Obscure questions about business scenarios have long featured in interviews for top graduate schemes in consultancies and banks. Now, applicants to McKinsey are being asked to go further — by role-playing as conservationists.

The activity is a central scenario in an online assessment now given to applicants to the consultancy. McKinsey’s patented assessment simulation, Solve, judges prospective hires on their performance in a computer game that simulates a virtual ecosystem.

It is one of several immersive, game-based tests being introduced alongside, or in place of, traditional hiring assessments at some of the world’s biggest employers. The approach, quietly adopted in sectors from banking to policing, reflects a shift towards assessing practical skills in an attempt to find more diverse candidates and prevent applicants using artificial intelligence.