COMPETENCY-BASED INTERVIEWS

PREPARATION IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS

Competency-based interviews (also referred to as a skills-based, situational or behavioural interview)

work on the premise that evidence of past performance is a valid indicator of future performance within
a similar role.
The majority of organisations now employ some sort of competency framework, asking competencybased questions and using competencies as their preferred selection method.
Preparing for competency based interviews
Competency based interview questions will ask for specific examples of prior experience. The most
important part of preparing for a competency based interview, is to go through the competencies that
may be questioned. Think of examples of your related experiences.
Think through your experiences in terms of STAR:

Situation

Task

Action

Result

The answer that you provide must relate to a specific example within your experience and you should
always aim to use the most recent experience that you can.
For example, an interviewer assessing for the competency "teamwork" might ask the following
question:
"Tell me about a situation where you needed to work as a team to achieve a positive outcome?"
The answer should include a description of what happened, the approach you took and the outcome.
Once you have provided an answer, follow up questions will be asked to drill down into the specific
detail. Examples of these include:
"What was your specific role?"
"What could you have done differently?"
"How did the outcome affect your company?"
Competency-based interview questions
Here are some more common competency-based interview questions to help you think through some
examples. Remember to use the STAR structure!

Influencing or Persuading Others

Tell me about a time when you were able to significantly change someones point of view.

Tell me about a time when you were asked to do something that you disagreed with.

Interpersonal and Team Skills

What skills and personal qualities have you contributed to the teams you have been part of?

Tell me about a time when you used tact and diplomacy.

Tell me about the last time you had a disagreement with someone.

What have you disliked in your past jobs?

What kinds of people do you enjoy working with?

What kinds of people frustrate you?

What qualities do you admire most in others?

Communication Skills

Tell me about a time when you were successful in getting crucial information from another
person.

Tell me about a time when someone misunderstood what you were attempting to communicate
to them.
Personal Adaptability, Energy and Resilience

Tell me about a time when your work or an idea was criticised.

Tell me about a time when you felt under pressure.

Tell me about a time when you felt frustrated by your work.

Self-management, Self-motivation and Self-knowledge

Tell me about a time when you acted over and above the expectations of your role.

What does success mean to you?

What does failure mean to you?

Tell me about a major problem you have encountered and how you dealt with it?

Problem Solving and Decision Making

Tell me about a difficult decision that you have made.

Tell me about an unpopular decision you have made.

What significant problems have you faced in the last year?

What impact do you thinkwill have on our business?

How would you motivate an employee who was performing poorly?

Conflict Management and Ethics

How do you resolve conflict in the groups or teams that you are a member of?

How would you resolve a dispute?

Tell me about a time when you bent the rules. When is it okay to do so?

Academic Experience

If you were hiring a graduate for this position, what qualities would you look for?

Ability, Competence and Achievement

What two or three accomplishments have given you the most satisfaction? Why?

What do you feel qualifies you for this position?

JUDGEMENT & DECISION MAKING

Selects & uses relevant information to make sound & balanced judgements. Evaluates the risks of
alternative options and makes confident decisions in the face of uncertainty or incomplete knowledge.

1.

Tell me about a time you took responsibility for making a key decision.
What was the decision you made?
How did you justify your decision?

2.
Sometimes we have to make decisions that are challenged by others. Describe a situation when
you made a decision that was challenged.
What was your decision?
How did the people who were affected react?
How did you respond to people who challenged your decision?

3.

Give me an example of when you had to work without any guidance.

What kinds of decisions did you have to make?
How did you cope?
What feedback did you receive?

4.

Describe a time when you referred an urgent decision upwards?

What was the background?
Why did you need help?

5.

Tell me about a decision you made that involved an element of risk.

Why did you need to make the decision?
What were the consequences?

DRIVE & COMMITMENT

Has the determination, effort and enthusiasm to deliver results. Is energetic, takes the initiative,
originates action and keeps things moving.

1.

Tell me about a time that you worked especially hard.

What aspect of the situation motivated you to work hard?
What elements of the situation did you find de-motivating?
What was the result of your hard work?

2.

Give me an example of when you set yourself a challenging target.

Why did you set yourself the target?
What made it so challenging?
What was the outcome?

3.

Give me an example of when you took the initiative and made something happen.
How did you progress the idea?
How did you gain support for the initiative?
What was the impact of your initiative?

4.

Tell me about a time when a project you were working on did not go as planned.
What didnt go well?
How did you feel?
How did you react?

5.

Give me an example of when you did more than was asked of you.
What was the situation?
What did you do?
What was the result?

PLANNING & ORGANISING

Is personally well organised and keeps focused on priorities in own and others' work. Develops and
monitors clear and realistic action plans to accomplish given objectives using given resources.

1.

Describe a time when you had to organise the implementation of a plan.

What were the key stages you worked through?
How did you ensure the plan was followed?
How did this work in practice?

2.

Tell me about a time when you were unable to deliver what you promised to deliver.
Why did this happen?

To what extent were you responsible?

What did you do to try and overcome the problem?

3.

Tell me about a situation when a number of projects needed your attention.

What were the projects?

How did you manage your limited resources?
To what extent did the different projects succeed?

4.

Describe a project where you had to organise the resources you needed in advance.
How did you plan this?

To what extent did the resources you identified as required match the resources needed in
practice?

5.

Give me an example of when you had to work towards an important deadline.

What measures did you take to ensure you met the deadline?
What did you find most challenging in respect to planning and organising?
Why were these elements challenging?

INNOVATION

The inclination and ability to challenge the status quo, and to generate new ideas and creative
approaches which move the business forward.

1.

Tell me about a time when you questioned or challenged a way of working?

Why did you question it?

What did you suggest?

To what extent was your recommendation used?

2.

Describe a situation when you produced an imaginative solution to a problem at work.

How did you generate the idea?

What feedback did you receive?

3.

Tell me about a situation when you initiated a new or better way of doing things.

What did you suggest?

Which ideas did you put into place?
What was the outcome?

4.
Sometimes someone else will generate a good idea but it is someone else who promotes it.
What ideas have you promoted in this way?

5.

Describe a major change or adaptation that you have had to make recently.
What made the change challenging?
How did you feel during the period of change?