Competency-based interview questions come from a list the interviewer brings, each one focused on a particular skill, and your answers are compared against criteria set in advance (Prospects). The skills at stake are the ones that matter for the role and for the organisation, such as creativity, teamwork, leadership and analytical skills (University of Sussex Careers). Before you go in, write down the skills you expect to be asked about and choose one real example for each.
The same questions under other names
Prospects treats structured, behavioural and situational interviews as other names for a competency-based interview, which is designed to test one or more skills or competencies (Prospects). If you are applying in Australia, the word you meet most often is behavioural: SEEK Grad, an Australian graduate jobs site with a commercial interest in graduate recruitment, calls these behavioural questions and says they often test time management, leadership, problem-solving and teamwork (SEEK Grad). SEEK Grad's advice is that you use the STAR method for behavioural questions, which it says often come at the video or one-to-one in-person stage of a graduate recruitment process.
The competencies that come up
Prospects lists adaptability, commercial awareness, communication, conflict resolution, decisiveness, independence, flexibility, leadership, problem solving, organisation, resilience and teamwork among the competencies employers regularly seek (Prospects). Read the role and the organisation with that list in front of you, and mark the ones the job seems to be built around. Do not assume every question repeats the same skill: Prospects says the questions aim to test a variety of skills, and you have to answer in the context of actual events (Prospects).
Why the questions look backwards
Prospects explains the format through one idea: competency interviews work on the principle that past behaviour is the best indicator of future performance, and interviewers are looking for what actually happened and what you did (Prospects). When you pick an example, check that you can describe your own actions in it. A story that stays at the level of what your group decided gives the interviewer little to compare against the criteria.
Giving the answer a shape
The National Careers Service sets out STAR as Situation, Task, Action and Result: the situation you had to deal with, the task you were given, the action you took, and what happened as a result, including what you learned.
University of Sussex Careers says using the STAR model gives your answers a structure and helps you give calm, clear and concise responses (University of Sussex Careers).
The Civil Service suggests the same shape. The Cabinet Office advises candidates to use STAR to set the scene, show what and how they did something, and the overall outcome.
Prospects adds a fifth step in STARR, reflection, and says the action part should explain what you did and how and why you did it (Prospects). Always include the result, ideally with tangible outcomes. If you leave the ending vague, the interviewer has no outcome to weigh.
Example questions to prepare for
The National Careers Service uses three questions as STAR examples:
- Tell me about a time when you have shown leadership skills.
- Tell me about a time you have worked as part of a team?
- Give me an example of when you faced a problem at work. How did you handle it?
Prospects says asking about a time you coped with a difficult situation is one of the most popular competency-based interview questions, and suggests outlining an instance where you coped with an unexpected problem and explaining how you reorganised and managed your time (Prospects).
On the greatest achievement question, Prospects says your answer should ideally evidence skills relevant to the job, such as teamwork, initiative, communication, determination and organisation (Prospects).
None of these needs a dramatic story. The National Careers Service says to use examples from work, home or volunteering, keeping them short and to the point and sounding conversational rather than rehearsed, and to be ready for follow-up questions about whatever you use (National Careers Service).
What to do this week
Choose one example that covers a skill you expect to be asked about, from a job, a society, a placement, volunteering or home. Write it in STARR order on one page: what the situation was, what you had to do, what you did and why, what happened, and what you would do differently.
Then say it out loud to another person. Prospects advises getting familiar with the STARR approach and practising your responses with a friend or family member (Prospects), which is the step most people skip when they read about interview technique and never speak the answer.
If you would rather rehearse with something that answers back, you can run competency questions with Pip on the mock interview page, where it asks one question at a time, marks your answer out of five and shows a stronger version built only from what you said. The site's STAR page works through an example and has a box where you can ask Pip to mark your rough version.
Prepare the content first. Delivery gets easier once you know which example you are reaching for and which skill it proves.
Sources
- Prospects — Competency-based interviews: how to prepare and example answers
- Prospects — Interview question examples
- University of Sussex Careers — How to answer job interview questions
- National Careers Service — The STAR method
- SEEK Grad — How to use the STAR method
- Cabinet Office — Success Profiles: candidate overview