Matching Competencies to Role Responsibilities
Matching a role's competencies to your own is a three-step process:
1) Define the Role Competencies
2) Relate Your Competencies to the Role's
3) Develop Your Competencies (if required)
This example uses Sam, who has applied for a marketing manager's role, and shows how to relate his behaviors to the required competencies. It only covers the first two steps of the process in detail as the third step is covered in our free eBook 'Developing Competencies'.
This example uses the job ad and the associated job description. The details often contained in an employee specification are described under the 'Required Qualifications & Abilities' section of the ad. This enables you to see how to extract key competencies out of a short description rather than a detailed specification.
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Sam's resume is not included but you can see how he extracts items from it that demonstrate the competencies needed to complete the comparison. This also shows him the level of management - supervisory, manager, executive, strategic - he is currently performing at and whether this is sufficient to be a serious contender for the marketing manager's role.
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This information gives Sam sufficient data to enable him to start defining the required competencies of the marketing manager's role using the management competency framework template.
Defining Role Competencies
Using the ad and job description it is easy to tease out the competencies that are required of someone in the marketing manger's role. Sam recognizes that his experience and behaviors need to show an individual operating at a strategic level rather than the hands-on level his current resume suggests.
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Using the management competencies described in our free template framework Sam can map and rank these requirements and responsibilities. The first task is to pull out the various responsibilities described in the job description and ad.
Always be mindful that certain competencies, such as 'Customer Focused,' may not be specifically named because there is an innate expectation that this is included for this level of role and does not need to be stated. Using this assumption and the frequency with which each competency appears an initial ranking can be made.
Sam's second task is to repeat this process using the information contained in the 'Required Qualifications & Abilities' section of the ad.
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The final table shows how the priorities of the different competencies alter from that of just the job description and then the whole ad. Customer Focused remains at the top because it is a marketing manger's role Sam wishes to attain.
You can see that the emphasis on 'Interpersonal Communications' is much greater than the initial ranking. Also that equal ranking is given to 'Resource Management' and 'Decision-Making' competencies after the second task.
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When comparing the two sides of this table you can also see that the priorities have changed and that the top four competencies have altered. As we work through this example we will demonstrate how Sam can match his own competencies to these top four required competencies.
This mapping exercise will reveal any gaps in the required competencies that need developing if he wants to attain the role. It also highlights where his behavior is not at the appropriate level and needs to be changed. In some instances Sam may need to use behaviors from what he has called 'External Responsibilities' on his resume.
This can be especially important if faced with a short time period to prepare for an interview. Sam also uses one detail on his resume to cover several competencies to varying degrees and this is another useful strategy to ensure you have all the required competencies.
E.g. Sam uses 'Production of regular budget monitoring and reporting for local government sector' to illustrate the competencies: Customer Focused, Planning & Organizing, Resource Management, and Decision-Making.
You may also be interested in:
Management Interview Preparation | Preliminary Interviews | Using a Recruitment Agency | Understanding the Role Description | Matching Competencies to Role Responsibilities | Matching Competencies Example.
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