Talent management and retention solutions provider Kenexa has unveiled SimSJT: Customer Service, an online simulation platform designed to assess customer service aptitude. The program uses its virtual 3d environment to measure knowledge of roles associated with customer service.

SimSJT: Customer Service aims to help identify talented candidates with exceptional customer service skills, theoretically predicting job performance and reducing staff turnover. Users are led through a series of customer service episodes in a variety of locations - restaurants, hotels, retail stores, and offices. Kenexa believes that SimSJT has the added benefit of maintaining the interest and attention of candidates, reducing candidate attrition.

SimSJT: Customer Service is the first of a series of SimJST online assessments built on Kenexa's e-Psymulate platform. Kenexa plans to release assessments measuring Integrity, Teamwork and Safety Awareness in the next 12 months.

Said Kenexa president and CEO Troy Kanter: "Traditional text-heavy Situational Judgment Tests, or SJTs, rely on candidates reading through and comprehending often lengthy passages before they respond. Our SimSJT eliminates the need for this text-intensive approach by replacing it with simulated interactions that the candidate watches and listens to. Kenexa has a long history of delivering custom simulations for clients in the U.S., Europe, Russia and Australia. Through this work, we realized that a lot of customer service behaviors are consistent across positions or cultures. An off-the-shelf product, such as SimSJT, can be deployed rapidly across a wide variety of market sectors and industries."