Most Common Competency Based Interview Questions and Answers (PDF)

Competency based interviewing has always been a favourite tool of the selection process for many companies and more and more recruitment partners are coming to realise the benefits of selecting new employees using this technique.

The basic premise driving this type of interview is that a candidate’s past performance is the best predictor of future performance. Competency based questions are directly linked to an essential function of the position.

Interviews not based on behavioural interviewing techniques usually tend to focus exclusively on education and experience, precisely the same information that can be found on a CV. Whilst this information helps candidates get to interview stage, it has limits.

To predict how an applicant is likely to handle the job, HR consultants need to ask for examples of things the candidate has actually done that would demonstrate the key characteristics the firm needs.

Competency based interviewing also helps an organization remove bias, as a candidate is assessed on their abilities to handle different situations and not on their education and longevity of experience.

Competencies are often categorised as follows:

“Competency Based Interviewing removes the risk of personal bias and makes the hiring process fairer”

The Examples of Competency-based Questions Follow:

Organisational Awareness:

• Describe the structure of your company and give an example of how you work within this culture to achieve a personal / professional goal.
• Describe how you would perceive the new company and how you would adapt to this culture.

Strategic Thinking:

• Describe your most challenging audit and what you changed to adapt to that scenario.
• How did you go about assessing your own performance within this assignment?

Communication:

• How do you keep your clients informed about difficult issues that directly affect their bottom line?
• Describe a difficult where you need to use your excellent communication skills?
• Give an example of how have you helped others improve their communication skills? (particularly helpful when interviewing at managerial level).

Client Focus:

• Give an example of how you provided service to a client beyond their expectations. How did you identify this need? What was their reaction?
• Describe the process you use to stay in touch with clients’ short and long-term needs.

Client Relationship:

• Explain your approach to establishing new client relationships.
• Explain how you maintain your existing clientele despite threats from competition.

Teamwork:

• Give an example of a time when you worked in a team. How did you help the team by contributing positively?
• Give an example of a time when there was conflict within the team and how you handled it.

Leadership Ability:

• Describe how you led a team (comprising trainees, juniors and seniors) through a difficult audit. How did you improve their work?
• Describe a situation where you had to take charge either with a demanding client or with your own team.

Adaptability / Flexibility:

• Tell me about the biggest challenges you faced when starting a new job.
• Describe a situation in which you were assigned new tasks. How did you adapt to this situation? Tell me about a time you had to learn how to use a new system or software at work.

Innovation:

This is especially important at the managerial level, as partners are searching for someone who can contribute to the company’s profitability:

• Describe something you have done that was new for your firm that raised the caliber of the task completed or your team’s performance.
• Have you taken any creative actions (either produced surveys or written reports) that your clients might find interesting or enhanced awareness of your firm?

Time Management:

• Give me a specific example of a time when you failed to complete an audit assignment on time.
• How did this outcome affect your firm?
• What else might you have done??
• What impact has that event had on your current approach to meeting deadlines?

How to Answer?

The ability for the candidate to connect their response to a real-world experience rather than providing a canned response from a textbook is one of the main advantages of this style of interviewing. This makes it possible for the applicant to share the details that are most pertinent to the open position.

It is ironic that while most hiring is done around technical skills, most staff retention issues arise based on softer skills such as attitude. A technical question would never reveal such a potential behavioural flaw. When competency-based behavioural interviewing forms the framework for the entire recruitment process, interviewers are able to make much more effective hiring decisions.

As more and more companies adapt to new legislation and new environments, each employee is becoming more commercially astute. No longer seen as mere employees, they are taking on the role of business consultants and ambassadors for their own firm. Competency-based behavioural interviewing enables interviewers to select the best possible candidate for their business and as such is an invaluable tool for any recruitment partner.

The structure of a competency answer is critical to its effectiveness and high score, therefore we advise adopting either the STAR or IPAR formulae as standard formulas.

Competency Based Interview Scoring:

Different methods will be employed by organizations to score and assess, but this is an example scoring sheet from by a large UK employer.