Competency Based Interviews
Your success in an interview relies on your ability to understand what you have been asked and then to ensure your answer demonstrates you have the right level of the 3C's - Capability, Commitment, and Compatibility - to perform the role effectively.
 |
Your answers need to demonstrate that you have the knowledge, skills, and attitudes appropriate for the role, including things like motivation, self-confidence, and ethics. Finally, the way that you describe these qualities should match the language that the organization itself uses.
It is impossible to say exactly what questions you will be asked in an interview but it is possible to predict the areas that the questions will cover based on the job description. However, there is one type of question that is very common in management interviews - these are known as competency-based questions.
Competency-based questions are behavioral questions, in which the interviewer will ask you to describe a situation which demonstrates your abilities that will be integral to the role you're applying for.
Giving the 'best' answer to a competency-based question is something that requires a structured approach and takes both time and effort ahead of the interview. To understand why this is the case you first need to appreciate what competencies are and why organizations see them as important predictors of job performance.
A competency is:
A set of defined behaviors that provide a structured guide enabling the identification, evaluation, and development of the behaviors in individual employees.
There are two parts to a competency:
• Functional aspects - the technical components specific to each individual role.
• Behavioral aspects - the soft skills demonstrated by someone who is successfully performing the role.
 |
The competencies associated with a role are concerned with how someone delivers and attains their goals rather than what these goals are. This is the purpose behind competency-based questions, and they usually form the bulk of questions you will be asked in a management-level interview.
All organizations have their own competency framework that reflects the competencies and associated behaviors that are required at each level of management. Whilst these are specific to individual organizations there is usually a great deal of commonality between them.
Our free Management Competency Framework template defines twelve competencies and associated management behaviors. This is the framework that is used in our worked examples.
 |
It is essential that you understand the behaviors that constitute each of the above competencies. Without this level of knowledge your answers will not reflect your ability to behave at the required level. You also need to know the core competencies that reflect the organization's culture as well as those specific to the role.
In addition, matching the words you use in your answers to those used in the ad, job descriptions, and specification is one of the keys to giving a good answer to these questions.
You may also be interested in:
Competency Based Interviews | Competency-Based Questions | STAR Method | SOARA Method.
|
|
 |
