At Search4Local Jobs, when we reach out to candidates our first step is to conduct a competency-based interview. This means that we’ll ask you questions which help us to determine how suitable you are for the role. It may sound daunting, but it’s actually very simple. Knowing how to answer these questions is an excellent skill to have that will be useful for a range of applications. Let’s take a closer look at how you can prepare to answer competency-based questions.
Why Are Competency-Based Interview Questions Preferred By Search4Local Jobs?
There are two broad types of interview questions. Those are competency-based and strength-based. Both help recruiters to determine who is most suited to a role. Competencies tell us whether you are suitable and capable of doing the job, whereas strengths are better at determining how well you can perform it. We believe that by asking competency-based interview questions, we can better match individuals’ skills and experience to the positions that we advertise.
What Are Competencies?
The exact competencies we’ll be trying to determine will vary, depending on the role you’ve applied to. We consult with the employer to work out which traits are most important to them. Some common ones are:
· Time management skills
· Communication skills
· Teamwork
· Ability to adapt
There are many more competencies that we’re trained to identify. However, knowing what they are is far less important than knowing how to answer a competency-based question. Recruiters need to know that you’re best suited to the requirements of the role, not that you’re exhibiting every competence in the book.
Don’t Misrepresent Yourself
Before we dive further in to the do’s and don’ts of answering competency-based questions, it’s important that we make one thing clear. Always be honest. There’s no point in lying about having a skill or experience that you don’t have to try and secure a job that’s beyond your capabilities. At the end of the day, we’re asking these questions to ensure that you’re suitable for the role and that it’s going to bring out the best in you. If you don’t past this stage of interview, it doesn’t mean that you’ve failed. It simply means that this job isn’t going to be best suited to your unique skills and personality traits.
What Does A Competency-Based Question Sound Like?
If an interviewer asks you to give an example of a time when you did something, experienced an event or showed a particular skill, this is a competency-based question. You’ll need to draw on your personal experiences to answer these questions.
Interviewers will often follow up on your answers, potentially asking for further examples. They may probe deeper into your experiences, asking for more details about the specific circumstances or actions you took. There may also be a few speculative questions, which require you to reflect on what happened and consider what you may have done differently.
How To Answer Competency-Based Interview Questions
There’s a simple format which can help you to answer competency-based questions thoroughly and effectively. It’s easy to remember using the acronym STAR. It breaks down into the following:
· Situation
· Task
· Action
· Result
Explain each of these aspects as part of your answer, and you’ll be flying.
You only need to outline the Situation in a couple of sentences. The Task can be defined similarly. Spend the most amount of time on Action if you can, as this is where your competency should be easiest to identify. Finally, the Results should summarise what happened as a result of former, and can include feedback from others as well as your personal opinion on how the situation was handled. You can also add anything you might have changed upon reflection.
What If You’re Unfamiliar With The Question?
In some cases, especially when applying for entry-level positions, you may have limited experiences to draw from. In the grand scheme of things, this isn’t an issue, as the purpose of the question is to determine your behaviour patterns rather than your level of experience. When you don’t have a real example to draw from, you may need to respond hypothetically.
Be Yourself
The most important thing about how you approach any interview is that you’re honest and true to yourself. There’s no point in misleading your interviewer into thinking you possess different skills and personality traits than what you really do. You’ll be found out eventually and it won’t reflect well on you. As well as that, it will waste precious time that would be better spent on pursuing roles that are better suited to you.