Blue sky: competency-based interviews

Are you competent to do the job?

When did you last time sit an interview for work? If you were faced with a “competency-based” interview would you know how to prepare for it?

Competency-based interviewing is currently used by many companies and organizations to select the right candidate for the job. What does it mean? Well, a job description is usually based upon a set of “competencies” which are considered necessary to effectively carry out the tasks linked to a job. They can cover a whole set of abilities which apart from technical skills can include things as diverse as communication skills, teamwork, creating and maintaining relationships with people, managing oneself, producing results, and managing change. The job description or vacancy notice usually carry these and they will give you some clues about the type of interview questions you will have to answer.

Competency-based questions work around the tenet that you need to demonstrate that you have the required skill by producing evidence in the form of an example. A traditional interview may include a question like:

“What would you do if you were faced with a difficult customer?”

The candidate may answer with:

“I would always be calm and give good service.”

This may be true but how does the potential employer know without any evidence? By contrast, in a competency-based interview you would be asked:

“Tell me about a time when you were faced with a difficult customer. What did you do and what was the outcome?”

If you don’t have an authentic example prepared, this can be truly challenging. However, if you sit down with a list of the competencies required and think back to some of the projects and tasks you have done in your job, and in previous jobs you are bound to come up with at least one or two examples which you can re-produce at interview. You will need to prepare several examples for each type of competency so as to be thoroughly prepared. Each response can become an anecdote, so the skill is in the telling too.

A good example of a response to the above question might be:

“Yes, when I was working at Oldhams as Departmental Manager, there was a situation with a man who became very abusive because we would not give him his money back for a faulty kettle. The problem was that his guarantee was well out of date. In the end, I calmed the customer down by listening to the him and I gave him a credit note. Fortunately, he came back and bought a much more expensive kettle!”

This response answers all the parts of the question and clearly demonstrates the candidate’s attitude towards customer service.

You can learn more about interviewing techniques through Blue Sky Reflections at:

www.blueskyreflections.com

Blue Sky Reflections

Have you ever realized that work takes up a third of your life?

Some people seem to be born with a vocation. However, most of us drift into jobs, fall into careers, sometimes happily, sometimes not. I don’t know whether you got career advice when you were at school, but I remember my school careers service very clearly. It consisted of a few damp books in a rusty caravan. People had always fascinated me and how their minds tick. I looked into the Penguin A-Z of Careers under ”Psychology”, which said I needed 3 Science A levels to do a degree. As I was studying 3 languages that was the end of that!

About twenty years later, I bumped into someone who was working as an Open University tutor. Luckily, she told me that I could indeed study psychology without science A levels. And that was the beginning of a new career.

Psychology led me into Human Resources. While working as an HR Officer, I realized how many people were unhappy in their working lives. I went on to study for a Masters in Counselling, intending to become a Career Counsellor, as I realized (finally!) that this was my passion.

My experience working in recruitment meant that I developed some inside knowledge about how and why some candidates are picked for jobs while others are not. Competition is stiff for high-level professional jobs, and my first task was to sift through hundreds of applications, selecting a shortlist of candidates for interview. My efficiency depended on being able to scan a CV and decide “yes” or “no” in less than about 30 seconds. Needless to say, only the outstanding ones got through!

When I meet a client, the first thing I do is listen. People often don’t know what they need beyond getting a job! Some clients don’t know what they would like to do or have difficulty communicating their transferable skills. Other people may have unexpectantly been made redundant and need help in coming to terms with the situation and finding a new career.

I could be working on anything from exploring and discovering someone’s passions to getting them to understand their achievements and build up their confidence. Others may suddenly be faced with a job interview and panic that they haven’t had an interview for years, or indeed ever!

Career counseling is a collaborative process. I am there to help my client find their way, not just to find them a job. Work takes up a great deal of our time, so don’t we owe it to ourselves to do something we love? Successful career outcomes depend on your ability to reflect deeply on who you are and what you want to do. I have done just that myself, managing to turn my life around and find a job I love to do. I would love to help you do it too!

You can learn more about how Blue Sky Reflections can help you at:

www.blueskyreflections.com