Stantec Arctic Shores Assessment
UK & Ireland Graduate Programme and degree apprenticeships (Stantec UK & Ireland early careers)
Stantec's own UK & Ireland Early Careers Application FAQ names the platform: after the application, "we will invite you to complete a series of task-based assessments using the Arctic Shores platform." That scope matters more than usual on this page. It applies to UK and Ireland graduate and apprentice hiring only, not to Stantec's Australia, North America or New Zealand programs, and a reader in Sydney or Calgary who practices Arctic Shores because of this page has prepared for the wrong test. The employer-authored Stantec hub on Gradcracker repeated the same Arctic Shores wording in August 2025, and two separate candidates in the archived 2025-cycle Student Room thread describe being sent an Arctic Shores assessment after applying, so the vendor is about as well established as employer evidence gets. What Stantec does not publish is which tasks it configures. Candidates in the 2025 and 2026 cycles report a balance task and a lock or security task most often, with single reports adding arrows, tickets, patterns and facial expressions, and every one of those reports reaches us as a search snippet from a page that blocks automated access, so we could not open a single source naming a game. Treat the battery below as candidate-reported and probably incomplete, and practice wider than the list.
The process
Step 1 — Online application (CV, tailored per role)
Apply role by role on the Stantec UK & Ireland careers site, tailoring the CV to the discipline and office, and apply only for locations you would actually accept. Read the GenAI guidelines first: Stantec allows AI to polish your writing but states "Do not use AI for assessments or tests" and bans real-time AI help or AI scripts in interviews. The Early Careers Talent Acquisition team screens applications and aims to reply within three months; unsuccessful applicants get an email and no individual feedback. Adverts close as soon as there are enough applicants.
Step 2 — Aptitude Tests: the Arctic Shores task-based assessment
The FAQ's wording: "If successful, we will invite you to complete a series of task-based assessments using the Arctic Shores platform. This science-based assessment uses engaging tasks to gain valuable insights into your natural behaviours and skill indicators." The September 2025 graduate brochure describes the same step as "a series of intuitive task-based assessments" that let Stantec see beyond your CV, without naming the vendor. Stantec does not publish which tasks appear. In the 2025 cycle, candidates describe the invitation arriving over the winter holidays.
Step 3 — Recorded one-way video interview
Official: "If successful, we will invite you to complete an online video interview," framed as your chance to show interest and passion for your chosen career path. A 2025-cycle candidate describes it as recorded video questions, so it is asynchronous rather than a live call. The recording platform is not named in any Stantec source, and we found no evidence for HireVue or any other vendor at this stage. Treat the platform as unknown and follow the instructions in your invitation.
Step 4 — Interview with the hiring manager and a team member
A competency-based interview with the hiring manager and another team member. Stantec says it will most likely be in person at the office the role is based in, though it can be held over video call: the brochure allows it "on occasion" and the employer-authored Gradcracker copy said in person at one of our offices or online via Microsoft Teams. It covers your studies and work experience and how they relate to the role, plus why this discipline at Stantec, and you are expected to bring your own questions.
Step 5 — Offer and pre-employment screening
Official: "If successful, we will call you to discuss your offer and send you an official contract." UK graduates get a permanent full-time contract, four office days per week, and a three-year Professional Development Programme leading toward chartership, with no formal rotations. Stantec's global careers material adds that contingent offers are followed by reference and background checks.
Outside the UK and Ireland — a different process
Stantec Australia runs a separate graduate program: its official brochure describes roughly 24 minutes of cognitive and behavioral testing covering numerical, verbal and abstract reasoning, then a phone screen, then an interview with the hiring manager and a team member. That is not a game-based assessment, and Stantec does not name the vendor. For North America, New Zealand and India we found no official process or assessment evidence at all: Stantec New Zealand does not publish its graduate process, and North American interns, co-ops and entry-level engineers are hired role by role with interviews and no online assessment in any source we could read.
Timing
The UK & Ireland 2027 Graduate Programme adverts were live in early September 2026 across Buildings, Water, Energy and Advisory in offices including Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Birmingham, Warrington, Belfast and Galway. There is no fixed deadline: "Recruitment is ongoing. Please apply as soon as possible as the advert may close once we have sufficient applicants," so each advert closes independently once it is full. The screening step aims to reply within three months, which means the Arctic Shores invitation can arrive long after you apply. In the 2025 cycle, candidates describe invitations landing around December and January, video interviews from January, final interviews running into spring, and stage gaps of under a month once things are moving, against up to three months of silence after applying or after the assessment. Most UK graduates start in September. UK degree apprenticeships are advertised through the government Find an Apprenticeship service; the 2026-intake Cambridge and Taunton listings closed on 1 May 2026, and 2027 apprenticeship dates were not published when we checked in September 2026. The Australia program aims for an early February start with an application window usually open for about a month.
Sources
- Stantec UK — Early Careers Application FAQ (names Arctic Shores in Step 2)
- Stantec UK — Early Careers Application FAQ, archived 14 May 2026
- Stantec UK Graduate Brochure, September 2025 (five steps; no vendor named)
- Stantec UK & Ireland careers — Graduate Structural Engineer, Buildings, 2027
- Stantec — Using GenAI in the Hiring Process: Guidelines for Applicants
- Stantec Australia Graduate Recruitment brochure (separate program, no games)
- Gradcracker Stantec hub — application process, employer-authored, archived 28 August 2025
- TheStudentRoom: Stantec Graduate Schemes 2025 thread, archived 16 October 2025
- Arctic Shores case studies index (checked: no Stantec case study)
Practice the reported Stantec tasks
Stantec does not publish which Arctic Shores tasks it uses, and neither does Arctic Shores, whose case-studies index lists sixteen clients with Stantec not among them. Every task above comes from a candidate report that we could see only as a search snippet, because the pages carrying them block automated access and returned 403 to us and to our verifier. We are not linking those pages as sources, because we did not read them. Balance and the lock or security task are the only two named by more than one candidate; the other four rest on a single report each, and Expressions is missing from the one candidate list that named five tasks. So this is not a confirmed configuration and it may well be incomplete. Practice these six first, then work through the rest of the modern suite so nothing in your invitation is new.
Try every task once free with an account. An Arctic Shores pass unlocks replays — browse the full battery.
Common questions
Does Stantec definitely use Arctic Shores?
For UK and Ireland early careers, yes, and Stantec says so itself. Its Early Careers Application FAQ describes Step 2 as an invitation "to complete a series of task-based assessments using the Arctic Shores platform," the same wording appeared in employer-authored copy on Stantec's Gradcracker hub in August 2025, and two separate candidates in the archived 2025-cycle Student Room thread report being sent an Arctic Shores assessment after applying. Note one gap in the chain: Arctic Shores itself does not list Stantec as a client, so there is no vendor-side confirmation. The September 2025 graduate brochure also describes the same step as "task-based assessments" without naming any platform, so do not be thrown if your own materials never say Arctic Shores.
Which Arctic Shores games does Stantec use?
Stantec does not publish a battery, so the honest answer is that nobody outside Stantec knows. Candidates in the 2025 and 2026 cycles most often report a balance task, where you weigh objects on scales, and a lock or security task, described by one as an "impossible lock test." Those two are the only ones named by more than one person. Single reports add an arrows task, tickets, patterns and a facial-expressions task, and one candidate who listed five tasks did not include facial expressions at all. Every one of those reports reached us as a search snippet from a page that blocks automated access, so we could not open a single source naming a game and we are not going to link pages we did not read. Practice those six, then the wider suite, and assume your invitation may contain something not on this list.
Do Stantec applicants in Australia, Canada or the US take Arctic Shores?
No, on the evidence we have. Stantec Australia runs its own graduate program and its official brochure describes roughly 24 minutes of cognitive and behavioral testing covering numerical, verbal and abstract reasoning, which is a traditional aptitude test rather than a game-based assessment, and Stantec does not name the vendor for it. For North America, Stantec advertises internships, co-ops and entry-level roles through its jobs site with no online assessment described anywhere, and archived candidate reports from 2021 describe recruiter and team interviews only. Stantec New Zealand publishes no process at all, and we found nothing for India. If you are applying outside the UK and Ireland, practicing Arctic Shores games is preparing for a test you will probably not sit.
When is the Stantec 2027 graduate deadline?
There is not one. Stantec recruits on a rolling basis and its adverts say "Recruitment is ongoing. Please apply as soon as possible as the advert may close once we have sufficient applicants," so each role closes independently the moment it has enough applicants. Anyone quoting you a fixed Stantec 2027 closing date is guessing. Apply early: screening aims to reply within three months, and in the 2025 cycle applicants who applied in the autumn were sitting Arctic Shores around December and January. UK degree apprenticeships work differently, advertised through the government Find an Apprenticeship service with real closing dates; the 2026-intake Cambridge and Taunton listings closed on 1 May 2026.
What comes after the Arctic Shores assessment?
A recorded one-way video interview, then an interview with the hiring manager and another team member, then an offer call. The video stage is asynchronous, framed by Stantec as your chance to show interest and passion for your chosen career path, and the recording platform is not named in any Stantec source we could find, so do not assume HireVue or any other vendor. The final interview is competency-based and covers your studies, your work experience and how they relate to the role, plus why this discipline at Stantec, and you are expected to bring questions. Stantec says it will most likely be in person at the office the role is based in, though the brochure and the employer-authored Gradcracker copy both allow a video call. One 2025-cycle candidate, writing before they had heard their result, described motivational questions, a section where they were shown pictures and asked what they saw, a prompt about PPE, and a half-hour chat with a recent graduate afterwards. That is a single report and may be specific to their discipline, so do not treat the picture exercise as a standard stage.
Can I use AI to help with the Stantec assessment?
No. Stantec publishes GenAI guidelines for applicants that allow AI to help polish your written application but state plainly "Do not use AI for assessments or tests," and ban real-time AI assistance or AI-written scripts in interviews, warning that misuse may harm your candidacy. That rule is worth taking seriously on an Arctic Shores round in particular, because the tasks measure response patterns rather than right answers, and there is nothing for an AI to answer on your behalf. Practicing the task formats in advance, so the mechanics are not new on the day, is the legitimate version of the same advantage.
Do degree apprentices at Stantec sit the same assessment?
Probably, but Stantec does not confirm it. The same Early Careers Application FAQ covers graduate and apprentice roles jointly, including the right-to-work rule and the four office days per week, so apprentices are likely to follow the same five steps. The catch is that the process steps themselves are written for graduates, no apprentice has reported sitting Arctic Shores, and we could not retrieve an apprentice-specific brochure. If you are applying to a degree apprenticeship, prepare for the Arctic Shores round as a reasonable expectation rather than a certainty, and take the government listing's closing date, not the rolling graduate wording, as your deadline.
Independent Arctic Shores-style practice. GameAssessmentPrep is not affiliated with or endorsed by Arctic Shores. Task selection, timing and scoring vary by employer; your invitation is authoritative. Process details reflect research as of August 2026 and employers change their assessments.
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