A competency – based interview assesses your suitability for the roles and responsibilities of the job. It works on the principal that past behaviour is the best indicator of future performance. The questions you will be asked will give you the opportunity to demonstrate your competence by explaining how you previously used your skills and abilities to undertake tasks, improve service, handle challenges etc.
Popular competencies
It is important that you have read the Candidate Information Booklet, Job Description and Person Specification for the position for which you have applied and know which competencies are being assessed.
Some common competencies include:
- Leadership
- Team Building
- Problem Solving
- Decision Making
- Thinking Strategically
- Communicating
- Delivering Value for money.
If you are not familiar with any of the competencies listed for the role, then you need to do some research to find out more at the preparation stage.
Preparing for your Competency Based Interview
Competency based interviews can be tricky and the key to performing confidently and competently is preparation. This includes having specific examples from past experiences which clearly demonstrate you have the skills and abilities which match the competencies for the job for which you are competing. This can be a time- consuming exercise but a worthwhile investment.
You will be questioned around each competency required for the role at interview and it is important that you can provide individual examples for each one.
The STAR Approach to Interviews
To gain maximum points from the evidence you are providing at interview it is important that you have a structured approach to your responses. STAR is a useful acronym to help you have a clear structure for each of your examples:
- Situation – Briefly describe the situation you were in.
- Task – What had to be done to achieve your goal?
- Action – Describe the specific action you took.
- Result – Describe the outcome, Results of your efforts.
Use this approach during preparation of your examples and know how to break down your answers at interview using the STAR acronym.
We can help you prepare for your interview
Our interview speciialist Jean Haworth has many years experience in helping people prepare for a competency-based interview. She can meet with you on a one-to-one basis, scrutinise the job description and work with you to develop strong answers for possible questions. The people Jean has worked with approach their interview with more confidence and indeed, many of them are successful in getting the job of their dreams.