In this article, we explain what a competence-based interview means and how to prepare for it. We also list our recruiters' best tips for succeeding in a competency-based interview.
What does a competency-based interview mean?
The world of modern recruiting includes the idea that so-called hard skills alone do not tell about a job seeker's ability to succeed in a job task. In addition to hard skills, other types of qualities such as motivation, potential, behavior patterns, and personality play an increasingly important role.
To make the measurement of these qualities as fair and equal as possible for all candidates, the competency-based interview has been developed, and best of all - the model is also excellent from the job seeker's perspective!
In Academic Work recruiting, we utilize the competency-based interview model, according to which the most important qualities for success in the job are defined, and the candidate is evaluated based on these pre-defined competencies.
Competency refers to the visible behavior of an employee, which consists of the employee's skills, knowledge, experience, motives, values, and personality (Salli & Takatalo, 2014).
In the interview, other skills of the applicant, such as technical skills, motivation, or culture fit, are also evaluated in addition to competencies, but competencies play an equally important role in the overall assessment.
What are the questions like in a competency-based interview?
The focus during a competency-based interview is on how the applicant has behaved in previous situations. To find this out, we ask the applicant example questions where we ask you to tell about different situations you have encountered.
Example: If responsibility has been defined as a competency, we might ask for an example of a situation where you made a significant mistake at work. We ask you to describe the situation, how the mistake happened, how you acted when the mistake came to light, how you took responsibility, and what the outcome of the situation was.
But does previous behavior predict the future?
The competency-based interview technique has also received criticism that previous behavior does not necessarily always predict future behavior. This has been taken into account in our recruiting so that we also pay attention to the applicant's ability to reflect by asking, for example, what they learned from that situation or what they would do differently in the future.
The advantage of a competency-based interview is also the structure and equality it enables: the competencies are defined in advance and thus also the interview framework. When the evaluation of the applicant is based on competencies, the recruiter or supervisor must justify their decisions through concrete facts instead of a gut feeling or hunch.
Therefore, we can give the applicant more concrete feedback and help in future job searches, even if they are not selected for that specific task.
Tips for a competency-based interview
Reflect
- In what kind of situations or matters have you succeeded particularly well?
- What things have not gone according to plan?
- What has been challenging?
- What has been educational?
By bringing these memories to mind in advance, it is also easier to come up with examples in the interview situation.
Take time to give your answer
If you don't immediately come up with a suitable example situation, no worries! Think for a moment in peace before answering. It is always better to tell about one example situation more thoroughly than ten irrelevant situations that do not answer the question.
If your mind goes blank, think more broadly about your previous background. Often job seekers only think about their previous workplace.
- What happened in the one before that?
- Have you done volunteer work, for example, in clubs, organizations, or elsewhere - have you received responsibility there and experienced situations that would fit as an example?
Give as concrete examples as possible
The more concrete the example is, the better. We often tend to talk about our ways of working with sentences like "usually I act like this..." or "often I have done this...". However, this does not give a sufficiently concrete picture of your ways of working nor does it demonstrate the ability to reflect on your own actions.
So, try to focus on concrete and genuine situations, for example "in my last summer job when x happened in the project in progress...".
Be brave
When telling examples, you should not be afraid that some example would be silly, obvious, or too simple. In a competency-based interview, there is basically no right or wrong answer. Our skilled recruiters will ask you clarifying follow-up questions to ensure they understand the whole picture and can thus draw conclusions about the competency.
Be open
The goal of a competency-based interview is not to tell only about situations that went perfectly, because the recruiter is also interested in hearing about situations that you found challenging, where you have developed and learned, and situations where you have had to reflect on your own actions.
Recognizing and articulating your own strengths and development areas are important skills, no matter what kind of job you are applying for!
What are competencies?
Competencies therefore refer to eligibility or competence specifically through soft skills. They are abilities or qualities that are not essentially learned by studying, but they can be developed throughout your life.
Competencies can be:
- individual skills, e.g., persistence and results-orientation
- interpersonal skills, e.g., helpfulness, cooperation
- task-related skills, e.g., organization, thoroughness
- organization-related skills, e.g., strategic thinking, business-orientation