Competency-based interviews

[missyburd]

I have one very soon and although there is not a lot I need to prepare for the actual interview, it will be my first so I need to prepare myself if that makes sense!

Anybody got any tips or advice, ever given one or been in one and can let me know things to expect? I've found a couple of helpful things on the net but the .org is always a good place to come to :)

At the moment I'm just trying to gather together scenarios that I've experienced in work areas and seeing as I have a poor memory anyway this is proving difficult lol.

Thanks in advance

MYC

[andrewsmith]

MYC pm Gruntygiggles she may be able to help

[Milky Bar Kid]

Took the words right outta my mouth. Also, will PM you Maria, I have stuff you might want to read.

[Bri w]

Suffered them , and marked them.

Bit like psychometric testing but with a situational, often work related bias.

Its more a testing of commonsense and life experience of dealing with real or hypothetical situations. Its not something you can fail, as its more to do with how your personality responds. Whenever I've done them I've enjoyed the challenge - good fun.

Would also recommend knowing the company's competitors and how they market/target business. Ideally an understanding of a company's Unique Selling Points (USP's), and Mission Statement then weaving that into your responses to the situational questions.

You're not daft Maria, you'll be ok.

[BernardBikerchick]

hey hun I have ALL the info you could possible need on this i am confident to say !! if you PM me your e-mail etc.. I can send you a loads of questions - I am an interviewer in my current role and I love having interviews myself ! to date as an intervieweeee!! i have never NOT got a job that I have had an interview for ! not bragging as such but honestly i've got every single one !!!!:smt026 its all about taking your time and making them wait for your answer - its really much easier than peeps make out !
i will mail a loads of stuff home tonight if you need anything else i'llput my number over to you to xxxx anything to help x

[BernardBikerchick]

just out of interest whats the job for ?? pm me if u like x

[gruntygiggles]

Suffered them , and marked them.

Bit like psychometric testing but with a situational, often work related bias.

Its more a testing of commonsense and life experience of dealing with real or hypothetical situations. Its not something you can fail, as its more to do with how your personality responds. Whenever I've done them I've enjoyed the challenge - good fun.

Would also recommend knowing the company's competitors and how they market/target business. Ideally an understanding of a company's Unique Selling Points (USP's), and Mission Statement then weaving that into your responses to the situational questions.

You're not daft Maria, you'll be ok.

+1 to this Maria, but be careful not to overdo it in leaning your answers to what you think the company will want you to say. This is the opposite to the advice I would normally give, but in a compenantcy based interview, otherwise known as a structured interview, you need to be able to give real accounts of your examples. What they are doing is testing your skills and/or personality with each question, for which they will be looking for your answer to meet certain criteria.

If you don't use an example that comes from one of your own experiences, you run the risk of them realising this if they later question you further on the answer you gave them. You need to be completely honest in these interviews (something I would always reccomend anyway) as they will see through it if you're not. That said, I don't think you'll have a problem on that count :-)

Take BBC up on her offer, especially if she has sample competancy based interview questions as you will be able to have answers prepared in advance. Whilst you want to be very prepared before you go in, you don't want to come across as rehearsed, so like BBC has said, when asked a question, pause a little and be considered, relaxed and unrushed in giving your answer.

The biggest tip in the world....Smile.

I'll PM you later as well with some more info...just realised the time and need to get a few things done.

Oh....and I think you're perfectly suited to it, so you'll be fine :-)

[missyburd]

Aww thanks everyone, you're all very reassuring! I've never had a panel interview before, even though it's only 3 people. I've had 3 one person interviews and got all 3 jobs but being interviewd for a large organisation is always daunting :shock:

Fingers crossed, thanks everyone who's replied :D

[andrewsmith]

good luck MYC! group interviews ain't scary at all.

[BernardBikerchick]

+1 to this Maria, but be careful not to overdo it in leaning your answers to what you think the company will want you to say. This is the opposite to the advice I would normally give, but in a compenantcy based interview, otherwise known as a structured interview, you need to be able to give real accounts of your examples. What they are doing is testing your skills and/or personality with each question, for which they will be looking for your answer to meet certain criteria.

If you don't use an example that comes from one of your own experiences, you run the risk of them realising this if they later question you further on the answer you gave them. You need to be completely honest in these interviews (something I would always reccomend anyway) as they will see through it if you're not. That said, I don't think you'll have a problem on that count :-)

Take BBC up on her offer, especially if she has sample competancy based interview questions as you will be able to have answers prepared in advance. Whilst you want to be very prepared before you go in, you don't want to come across as rehearsed, so like BBC has said, when asked a question, pause a little and be considered, relaxed and unrushed in giving your answer.

The biggest tip in the world....Smile.

I'll PM you later as well with some more info...just realised the time and need to get a few things done.

Oh....and I think you're perfectly suited to it, so you'll be fine :-)

ya dead right hun xxxxxx xx relaxed and smile thats how i get all my jobs smile !!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx on its way hun x

[-Ralph-]

to date as an intervieweeee!! i have never NOT got a job that I have had an interview for ! not bragging as such but honestly i've got every single one !!!!

Just smile

+1, me too. Always got any job I've gone for, or earlier in my career when less picky about what I applied for, I always had multiple offers to choose from if I've interviewed for multiple different jobs.

Can't help you much with the competency based as I've only ever done psychometric, and the first time I did one of those the company had to get me back to do it a second time as the analysis came back "inconclusive" :D The company that ran the tests said that happens when people had tried to engineer the responses, but hand on heart I hadn't at all, I just knew a computer would never figure me out :smt002

What I can say is go in calm, confident and genuinely happy to meet whoever it is you are meeting, just as I know you are when meeting new people on rideouts, and just be yourself. I treat a job interview as nothing more than a relaxed, business as usual, day to day sales meeting with a customer, but the product I'm being asked to talk about is me. :smt102

If you are right for the job/company, and the company/job are right for you, then you'll get the offer. If not, then you probably didn't want the job anyway, so relax, be honest, go along for a coffee and a chat, and don't worry about whether you're going to get it or not.

[BernardBikerchick]

e-mail sent hun xxx pm me any probs xxxxxxxxxxx we're all gunning for you ! xx

[BernardBikerchick]

hey hun sent you a huge mail but its bounced and can't PM you either lol !!!

i've got mail all saved and re read your e-mail with spidey eyes too but it still won't send ........ xxx let me know xxx

[missyburd]

Sorry Verna, might have given you the wrong email...pm-ing again

[-Ralph-]

Sorry Verna, might have given you the wrong email...pm-ing again

Oh, that old excuse! It used to be telephone numbers with digit or two missing, but I guess technology has moved the world onwards. ;)

[Viney]

I hate CBI. Totally pointless in todays environment imho.

Tell me about a time when you done this etc etc. Yawn.

[gruntygiggles]

I hate CBI. Totally pointless in todays environment imho.

Tell me about a time when you done this etc etc. Yawn.

I know V - worst thing is, they are supposed to help an employer discover your skills, but psychometric testing is much better at that (if you get the right people doing it). I've always seen it as a bit of a cop out by the interviewers. If I am recruiting or, in my old job, interviewing candidates for clients, I wanted to get to know them as much as I wanted to *understand their work history/training. You can't do that very well with CBI. It fulfills pre-set criteria and takes away the need for much more consideration.
*Understanding who your candidate is, what they are about, what they want and how they got to where they are is a far better way of knowing if they will be a good fit in yoru company and be able to do what you need them to do.

It's all very well doing that in second interviews, but you may have already dismissed the best candidate.

Maria, you'll be fine. I think the only stumbling block you may face is your future. If it's a temp role, no probs. If it's a permanent role, they may want to know why you want it or if you'll leave the moment something more in line with your degree comes along.

[-Ralph-]

they may want to know why you want it or if you'll leave the moment something more in line with your degree comes along.

What's it for Maria?

[missyburd]

PHEW done it! Seemed to go really well, I needed a few prompts with some questions but apart from the odd mindblank it wasn't bad. Got to wait for the phonecall now, eeeep!


Thanks everyone for their help, really did the trick, I went in as prepared as I could be I think. Still blummin' glad it's over though!

Oh and note to self, changing into interview dress after riding to interview on bike is...ummm interesting! :D



What's it for Maria?
Just a retail role within the RSPB, but it's something I happen to have a fair bit of experience in and it's a foot-int-door :-)

[gruntygiggles]

Well done Maria. Got my fingers crossed for you. Did you have any questions that you wren't expecting?

[missyburd]

A couple but the panel interviewing me were giving me lots of prompting questions if I needed them to expand my answers a little so that was great :-)

[gruntygiggles]

If they prompt and encourage rather than let you give a crappy answer, you know they like you :-)

[missyburd]

If they prompt and encourage rather than let you give a crappy answer, you know they like you :-)
that's what I heard so it boosted me a little :)

[Viney]

Just a retail role within the RSPB, but it's something I happen to have a fair bit of experience in and it's a foot-int-door :-)They done CBI for that! Crazy talk. Best of luck MYC

Last person i interviewed worked with me for 4 years. We took it outside the office, went to starbucks and just chatted. I got far more from him then i would have in a CBI environment.

My last intereview was for an internal role and Xerox just love the whole CBI stuff. The person who interviewed me was my boss for 2 years. He knew everything that i would know the answer to and had experience in and asked all the stuff that i didnt and wouldnt actually need in the new role. So it ended up with me taking the mickey out of him for an hour! I knew i wasnt going to get the job anyway as someone had already been lined up. The internal grapvine is far better, they just dont see it.

[missyburd]

They done CBI for that! Crazy talk. Best of luck MYC

Last person i interviewed worked with me for 4 years. We took it outside the office, went to starbucks and just chatted. I got far more from him then i would have in a CBI environment.


That does sound a far better way of doing it but then I guess in a large organisation like that they just stick to procedure for convenience.