Competency based interview questions

27/07/2016

Competency based questions are a popular interviewing technique. They are designed to make the interview process as objective as possible, with each candidate being asked the same set of questions. These questions focus on competencies listed on the job specification, such as negotiation, leadership or teamwork. They invariably start with “tell me about a time when you demonstrated X”. Following the STAR method will help you to answer these questions effectively, ensuring that your answers are systemically structured and concise, without missing out important details.

Situation: Describe the situation you were in. You must describe a specific event or situation, rather than generally describing what you have done in the past. If the situation was a project, you would need to explain what the project was, who you were working with and when it happened.

Task: Next you need to describe the goal you were working towards. Rather than providing an overview of the whole team, you must detail exactly what your role in the situation was and what you were responsible for.

Action: This is the most substantial part of your answer – you need to detail the actions you took to address the situation. What you’re trying to portray here is how you assessed the situation, determined the appropriate plan of action and then executed said plan. What specific steps did you take? Remember to use ‘I’ rather than we, the interviewer is interested in the skills that you possess, not what the team did.

Result: This should be positive – describe the outcome of your actions, and don’t be shy about taking credit for it. Ideally the result will be one that can be quantified, such as a 15% increase in sales. As well as what you accomplished, you should describe what you learnt from the situation, and if there was anything you’d do differently if you were faced with the same situation again.

Make sure that the STAR method is followed in order. Be as specific as possible, without waffling or including too much information. Answers using this method should be around 1-3 minutes long.