intensive course

10. Second possible schedule mentioned:  _____________ per week, over several weeks

Questions 16 to 18. Listen to a presentation on the Critical Path Method (CPM). Questions 16, 17 and 18 each contain one idea that is mentioned in the presentation. Choose 1, 2 or 3 to order the ideas in the order in which they appear in the presentation.  

 



 

16. What CPM is based on.

17. How CPM works.

18. Similarities between CPM and housebuilding.

Questions 23 to 28. Read the e-mail and decide if the statements are TRUE or FALSE. 

23. The e-mail is to Ilse.

24. The e-mail is about a tablet computer order.

25. The delivery date for the order is 2nd September.

26. Dimitri asks Ilse for information about the order.

27. Ilse’s phone number is 03778 399001.

28. The e-mail is from Dimitri.

Questions 29 to 32. Read the article and decide if the answer to each statement is TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN. 

 

Innovation and inspiration

By Michael Steen

 

DSM still goes by the initials that stood for Dutch State Mines when it was founded more than a century ago. The letters are one of a few things that haven’t changed for a company that has been in a continual state of transformation throughout most of its history.

 

The coal mines in the south of the Netherlands are now closed. But, even when coal was central to its business, DSM expanded into fertilisers as a way of using the ammonia produced during coal processing operations. Over the decades, the focus shifted to plastics and, later, chemicals. Today, it is once again reinventing itself, this time seeking out the higher-margin and less cyclical sectors of life sciences and material sciences.

 

The company has tried to attract the finest technical minds and put research and development at the heart of the business. But, argues Feike Sijbesma, chief executive, a greater focus on good management is just as important.

 

‘Innovation, coming up with new products and launching concepts and business models, is one of the main drivers of our strategy,’ Mr Sijbesma says. ‘The whole idea about our business education starts with our strategy ... You need a lot of technical knowledge but you also need to change the company in terms of culture and behaviour.’

 

The company wants to create managers who can show inspirational leadership. Mr Sijbesma defines this as combining ‘authenticity and vulnerability with clear direction’. DSM now works with four business schools – IMD in Switzerland, Wharton and Babson University in the US and RSM in Rotterdam – and sends top executives to all four schools to develop leadership skills, gain industry insight and work on special projects that can feed into overall corporate strategy.

 

The links with the universities help graduate recruitment. It also puts its executives in contact with other business people. ‘Our executives get to meet people from other companies and learn a lot from them during these leadership discussions about industry developments.' 

 

‘The programmes are focussed on two things: personal leadership skills and business elements,’ Mr Sijbesma says. He adds that learning is a key part of his drive to transform the group into an innovative life science and material science company.

 

‘What we want to do with this whole learning architecture and with those universities is to make a stronger foundation to support or speed up this whole change process,’ he says.      

 

 

29.  A change in name would benefit the company's business model.

30. The company has a long history of expansion and change.

31. Mr Sijbesma feels that R&D leads the business and that management comes second.

32. Universities are the main source of recruitment for all company positions.

Questions 37 to 43. Read the text below about crowdfunding for biotech start-ups. Choose the best sentence to fill each of the gaps. 

For each sentence, mark one gap (37–42) where you think this sentences can be included in the text. Do not use any gap number more than once. 

There is an example at the beginning, (0). 

Example:  H The hard part is raising the money to keep the experiments going - corresponds to gap 0 in the text.A ‘The hardest part is the first £100,000 or £200,000,’ he says.

B. This is especially true in drug development, given that fewer than 10 percent of compounds in early-stage clinical trials reach the market.

C. Through this online financing platform, he invited people to buy shares in his start-up company called Parkure, which is searching among existing medicines for one that could be repurposed to tackle the degenerative brain disease.

D. Some 300 people invested between £37 and £108,000 through the Crowdcube platform in return for a combined stake of just under one percent of the company, giving it a valuation of about £75 million.

E. He says his project is lower-risk and requires less money than typical biotech ventures.

F. This could create tensions if biotech companies begin competing for funding from the donor communities that medical charities rely on for support.

G However, even enthusiasts for crowdfunding stress it is no panacea for cash-strapped biotech companies.

Questions 44 - 49 are based on the following text. Choose the best words to complete the text. 

 

My company (0) (aren’t / isn’t) very big. It (44) (has / have) around 40 employees. They (45) (is / are) from about 15 different countries so the office is very international. I (46) (am / are) from Spain and my boss (47) (comes / come) from Sweden. In the office, we all speak English. We (48) (aren’t / don’t) usually (49) (have / has) any serious communication problems.

 

44. 

Questions 50 to 55. Choose the best words to complete the text. 

 

Karina is (0)(Mexico / Mexican) but she lives and works in London. She started her job last year, (50) (in / at) April. She loves her work. She sells special-interest holidays. It’s (51) (an export / a niche) market and she really enjoys the work of planning specialised tours for clients. The company is very small. It (52) (employs / supplies) only four people and they all work in one office. This makes (53) (print / face-to-face) communication very easy. They can talk to each other at any time.

 

Next week, she’s moving to a new flat because her old one is (54) (too far / far enough) from the office. She’s a very (55) (punctual / practical) person – she likes to be on time – and the long journey to work was difficult. She had a lot of problems with train and bus delays.

 

50.

Questions 90 to 94. Find the error in each sentence. Choose A, B or C for the structure that contains the error. 

Example: I don’t feel enough confident(A) to stand in front of(B) an audience and answer their(C) questions. - Correct answer - A 

 

90. Which(A) our competition doesn’t do(B) is(C) provide good after-sales service.