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Competency interview tips

These interviews are designed to test various skills and abilities that are deemed necessary to complete the role to an acceptable level.

Questions are typically in the format of "tell me a time when" or "give me an example of a time when". Candidates should provide examples from their working history.

Typically answers should be given in the S.T.A.R format:

Situation - the environment you were working in at the time

Task - the task you were allocated or took it upon yourself to do

Activity - the steps you took to complete the task

Result - successful outputs of the activity

Interviews are heavily scripted, and will typically involve a great deal of note taking by the interviewer. Quite often the interviewer will ask one opening question and then subsequent probing questions.

Generic Interview Tips:

• Prepare - most interviewers are happy for you to take your own notes in (you may wish to check first!). But be careful not to just read.
• Practice your answers with an audience. Sometimes things make absolute sense to you - but not to other people.
• Be specific - don't talk about what you "generally do", give a real life example.
• Choose the best example for your answer - sometimes the most recent example is not the best.
• Maintain eye contact. It is likely the interviewer will spend lots of time writing - so when they do look at you, make sure you're making eye contact.
• If you need to - ask the interviewer to repeat the question. Or, if it helps, write down the question (particularly useful if the question has many parts).
• The role profile for the vacancy should list the competencies that are important in that role. These will be the competencies that are assessed in the interview. If the role profile doesn't have them - by all means ask!

While each organisation has their own range of competencies (or Competency Framework) the following is a list of the most common - complete with example questions and hints on things to include in your answers.

Communication Skills

This is typically assessed throughout the interview process.

Obvious communication skills include positive body language, good eye contact, listening, structured examples and using the appropriate amount of technical language (i.e. enough to persuade the interviewer you understand the specifics of the role, but not so much that they're left behind.

Examples of Questions:

• Give me an example of a time where you had to deliver a communication to your team.
• Tell me about a situation where it was important to communicate effectively.
• Give me an example of when you encouraged effective communication in the work place.

Tips for Successful Answers:

• What form of communication was used in this situation and why (i.e. did you use email or presentation?  How did you know that this was the best form of communication?).
• How did you test the success of the communication? How did you know that all involved understood?
• Show that you considered the needs and experiences of the audience.

Influencing Skills

During this section, the interviewer will be looking for your ability to influence others and persuade them to see your way of thinking - without being dictatorial.

Examples of Questions:

• Give me an example of a time when you had to persuade a customer around to your way of thinking.
• Give me an example of when you persuaded a colleague to do something they disagreed with.
• How do you build up influential relationships? Give me an example of when you used an influential relationship to help you achieve in the work place.
• Can you give an example of a time that you sold an idea, concept or product by identifying a particular need, issue or concern in the mind of the person you are selling to?

Tips for Successful Answers:

• Make sure you use examples where you have been successful in influencing someone
• You may wish to illustrate different styles of influencing, for example:

Where influencing alone was not successful and you used a 3^rd party to gather momentum

Building relationships to help influence a situation

Showing empathy

More advanced questions will look at how you build influential relationships, then how you use these relationships to influence that person.

Teamwork

Depending upon the role you may be asked how you worked as part of a team, how you led a team, or how you have achieved success through the actions of a team.

Examples of Questions:

• Tell me about the most successful team you have ever been a part of and why.
• Tell me about a time when you achieved a successful result through the actions of a team.
• Give me an example of a time when you experienced conflict within a team.

Tips for Successful Answers:

• Demonstrate you have considered and utilised the different skills and experiences of team members.
• Show how you helped develop relationships with team members.
• Illustrate how you ensured the right people were involved in decision making.
• Feedback - if given, how?

Building Relationships

Relationship building is about building effective working links and a network of contacts both internally and externally to the business.

A strong candidate can build good working relationships and listen to what others have to say. They understand the thoughts, feelings and perspectives of others. Communication is the key to building relationships.

Examples of Questions:

• Describe a situation in which you developed an effective win/win relationship with a stakeholder or client. How did you go about building the relationship?
• Describe a situation when you had to listen to a customer to understand their point of view.
• Tell me about a time when you relied on a contact in your network to help you with a work-related task or problem.

• Show how you build strong relationships that cross team/organisational boundaries.
• Illustrate how you understand the thoughts, feelings and perspectives of others.
• Win/Win outcomes are important - show how you promote these.

Problem Solving and Decision Making

Examples of Questions:

• Tell me about the last decision that you made which required thought and analysis.
• Give me an example of a problem that you were faced with where there was more than one solution.
• Give me an example of a problem that you had where there was no obvious solution.

Tips for Successful Answers:

• Take time to explain the situation so the interviewer understands the problem and why your solution worked.
• Show that you have considered all alternative solutions - along with the pros and cons of each.

Understanding Problems and Issues

This is about how you go about understanding issues as opposed to going ahead and solving them.

Examples of Questions:

• Tell me about a situation where you had to analyse a problem in order to understand it.
• Tell me about a time when you improved the team understanding of a problem.

Tips for Successful Answers:

• Think about a problem and all of the issues surrounding that problem.
• Show how you have linked all of the issues together to get a deeper understanding of the problem.

Planning and Organising (Strategic Planning)

Examples of Questions:

• Give me an example of a time when you had to plan a project or a large piece of work.
• Tell me about when you had to plan ahead in order to achieve timely results.
• In your current role, how do you prioritise your time and your activities?
• Give me an example of when plans that you had been working on changed at the last minute.

Tips for Successful Answers:

• Demonstrate how you have worked in a structured an methodical way.
• Show real detail about the steps you have taken to plan.
• Explain how you have amended or flexed the original plans you'd made.
• Talk about how you built pre-emptive solutions to potential problems

Drive for Results

Very basic drive for results questions will look at how you go about achieving targets while more advanced questions look at how you set and achieve stretching targets

Examples of Questions:

• Give me an example of a time when you exceeded a target.
• Give me an example of when you were responsible for achieving results through a team.
• Give me an example of when you overcame obstacles to achieve a target.

Tips for Successful Answers:

• Demonstrate examples of setting and working towards targets either as an individual or through a team.
• Use examples of when you were set (or set yourself) a challenging target, how you planned to achieve the target and the actions that you took to ensure success.

Customer Service

The best way to prepare for customer service based questions is to try to think about the role you are being interviewed for, at what point would you come into contact with customers?

Remember to consider both internal and external customers

Examples of Questions:

• Give me an example of a time when you had to put internal customer needs before external customer needs.
• Describe the most rewarding experience you had when dealing with customers.
• Tell me about an unreasonable request that you had from a customer.
• In your current role, how do you know if your internal / external customers are satisfied?

Tips for Successful Answers:

• Always portray the customer in positive light.
• Show that you have considered the situation from the customer's perspective.
• Explain how you ensure that any actions you have taken have exceeded the customer's expectations of you.

Leadership

Examples of Questions:

• Think of examples of when you had to manage a team through a period of change. How did you avoid disruption?
• Give me an example of when your actions have inspired others to working towards a common goal.
• Tell me about a situation in which you were faced where you had to achieve results through the actions of a team.

Tips for Successful Answers:

• You should try to display some/most of the following traits: Coaching, Motivation, Ability to Manage Change and Delegation.
• Explain how you are able to adapt your leadership skills according to different situations.
• You may wish to consider examples where you have inspired and motivated individuals to improve their own performance.
• Discuss how you have rewarded and recognised staff.

Quality and Continuous Improvement

Continuous Improvement is all about challenging the way things are done in order to improve efficiency whilst retaining the quality of the output.

Examples of Questions:

• How do you ensure quality when delivering a service to your customers?
• How do you ensure that you and your team continually improve the processes and systems that you use? Give examples of some of the improvements you have made through continuous improvement.
• What strategies have you embedded to ensure continuous improvement?

Tips for Successful Answers:

• Show how you have evaluated the change you want to make and have considered all options.
• Illustrate that you have involved all appropriate stakeholders.
• Close the loop - demonstrate the value created from the changes you have made.
• Re-assure the interviewer that quality has not suffered (hopefully it has improved)

Developing and Coaching Others

You do not have to be a line manager to have the ability to coach and develop others. Developing other people may also mean that you are training new members of staff to do the job.

Examples of Questions:

• Tell me about a situation where you had to coach an individual or a group of individuals.
• Give me an example of when you had to develop an individual who had a lack of motivation.
• Give me an example of when you empowered others through delegation.
• How have you built a learning culture within your team? Give me examples of when this has been successful.

Tips for Successful Answers

• How have you considered and accounted for people's different learning styles?
• Think about the constructive feedback you have provided.
• Always consider how the development benefits both the individual and the business.

Business and Organisational Awareness

Having good business awareness means that a candidate understands the business in which they work and all the relationships surrounding that business.

For more junior roles you may only be asked to demonstrate what you know about the organisation you are applying to. However for more senior roles you will be asked to display comprehensive experience of operating effectively within different structures.

Examples of Questions:

• What do you know about this organisation?
• Can you tell me what the structure of this organisation is?
• Can you tell me what our profits were last year?
• Tell me about a time when you had to deal with different or conflicting points of view surrounding the best course of action for your organisation.
• How do you keep ahead of internal and external business issues? Give examples of when you encouraged your team to do the same.

Tips for Successful Answers:

• Do your research - be prepared to talk about the company you are applying to.
• Show that you understand organisational structures that you have worked in - their strengths and weaknesses.
• Display a knowledge of both informal and formal networks.

Conflict Management

You may be asked about situations that you have been in where you had to defuse conflict with a customer or a colleague.

Examples of Questions:

• Tell me about a difficult customer or a customer complaint that you dealt with.
• Give me an example of a time when you had to resolve conflict within your team.
• Describe when you have been faced with conflict between team members.
• Tell me about a sensitive situation you were faced, where a team member raised conflict with you.
• Tell me about a time when you had to clarify confusion about conflict.
• When discussing conflict management it is easy to place blame on others and demonstrate unconstructive feedback.

Tips for Successful Answers:

• Show evidence of identifying the conflict, taking into consideration the needs, emotions and perspectives of those involved, analysing the conflict and then resolving in a constructive and collaborative way.
• It is important to use examples that have a positive outcome where the conflict has been diffused.

Negative Competency Based Questioning

It is likely that you will come across competency based questions that have a negative focus.

Examples of Questions:

• Describe a time when you failed to influence a situation appropriately.
• Tell me about a situation you were faced with where you failed to create a continuous improvement culture.
• Tell me about a time when you disagreed with a colleague about something.
• Describe a situation where your team have lacked two way communications.
• Tell me about a team you worked in that has not worked collaboratively.

Tips for Successful Answers:

• The interviewer is looking for examples of how you got out of the situation and turned it into a positive.
• Remember the purpose of these questions is for you to show the interviewer how you have turned round a situation.
• Be positive - you are selling yourself.