What is competency based interviewing?
Competency based recruitment is a style of interviewing.
- What is it?
- How can I prepare for it?
- How will I be measured?
What is it?
It's a style of interviewing used so that a candidate can best show how they would demonstrate certain behaviours/skills in the work place; by answering questions about how you have reacted to and dealt with previous work place situations.
By using past experience a potential employer can predict future behaviour by:
- Eliminating misunderstandings
- Preventing personal impressions
- Reducing the candidate's ability to "fake"
You will be asked to give an example of a situation or task which led you to take a certain course of action. Probing questions will then be used to determine the course of action you took and what changes were created by those actions and the effects of those actions on others.
Traditional job descriptions are now quite out-dated. Most organisations will analyse a role by breaking it down into key competencies. For example the competencies of a lawyer may be planning and organising, innovation, personal drive, problem analysis and decision making. If an organisation uses this type of interviewing, it is very likely that your job will be defined on this basis and your performance in it will be managed through competencies. For example your appraisal may well be linked to evidence and real-life examples of having demonstrated these competencies.
