10.1 The Untimed Interaction Assessment and Its Response Scales
Key Takeaways
- The Occupational Interaction Assessment measures multiple competencies related to personal characteristics such as attitudes, interests, and preferences that are important in the workplace.
- It measures eleven competencies: Accountability, Attention to Detail, Customer Service, Flexibility, Influencing/Negotiating, Integrity/Honesty, Interpersonal Skills, Learning, Self-Management, Stress Tolerance and Teamwork.
- The assessment is not timed, and each question offers five possible responses.
- Response scales vary by question: how much you agree with a statement, how often you do or feel something, or how much or often you do it compared to others.
- OPM's published advice is to read thoroughly, be honest, and stay true to yourself rather than overthinking.
10.1 The Untimed Interaction Assessment and Its Response Scales
Quick Summary: OPM describes the Occupational Interaction Assessment as measuring multiple competencies related to personal characteristics such as attitudes, interests, and preferences that are important in the workplace. Its instructions state: you will be presented with questions that ask about your interests and work preferences. Read each question carefully, decide which of the five possible responses most accurately describes you, and then click on that response. This assessment is not timed.
Why this chapter is long
Of the sixteen competencies measured across the five Standard non-supervisory assessments, eleven live in this one. Reading has one competency. Math has two. Reasoning has one. Judgment has one. Interaction has eleven.
| Competency | OPM's definition |
|---|---|
| Accountability | Holds self and others accountable for measurable high-quality, timely, and cost-effective results. Determines objectives, sets priorities, and delegates work. Accepts responsibility for mistakes. Complies with established control systems and rules. |
| Attention to Detail | Is thorough when performing work and conscientious about attending to detail. |
| Customer Service | Works with clients and customers to assess their needs, provide information or assistance, resolve their problems, or satisfy their expectations; knows about available products and services; is committed to providing quality products and services. |
| Flexibility | Is open to change and new information; adapts behavior or work methods in response to new information, changing conditions, or unexpected obstacles; effectively deals with ambiguity. |
| Influencing/Negotiating | Persuades others; builds consensus through give and take; gains cooperation from others to obtain information and accomplish goals. |
| Integrity/Honesty | Contributes to maintaining the integrity of the organization; displays high standards of ethical conduct and understands the impact of violating these standards on an organization, self, and others; is trustworthy. |
| Interpersonal Skills | Treats others with courtesy, sensitivity, and respect. Considers and responds appropriately to the needs and feelings of different people in different situations. |
| Learning | Uses efficient learning techniques to acquire and apply new knowledge and skills; uses training, feedback, or other opportunities for self-learning and development. |
| Self-Management | Sets well-defined and realistic personal goals; displays a high level of initiative, effort, and commitment towards completing assignments in a timely manner; works with minimal supervision; is motivated to achieve; demonstrates responsible behavior. |
| Stress Tolerance | Deals calmly and effectively with high stress situations (for example, tight deadlines, hostile individuals, emergency situations, dangerous situations). |
| Teamwork | Encourages and facilitates cooperation, pride, trust, and group identity; fosters commitment and team spirit; works with others to achieve goals. |
OPM's note on the Standard Assessments applies here as elsewhere: assessments used and competencies measured depend on the job series and grade, so your announcement may name only some of these.
A note on two OPM sources
OPM's USA Hire Standard Assessments briefing of September 2025 lists eleven competencies under Interaction, including Influencing/Negotiating. The Applicant Resource Center's own Occupational Interaction article lists ten, omitting Influencing/Negotiating. This guide follows the newer briefing.
The practical position is unaffected either way. Influencing/Negotiating does appear in real non-supervisory announcement competency lists — OPM's illustration of a How You Will Be Evaluated section names Accountability, Administration and Management, Attention to Detail, Customer Service, Decision Making, Flexibility, Influencing/Negotiating, Integrity/Honesty, Reading Comprehension, Reasoning, Self-Management and Strategic Thinking. As always, your announcement is the authority for what you will be assessed on. Note also that a competency list can name competencies drawn from more than one assessment: Reading Comprehension points to Occupational Reading and Decision Making to Occupational Judgment, while the rest of that example list sits within Interaction.
The three response scales
OPM states that the possible responses vary from question to question, and that the responses will assess:
- How much you agree with a statement.
- How often you do, think, or feel things.
- How much or how often you do, think, or feel things compared to others.
Each question offers five possible responses, and you select the one that most accurately describes you, then click RECORD ANSWER.
| Scale type | What it is asking | Example wording |
|---|---|---|
| Agreement | Whether a description fits you | Strongly disagree → Strongly agree |
| Frequency | How often something is true of you | Never → Always |
| Comparative | How you compare with other people | Much less than most → Much more than most |
The third type catches candidates out. A comparative item is not asking whether you do something often in absolute terms; it is asking how you compare with other people. Someone who checks their work carefully but believes most colleagues do the same should not answer at the top of a comparative scale simply because the behaviour is frequent. Read which scale you are on before answering.
Not timed — use that
The absence of a clock is a genuine advantage, and it is the reason to schedule this assessment for a moment when you are unhurried.
- Read each question fully. OPM's first tip is read thoroughly: carefully read the question or prompt before selecting an answer.
- Notice the scale. Agreement, frequency, or comparative.
- Notice negations. Some statements are phrased negatively, and a hurried reader agrees with the opposite of what they mean.
- Do not rush the last third. Fatigue produces careless answers, and there is no time pressure forcing you to continue. You can stop and resume while your assessment window is open, since responses are saved.
OPM's guidance on how to answer
OPM gives three tips, and they are unusually direct:
- Read Thoroughly: carefully read the question or prompt before selecting an answer.
- Be Honest: choose answers that truly reflect how you normally respond to workplace interactions.
- Stay True to Yourself: don't overthink — choose answers that genuinely represent you.
Take these seriously rather than treating them as boilerplate. There are two practical reasons.
Consistency. An inventory measuring eleven competencies asks about each one in several different ways across the assessment. Answers reflecting how you actually work stay consistent across those phrasings without any effort. Answers constructed to look good require you to remember a fictional profile across dozens of items and three different scale types, which is difficult and unnecessary.
Fit. The competencies describe how the job is actually done. A profile that misrepresents how you work is not an advantage if it lands you in work that does not suit you.
What the rest of this chapter does
Sections 10.2 to 11.3 take the eleven competencies in clusters. The purpose is not to tell you which answer to give — that would contradict OPM's guidance and would not survive the consistency point above. The purpose is to make each competency concrete, so that when you meet a statement about, say, Flexibility, you understand what workplace behaviour it is describing and can answer accurately rather than guessing at what the phrase means.
How many competencies does the Occupational Interaction Assessment measure, and is it timed?
A candidate meets an item asking how often they double-check their work compared with other people. Why does the scale type matter here?
What is OPM's published advice for answering the Occupational Interaction Assessment?