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Marriott Assessment Test, Hiring Process & Interview Questions Online Preparation – 2024

Aptitude Employment Tests Prep

What Is Marriott?

Marriott is one of the largest hotel and resort chains in the world with nearly 600 hotels and resorts, over 400,000 rooms, and nearly 200,000 employees. The company is based in the United States but has hotels and resorts in 138 countries.

Marriott has also been ranked in the Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list for the past 26 years – that is every year that Fortune has made the list. This is because Marriott provides employees with nice benefits, a good salary, and a relaxed corporate culture. Some of the benefits of working at Marriott include:

  • A competitive salary
  • 40 days of maternity, paternity, and adoption leave
  • 80% coverage of healthcare premiums
  • Option to work from home (no minimum time in office)
  • Discounted stays at Marriott properties
  • Profit sharing
  • Retirement matching

Marriott hires a lot of employees each year and some positions at the hotel chain can be competitive due to the excellent pay and benefits. Here is everything you need to know about applying to Marriott International and the assessment tests that applicants must take.

 

Marriott’s Brands:

Marriott Executive Apartment Autograph Collection TownePlace Suites Protea Hotels AC Hotels
Fairfield Inn by Marriott JW Marriott Hotels Bulgari Hotels Ritz-Carlton W Hotels
Residence Inn by Marriott Renaissance Hotels Edition Hotels Aloft Hotels Marriott
Westin Hotels & Resorts Luxury Collection Gaylord Hotels Le Méridien Sheraton
Four Points by Sheraton Tribute Portfolio Element Hotels MOXY Hotels Delta
Courtyard by Marriott SpringHill Suites Design Hotels St. Regis

 

What Is Marriott’s Recruitment Process?

Marriott has a relatively simple hiring process. It is broken into a few different phases and applicants must pass all the phases in order to receive a job offer.

 

Initial Application

The first step in the Marriott hiring process is to apply for a job. All job listings are posted on Marriott’s official job portal. They use Taleo, so if you are familiar with that, then it makes things much easier.

Anyway, applicants must either upload their CV, manually enter it into Taleo, or submit their LinkedIn profile. The next step involves agreeing to legal contracts (drug test consent) or disclosures (relatives that work at Marriott).

Taleo should automatically fill in the work experience section by pulling the data from your resume, but sometimes it fails to do that. You can manually update any work experience after the disclosures and legal section.

The final section will ask about your experience for the job are applying for (i.e. How many years of customer service experience do you have?). The answers from this section are used to determine whether you meet the minimum criteria necessary for the job.

 

Marriott Assessment Tests

If your application passes the automated checks conducted after the initial application, then you will receive an invite to take a series of assessment tests. Marriott uses AON Hewitt tests for most of their assessments, which means they can be taken online through the GATE platform.

The tests applicants are required to take vary depending on the position. Some of the assessments you may encounter during the hiring process at Marriott include the following:

  • Situational Judgement Test (SJT)Applicants to management positions, office positions, and front of house positions will take a Situational Judgment Test. This test will present a hypothetical scenario to the applicant and ask the applicant to select the best response to the hypothetical scenario or rank the responses from best to worst. Marriott has a strong emphasis on customer service, so they like to see applicants that have a customer-first mentality for the SJT.
  • Accounting TestsApplicants for accounting and finance positions will have to take an accounting test. This tests the applicant’s knowledge of various accounting ideas and principles. Some of the test questions may relate to the following topics:
  • Leadership AssessmentThose applying for management positions are required to take a leadership assessment test. This test is a combination of a Situational Judgment Test and a personality test. Marriott wants to test that their managers have the right personality and the right responses in certain situations to effectively manage employees at their properties. Again, Marriott is looking for applicants that have a customer-first focus while being able to still effectively manage a team.
  • Personality TestsMost applicants will have to take a personality test (sometimes multiple). Marriott is looking for different personalities for different positions, so this test is difficult to prepare for compared to the other assessments. It is best to be honest on the personality test while still being cognizant of the best personality traits for the position.
  • Aon G.A.T.E Assessment

 

Phone Screening

If you pass the assessment tests, then you will receive a phone screening. This screening is typically under 30 minutes and covers relatively basic topics such as why you want to work at Marriott, your work experience, and your expectations for the job.

This step is the first time anyone from Marriott talks to you in the hiring process and is used to determine if you are a good fit for the company.

 

In-Person Interview

The final step of the hiring process is an in-person interview with a hiring manager or a panel consisting of hiring managers and HR personnel. The interview can last up to an hour and will contain relatively standard behavioral, personality, and situational questions.

Management positions typically require three interviews while entry level positions usually only require one relatively short interview.

 

Common Interview Questions at Marriott

Marriott does not have a reputation for asking difficult interview questions or trying to confuse interviewees with questions. The questions are generally straightforward and should be answered using the STAR method (situation, task, action, response) whenever possible.

Most of the interview questions will focus on your personality and motivations with some questions about your experience. Marriott states on their website that the in-person interview will not contain questions about your resume.

Here are some typical Marriott interview questions:

  • What is your dream job? Marriott does offer opportunities for growth within the company, so you can state that you would like to rise up to a management or senior management position. This question is mostly used to determine if your career trajectory aligns with the job you wish to have at Marriott. It is best to state a job relevant to the hospitality industry and one that allows you to provide excellent service to customers.
  • How would you handle an upset or angry customer? This is an extremely common interview question for any customer service job. The best answer involves listening to the customer, not blaming the customer or Marriott, and attempting to resolve the problem or finding someone that can resolve the problem. It is also important to state that you do not take anything that angry or upset customers say personally. It requires thick skin to work customer service, and hiring managers are looking for employees that will not take things personally because employees that can remain detached will provide better customer service.
  • If you could be any animal, what animal would you be? Why? This is one of the stranger interview questions you may encounter while interviewing at Marriott. However, it is actually a personality question disguised as a fun, lighthearted question. The animal you select is not particularly important. The interviewer is instead looking for the reason why you would like to be that animal. For instance, saying you would like to be an ant would likely be a good answer if you state that you would like to be one because they work hard and very well in teams. This question can trick up applicant’s, but it is an easy question if you view it as a personality question.
  • What are your motivations? The best way to answer this question would be with an answer that involves something relevant to the job such as leading others, making customers happy, or solving problems. Do not answer that money or employee discounts motivate you – the interviewer wants to see something a little deeper and meaningful than money.

 

How to Pass Marriott’s Online Assessment?

The assessment tests at Marriott can be difficult for those that have not prepared for them. This is especially true for the leadership assessment and SJT. Thankfully, it is possible to prepare for these tests.

The best way to prepare for the assessments at Marriott is to take as many practice tests as possible. Practice tests have the added benefit of having explanations for the correct and incorrect answers to every question. This is extremely useful as it is more important to understand why an answer is correct rather than simply memorizing the answer.

Marriott does not require applicants to take any technical tests other than the accounting test, so another key aspect involves understanding Marriott’s mission, vision, and goals. Marriott uses those factors to determine the correct answer for their assessment tests.

Remember, many of the answers to a question on one of Marriott’s assessment tests may look correct, but there is only one answer that Marriot wants to see. And that answer will line up with their corporate mission.