Competency based interviews

thegreatgonzo

Hi all,

I have a competency based interview next week. The competencies covered will be administration experience, office IT skills, customer service and initiative, quality and attention to detail and communication both oral and written.
I've never had an interview like this before so any advice I get will be hugely appreciated. For instance, will any of the above involve the usual face to face interview, could there be other candidates there at the same time performing these tasks etc etc. The whole thing is to only take 30 minutes which seems very short considering.
Thanks in advance!

St. Leibowitz

My understanding of competency based interviews is that you have to demonstrate your ability with reference to past experience. So I would not expect you to have to practically demonstrate the competency by doing a task, and certainly not with other candidates.

Normally, you will be asked questions based on the competency. Rather than answering how you would do something, you have to tell of a time when you had that situation, and how you handled it.

So for example, under the customer service competency, a typical question would be "tell me about a time when you were faced with an unhappy customer ?" Rather than answering, "well, if I had an unhappy customer, I'd first talk to them to understand what the issue was, and then ..." you should say "I once had a customer who had bought a product and when they plugged it in it wouldn't work. I spoke to them ...".

What you should do is review your career with respect to the competencies, and think of situations where you used these competencies. Use the STAR technique to answer the questions (Situation, Task, Action, Result). So, set the scene (S), describe the problem (T), say what you did (A), and then share the result (R). It's important to note that it is sometimes useful to describe a scenario where things went pear shaped, as long as it was a very useful learning experience, and you learned from it, but that can be risky.

If you search for competency questions under the headings you've been given, eg "competency questions office administration", you'll find loads of examples I'm sure. Think of answers to these, being sure to use the STAR technique (loads of sample answers if you search for "STAR answers competency" or similar.

Competency based interviews can be daunting for the first few times, but the more you do, or the more you practice, they actually become very easy. You'll build up a whole range of little stories which you can change or adjust on the fly to answer the specific question you've been asked.

Hope this helps.

griffin100

All good advice.

I've used the CAR acronym - Context / Actions / Results which is also useful.

It's all about you demonstrating your competency so remember I made changes, I took the following actions, I made a difference - always I not we. Don't be shy about your experience.

Come up with a few situations that you can use to show competency with respect to all key areas of the job description, thinking STAR or CAR when thinking about your answers.

Practice your answers.

thegreatgonzo

Thank you both so much for taking the time to give such helpful advice. I feel much more confident now:-)

Toobz

http://www.theguardian.com/careers/careers-blog/star-technique-competency-based-interview

I think the STAR technique is really good for covering all aspects of any competency questions and helps you give great, to the point answers. Many big companies recommend it.