The use of Competency Based Interview Questions is becoming increasingly common and not just within the largest corporations. Smaller and medium sized companies are using these tools as a means of improving their recruitment decisions.
This method of interviewing is also called Structured Interviewing and uses Behavioural Interview techniques to assess how a candidates past performance in work related situations can be used as a predictor of future performance. Every job can be described in terms of Competencies, which are the skills, abilities or behaviours required and some of which will be regarded as essential and others desirable.
You may see them categorised as Managerial Competencies, Individual Competencies, Analytical Competencies, Interpersonal Competencies and Motivational Competencies however the 12 most common competencies are: Communication, Achievement, Customer Focus, Teamwork, Leadership, Planning and Organising, Operational Awareness, Flexibility, Developing Others, Problem Solving, Analytical Thinking and Building Relationships.
These of course will vary depending on the role and the level however in the job interview, you should expect a series of Competency Based Questions exploring each competency. These are usually behavioural in nature and take the form of:
Tell me about a time when
Describe a situation
What would you do if
When you give your answer the interviewer will probe deeper and ask about the detail such as:
How exactly did you do that?
Tell me exactly what steps you took to resolve that
What was the basis for that decision?
By investigating further the interviewer is trying to discover more about your skills as well as looking for clues which may suggest that you are exaggerating your part in the process or have created a complete fabrication.
When answering competency based interview questions we suggest that you choose answers based on real experiences that you have had and be ready to give details. Your response needs to be relevant and sufficiently detailed. Be specific and tell a story. A technique to use when answering behavioural questions is what I call iPAR:
I = Talk about the part you played in IDENTIFYING or noticing the problem
P = Describe the PROBLEM, situation or task
A = Talk about the ACTION you took
R = Describe the successful RESULT by using figures and data to illustrate the benefit to the company.
And always use I" rather than we".
Prepare answers which relate to all the achievements on your resume or CV as you will surely be asked questions referring to these. You will find that you should have a sufficient stock of answers that will help you answer any competency based interview question irrespective of the style used.
Annette Lewis is an accredited interviewer, job coach and career consultant. She provides free advice for job interview candidates at bluesky interviews and was involved in developing the highly successful online interview skills training system InterviewGOLD
» left by Anonymous (1 year 244 days ago.)
This is all very well providing you can think of relevant examples of this or that behaviour. If you can't you are stuffed and if you make things up you're likely to be found out. Again you're stuffed. Respond to this comment
This is true. What you have to do is think hard about any one situation. You have to turn it into a drama. Ask yourself HOW that situation arose, how YOU were involved, how YOU approached it and how YOU solved the problem. Look at how it helped YOU and the benefit of others or the company. Show how YOU took responsibilty, if you done something wrong how you turned it around and made it positive, making a mistake and admitting it and correcting it shows maturity. Its all about learning a new way of thinking and once you get started you can learn to answer other scenario's. Maybe you can ask friends the same questions and check out their answers and i bet you think hey thats a good answer and use that knowledge in your answer. You can find examples of questions you may be asked by searching on-line so at least you are prepared and not put on the spot. Allow yourself time to prepare and always have no distractions when the call arrives. No-one says its easy and it never used to be like that but its a way of life now and its a skill that needs mastering.
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