Hints And Tips For Competency Based Interviews

What are competency based interviews and how do they work?
Competencies are the skills, knowledge and abilities that someone needs to do their job effectively. Therefore competency based interviews rely on you providing real evidence and examples of how you have demonstrated the skills and abilities that have been set out in the job specification (and so required to do the job in question). It is about providing evidence, providing examples and talking about what you have done. The underlying principle is that what you’ve done in the past is the best predictor of what you’ll do in the future.

What sorts of questions will I be asked?
Questions will be based on the competencies found in the advert/job description and person specification so you will already have an idea of what areas are going to be focussed on!

All interviewees are asked the same questions (to create a level playing field) and generally will be asking you to give an example of a situation or task and what you did in that situation so that you can provide evidence that you have a particular competency.

Typical wording is:

Tell me about a time when you have worked as part of a team

Give me an example of a time when you have communicated the same information in different ways to different audiences

Describe a time when you have dealt with a demanding customer

How do you deal with conflicting priorities?

The panel will be looking for specific examples of when and how candidates demonstrate particular competencies and behaviours.

How should I prepare for the interview?
Prepare by reviewing the job description and person specification and identifying the advertised competencies. Ascertain the examples and experiences you could refer to during the interview to demonstrate those competencies (use your current/previous Job Descriptions/appraisals/CV and also the application form you completed for the job in question)

How should I answer the questions?
Use the STAR principle in structuring your answers:

Situation – outline the situation/set the context – one sentence is fine


Task – What was the task that was set?


Action – What did you (not the team in general) do – avoid the temptation to say “we did this” “we did that” – they want to know what YOU did.


Result – what were the outcomes? Do NOT miss this part out and remember outcomes can be positive or negative. It is fine (even encouraged) to say “from this I learnt….or next time I would…..”

Describe the Situation and Task briefly – this is just setting the scene, most of your answer should focus on the Action and Results – this is what you will be probed on.

What if I have no evidence?
Don’t claim experience you haven’t got – you will be caught out.
If you haven’t experienced the situation you can say so! However it is a good idea to either say what you think you would do if you were in that situation OR you can say what you have witnessed someone else doing in that situation and highlight what you have learnt from that person’s actions.

For general interview hints and tips see Successful Interviews.