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Competence or Behavioural Interviews Made EasyLet's move on to competence based interviews.
So far I've only dealt with interviews that are the standard 'what did you do here' or 'why did you go there' type of interview which is based around your CV and what you will bring to the party. An interesting departure from this style is the behavioural interview where the interviewer is looking for specific evidence of a particular set of abilities or competences.
Like the standard interview there will often be a "background review" to get things moving but after that they will move into a set of questions which will be the same for every candidate to determine whether you've got the level of competence or ability in the area they want. Many companies call this the 'STAR' routine
STAR stands for: Situation Task Action Result
What they now want is for you to outline a Situation where you used the particular ability; Or the Task that you had to do; Describe the Action that you took; Summarise the Results of your actions.
This may sound complex, but it's actually a very straightforward interview to master. That's mainly because they tell you beforehand what competences or abilities they intend to cover!!
A typical set of abilities they might want to explore could be:
With knowledge of the STAR routine and your skills stories you'll have no trouble with this one!!
So where do your competences come from? Competence comes from your skills!
Before you set off, think about a definition of each of the competences above, as it relates to your job. Then you must work out how you can relate a short story describing how you do each thing with an example to illustrate it. Let me start you off...
Planning and Organising is possessing the competence or ability to establish appropriate courses of action for self and /or others to accomplish a specific goal; planning proper assignments of personnel and appropriate allocation of reources. Key Actions might be: set priorities; establish objectives and milestones; estimate times and schedule activities; identify and allocate resources; use relevant tools (files, charts etc.) A typical question might be: "Tell me about a time when you were faced with conflicting priorities. How did you determine what took top priority in scheduling your time?"
Motivational Fit could be described as the extent to which job activities and responsibilities; the organisation’s culture and values, and the community are consistent with the type of work that is personally satisfying. The actual definition depends on you. Key Actions may include opportunities for interaction with others; variety of tasks; fast work pace; achievement; development; coaching or leading others. A typical question might be: “Tell about a time when you had opportunities to work independently from your manager. How satisfied were you and why?”
Problem Solving is the competence or ability to commit to a course of action after developing alternatives based on logical assumptions and factual information, taking into consideration resources, constraints and organisational values. Key Actions would include defining the decision criteria; considering alternatives based on pertinent facts; weighing the ‘pros and cons’; informing others. A typical question might be: “Occasionally we make decisions our manager disagrees with. Tell me about a time this happened and why they disagreed with you.”
Key Actions would be setting and emphasising high performance standards. Showing pride and recognition when high standards are met. To show dissatisfaction with low standards. Typical questions might include:
“Everyone is pressured from time to time, to complete a project at the expense of quality. Tell me about a time when this happened to you, what did you do?”
Delegation is defined as allocating decision-making authority to appropriate direct reports; utilising their time, skills and potential effectively. Key Actions would be targeting assignments appropriately; give responsibility for action; clarify boundaries of responsibility; show confidence; provide relevant resources and follow up procedures. Questions on this ability might include: “When assigning work to one of your direct reports, how did you determine how much instruction to give? Give me an example of when you applied this.”
You can find out more about the key skill of Delegation; what and when to delegate and whom you should delegate to by going to this page Time Management & Delegation on my sister site at Career Consulting Limited Initiative shows active attempts to influence events to achieve goals. Being self-starting rather than passively waiting for something or someone. Taking action; being proactive to achieve more than is required. Key Actions include generating ideas for improvement; solving problems without being asked; seeking self-development opportunities; doing more than is required – going the extra mile. Questions to determine initiative might include: “How have your management techniques differed from other people in your company. What did you do that was different? Give me an example.”
You see how easy this becomes? 1 Define the competence or ability (which they’ll tell you about) then 2 Build up a little story to illustrate your competence. 3 Use the Key Actions to form the basis of your competence story
Take this approach,and your competence at dealing with this type of interview will lift off!! I also recommend that you read The Competitive Edge for more high-performance insights.
From Competence Back to Interview Presentation Skills. Looking for something specific? An answer to an interview question? A CV or Resume layout? How to start Networking? Or some ideas of your options? Just enter your keyword in the search box below to find your answer on this site or anywhere else on the web. You will see some adverts that may be of interest since Google targets ads to your particular interests, but your results will be below that.
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