Competency-Based Interviews: What You Should Know

In some interviews a recruiter will be more interested in who you are as a person than what you have done with your life. Unlike a conventional interview, typically centered on your career history and achievements, one which is competency-based aims to gauge how you approach tasks and challenges.

It is often used in graduate recruitment and other situations where a candidate’s experience in a particular job – or lack of it – is not as important as their aptitude for it. The questions examine how a candidate has behaved in past situations in order to build a picture of how they might behave in the future. Typical examples include:

• Tell us about a goal you achieved and how you got there.
• What are you most proud of achieving?
• Have you ever been responsible for planning a large project?
• Have you ever had to persuade someone to change their viewpoint?
• Describe a time when you have had to make a difficult decision.

These questions are an invitation to sell yourself, to describe how you have used your skills and abilities to deal with a real-life situation or task. You stand the best chance of answering them well and succeeding in the interview by preparing for them in advance.

Identify the Competencies

First identify what competencies the company is looking for. These are the qualities that make for effective team players and outstanding employees – typically things like communication, planning, customer service, negotiation and problem solving.

Clues to the competencies that will be rated highly in the interview can be found in the job description, on the company’s web site and in the literature produced by professional bodies that represent the field you are hoping to enter.

Preparing For the Interview

Next go through your CV to find examples of how you have demonstrated the required competencies. If you can’t find any you may have to re-write your CV or reconsider whether the job is right for you.

Write a brief description for each of the examples. Bullet points will help to keep the information clear in your head. A common approach is to use the STAR model:

• Situation: What was the situation or problem you encountered?
• Task: What needed to be done?
• Action: How did you resolve it?
• Result: What was the result?

Also be prepared for follow-up questions, typically about what you learned from the situation and whether you would do anything differently next time around. And finally make sure your preparation includes reading up on the company and its activities – interest in your potential employer shows you are genuinely interested in the job.

Acing the Interview

Armed with your responses you should be able to approach the interview with confidence. Remember you will have very little time to win them over – interviewers often take just minutes to decide if they like you or not – so keep your answers short, to the point and full of specific detail on your abilities and achievements.