Competency-based questions

For the second issue of the Boyce Blog we're looking at competency-based questions that are coming up more and more often in job interviews.

Many clients told us that they are increasingly using competency-based questions. These are questions that are designed to find out about certain skills and abilities (for example, team-work, ability to work under pressure, and customer service skills), and examples of times that you have displayed these skills. They are also called skills-based or behavioural questions.

Clients gave us examples of the most common competency-based questions. To answer these questions effectively, you must use an example from your experience. Don’t be too scared though – it can be an example from any job, or your studies, or sometimes even from an outside activity.

The best way to answer these questions is to describe the situation, explain the action that you took, and then give details about the final outcome.

Next week we'll look at the lighter side of interviews, with some of the most unusual answers our clients have received at interview

Most Common Competency Questions

1. Examples of competency-based questions that some of our clients use regularly are below.
2. Can you tell me a time when you dealt with an angry customer? What was the situation? How did you deal with it, and what was the outcome?
3. Tell me about a time when you have changed a way of doing things? Why did you want to change things and how did you go about implementing this?
4. Can you tell us about a time when you have worked well in team?
5. How have you managed a situation of conflict within a team?
6. Can you give me an example of a time when you have worked well under pressure?
7. Interacting with others can be challenging. How would you go about managing a situation of tension within a team?
8. Tell me about a time when you solved a problem, and how you went about it?
9. Imagine you are working here already. Your senior managers are in an important board meeting and have asked not to be disrupted. An urgent call comes through for one of them. What do you do?
10. Can you give me an example of a task you have successfully completed that has benefited the company?
11. You have an angry customer on the phone - how do you respond?

The Top 20 Questions asked at Interview

Welcome to the first post in the Boyce Recruitment Blog. We hope our blog will give you useful job-seeking advice - please feel free to let us know if there's a particular topic you'd like us to cover in future.

Our first few posts are going to concentrate on interview technique and tips. The posts will include tips and advice from some of our top clients on what makes a successful candidate and on how you can give the best possible interview.

Top 20 Questions

1. What attracted you to our company and why do you want to work for us?
2. Why are you interested in this role and why now?
3. What are your 3 main strengths and 3 main weaknesses?
4. Tell us about our last role and why you are leaving?
5. What is the biggest success or sense of achievement you have experienced in your career to date?
6. What strengths can you bring to the role and what are the challenges that you see for yourself in this role?
7. If I lined up 4 of your best friends, how would they describe you and how would that differentiate you from your Supervisor? And how would you describe yourself in a working environment?
8. In what areas would you like to improve?
9. What could you offer to this role above all other candidates?
10. Where do you see yourself fitting in with the company or the team?
11. What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
12. If I gave you £50,000, what would you spend it on?
13. Where do you want to progress to? Have you thought about your career plan?
14. What motivates you?
15. Why are you interested in our particular organisation above others within our industry?
16. What made you follow the career path that you have chosen?
17. What 3 qualities would you say that you need for a good sales person/ market research person, PA, PR Account Manager .....?
18. Define customer service in your own words
19. What IT systems have you used?
20. What creatively inspires you?

This isn't an exhaustive list of the questions you might be asked, but having an answer for all of these is a good preparation for any interview. In our next posting, we'll look at competency-based questions and how to respond to them.