Job seeking – How to prepare for a competency based interview
61If you've been out of the job market for a while, you might be wondering what a competency based interview is if you've not some across the phrase before. The good news is that these aren't anything really new, but describe an interview focussed on situational examples of your experience in particular situations – you'll have almost certainly come across this type of question already in previous interviews, although typically just mixed in with other types of question. The difference is that in a competency based interview, the interview is going to consist completely of that type of question, normally starting with one of:
Give an example of a time when you...
Describe a situation where...
Tell me about a time when you...
While this isn't an interview that you can revise for, you can, and should, prepare for this type of interview by going through the typical topics that are likely to be raised and thinking about the specific instances in your past that address them – don't try & make up examples, but thinking them through beforehand reduces the chances of just blanking on answers in the interviews themselves.
Remember that you'll be asked about how you handled failures, as well as successes so don't neglect those types of questions.
Generally, remember that
the interview is about you,
so the interviewer will be looking for responses showing what actions
you personally took, not the actions of a team. To help with this,
one approach is the STAR
technique, which describes one way to structure answers,
i.e.
S – Situation: Describe the situation.
T – Task: Describe the task you were required to perform.
A – Action: Describe what action you took.
R – Result: Finish by describing the results of the action.
When answering, be concise and to the point – don't drift off the topic. As a general rule, don't blame anybody, or complain, but if relevant, describe how you might do things differently in the future as opposed to how you did handle it in the part.
Key competencies
These are the typical areas that you can expect to be asked about – not all will appear at a single interview, but they should cover the majority of the questions that might be presented.
Teamwork
Problem Solving
Communication Skills
Leadership
Decision making
Responsibility
Career motivation
Example questions
These are just a couple of examples of the sort of questions you might expect to receive. You should try and ensure that you can identify at least two scenarios and the competencies they illustrate in each section before entering the interview – it's a lot easier then than trying to recall examples for the first time during the interview!
During the interview, if you need to, take a few moments to gather your thoughts before answering by saying to the interviewer that you might need a few seconds to think of the best example. This is expected and won't cause any problems.
Teamwork
“Tell me about a time when you were part of a successful team”
“Describe when you've been in a team and had to adjust the way you do things to suit somebody else”
Problem Solving
“How do you solve problems”
“What do you do when you can't solve a problem”
Communication Skills
“Give an example of how you've communicated with external customers”
“Give an example of how you've described/explained something to your workmates.
Leadership
“Describe a time when you had to lead a team or group”
“Tell me about a time when you've had to persuade someone to do some task they would have preferred not to do/do some other way”
Decision making
“Describe a difficult decision you had to make”
“Give me an example of a bad decision you have made and why was it bad”
Responsibility
“Tell me about when you have been responsible for something”
“Do you enjoy having responsibilities”
Career motivation
“Why do you want to work for us”
“What can you tell me about us and what we do”
Final thoughts
Don't forget that this is still an interview like any other, so all the general tips about good interview behavior still apply – be smart, polite, smile, communicate clearly and aim to come across as a professional.
Good luck!
