Competency Based Interviews - 5 Top Tips for Success

Many people go into a panic when they hear they will be having a competency-based interview. However there really is no need to be concerned about them they are the easiest type of selection method for which to prepare. If you can prepare for them it's a bit like knowing the questions in advance. So Mciver Scott shared 5 tips here you can be confident of doing well.

The reasons that lots of companies like to use this type of interview is that they think they provide a consistent approach to selection and in that way they are fair to all candidates. Competency-based interviews are also seen as being able to better predict which interview candidate is likely to be best at the job. It's believed that if 1= perfect prediction and 0= total chance, that they have an accuracy in selection of 0.35 whereas a typical interview would be around 0.17. So the competence-based interview is meant to be twice as good.

 

5 Top Tips

• A competency based interview is normally based on the organisation's competency set for the job advertised/vacancy. The questions require the candidate to give an example of where they have used a particular competency and to describe the outcome. So the first thing to do is to work out which competencies the company is likely to be looking for. Big organisations will often send these to you if you call them and ask. If this isn't possible look at the advert and check the attributes that the employer is looking for e.g. good team worker. You can use the competencies in the next point and check to see which competencies may be required

• Competency sets vary but it is likely that for management roles they may include a number of the following: customer awareness, business development, communication, team working, problem solving, decision making, drive for results, tenacity/persistence, interpersonal skills, courage and conviction, strategic thinking, creativity, curiosity, impact and influencing, leadership, building capability, integrity, quality, initiative, technical/professional expertise.

• To prepare for the interview you should go through your CV and experience to identify good examples of achievements which demonstrate each of the competencies that you think are likely to be required. Remember if you don't think you have the experience from a job, you might find examples from you leisure interests, school or college. Use the CAR acronym to prepare your answers. CAR stands for - Context, Action, and Result. By doing this you will have a way to structure your answers so they are punchy and concise. So if for example you want to prepare an answer for the competence of courage and conviction, your answer may be structured like this; Context, I had to make a presentation which proposed a number of things people would not want to do, Action, because I knew this I made sure I had all my facts and the benefit of my proposal, Result, although the audience wasn't totally happy they were unable to argue against my facts and so the debate was very logical and in the end the proposal was agreed.

• Make sure you do a practice run through of the answers with a friend or member of your family. Answers should be no more than around 3 mins long. If longer there is a real danger you will lose the attention of the interviewer. Plus interviewers may want to ask follow up questions and if answers are too long it may be that the interviewers do not have time to cover all the questions on the schedule.

• Take the time to find good examples of each competence. The outcome of the interview will be strongly influenced by how well each candidate has displayed each competence. Make sure you include the result in each example; it's this that says how effective you are.

By following these 5 tips you should be well prepared and confident about the interview. You should therefore come across well and beat off your competition. 

McIver Scott recruitment is a renowned recruitment providers based in Loverpool, UK. They have a highly professionals that provide honest and effective solutions in personnel recruitment.