If you require support while taking the assessment, please take a look at our Plum Candidate Support - FAQ to quickly resolve your issue.
What is Plum and why is the employer asking me to take the Plum Discovery Survey and create my Plum Profile?
Plum helps to reveal the unique potential in every individual by measuring Talents. Talents are your recurring patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior - more commonly known as soft skills. Talents can be, for example, the ability to adapt, to innovate, or to communicate. Your Talents come naturally to you, and when you use them at work, you feel a sense of energy and fulfillment. Plum reveals your Talents by measuring personality, social intelligence and problem-solving ability using the Plum Discovery Survey.
Your Talents have a big impact on the tasks that energize you, your career goals, and the type of work environments you thrive in. With Plum, the employer can understand better what kind of activities drive you, and which drain you, so that they can make sure to match you with a role in which you will thrive.
To learn more, watch our Plum Academy Video Series: Your Introduction to Plum.
What is the Discovery Survey?
To measure your Talents, we use the Plum Discovery Survey. This assessment looks at your personality, your ability to solve problems as well as your social intelligence. To learn more, read our article What does the Discovery Survey measure?
What value does this provide me?
When you complete the Plum Discovery Survey, you will instantly receive your personalized Plum Profile.
Your Plum Profile gives you powerful self-insights that will help you understand what drives you and what drains you in the workplace, so that you are equipped to make the best career decisions for yourself. At Plum, we believe that Talents are truly what makes you stand apart and are key to unlocking your unique potential.
Your Plum Profile will tell you:
- Your top three Talents
- The work environments you will most likely to enjoy, as well as your work style
- Questions you should ask yourself when reviewing your current job or when considering a new job
How long does the Plum Discovery Survey take to complete?
The Plum Discovery Survey takes about 25 minutes to complete, on average.
Is the Plum Discovery Survey timed?
No, the Plum Discovery Survey is not timed. There will be no record of how long it took to complete it.
The amount of time you take to complete the assessment has no impact on your results, so don't rush.
What questions are asked on the Plum Discovery Survey?
The Plum Discovery Survey has 5 sections.
Sections 1 and 3 of the Plum Discovery Survey assess your personality. You will be asked to select which statements and adjectives are the most like you and the least like you.
Sections 2 and 4 of the Discovery Survey are composed of a short series of puzzles that assess your problem-solving skills. You will be asked to select the missing puzzle piece in a sequence.
Finally, section 5 assesses your behavior in the workplace. You will be presented with questions on workplace situations for which you will need to decide which statements are the most effective or the least effective.
Read More: What does the Discovery Survey measure?
Is Plum based on science?
Read everything about the science behind Plum in this section of our Help Center.
I feel conflicted when taking the assessment. What if the available answers don't describe me at all?
Read more here.
Can I review my responses at the end of the Discovery Survey?
Yes. When you complete the last question, you will be offered the opportunity to review your answers. Please note that should you choose to review your answers, you will be taken back to the very beginning of the assessment and will have to review all answers until the end to be able to submit your results.
What setup is needed for the assessment? (Language settings, audio, calculator, browser, etc.)
- Language settings. Make sure to set your preferred language before starting the assessment.
- No speaker and no microphone. None of the Discovery Survey questions or examples involves any sound, therefore you do not need any speakers or microphones to complete the assessment.
- No calculator. The assessment does not contain any component that requires mathematical calculations.
- Large screen. Although our assessment is optimized for mobile devices, we recommend using a device with a large screen, such as a laptop.
- Back Button. Only use the back button within the Discovery Survey. Avoid using the back button on your browser.
- Browser. The Plum platform performs best with Google Chrome as the browser. Alternatively, we suggest trying a different internet browser (Safari, Edge, or Firefox). Please note that Plum is not supported by Internet Explorer. Older browser versions or different browsers than the ones recommended are often the reason for technical difficulties.
- Please note that if you have plugins or add-ons to your browser, it may also affect the Plum platform's performance. We recommend deleting the browser history and cache and closing all your browser windows. Then, attempt the assessment with a fresh window. You may also try accessing Plum using an incognito window which will disable most browser add-ons.
- Internet connection. Ensure you have a stable and reliable internet connection. Poor internet performance will generate issues with the assessment.
- Javascript. Ensure JavaScript is active.
What do I do if I have technical issues during the assessment?
We invite you to read the following troubleshooting articles:
Can I pause the Plum Discovery Survey and/or complete it over multiple sessions?
You can complete the assessment in as many sessions and as much time as needed. You can exit the Discovery Survey at any time and come back later. Your previous answers will be saved and you will be able to continue where you left off.
*Please note that some employers may set a deadline by which you must complete the assessment for their recruitment process. This deadline is typically specified in the communication sent by the employer prior to your taking the Plum assessment.
If you require a delay or accommodation, please consult this section of our Help Center.
At the beginning of the assessment, an email is sent to you with directions on how you can log back in later. You can also log back in to complete the assessment at any time at http://secure.plum.io/
How can I do my best on the Plum Discovery Survey?
Doing “well” and doing “poorly” on the assessment is more a matter of how much of a fit a person is for a particular opportunity they are applying to. For example, while a person may not be a good fit for one role, they can be compared to a different role with different job requirements and may prove to be a great fit – despite that their Plum Discovery Survey Results stayed the exact same!
Sections 1 and 3 of the Survey are a personality test – therefore, there are no right or wrong answers! Be yourself, and be honest. The goal is to give you a Plum Profile that is as accurate as possible.
Answer with the responses that you believe are the closest to who you are. Plum wants to get an idea of your priorities. Since there is limited time in a day, everyone prioritizes some things over others. That is what the Survey is measuring.
Here are a few tips:
- Take your time. The assessment is not timed, so there is no need to rush.
- Ensure you are well rested, have eaten recently, and are in a quiet environment, away from distractions and interruptions.
- Provide honest answers to reveal the most useful results.
Read our blog article How to Beat the Plum Assessment
Why am I finding certain problem-solving questions (Section 2 or 4) challenging?
Our Discovery Survey aims to uncover your unique Talent profile, which is calculated based on your personality traits, problem-solving abilities, and social intelligence. To do so, we need to differentiate your unique drivers and drainers from others through individual differences. This means, our survey must be able to produce a wide range of scores. Thus, in order to create variation in problem-solving abilities, these sections contain questions of all levels of difficulty, including some particularly challenging puzzles. That said, they can often seem harder than you think! If it’s a challenging question for you, there is a good chance others find it hard as well. This is important because we compare your answers to our database, meaning the final score used to create your profile is more about how you do compare to the larger population.
I have a disability that prevents me from taking the assessment. How do I request an accommodation?
We invite you to consult our Help Center section on Accessibility and Accommodation.
How will my profile be used?
We invite you to read our article here.
