Behavioral Competency Based Interview Preparation Guide

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The number of academic standards that have been generated by national organizations and states can be overwhelming. Based on a study the system would need to be changed from a K-12 to a K-22 system in order to adequately teach all standards to mastery. This is certainly a recipe for failure. The Common Core creates a different starting point, focusing on the most important standards. The next step is to translate the standards into core competencies. States can be helpful in identifying a shared set of core competencies that all districts will be building upon. This is also helpful for establishing portability, a key ingredient for ensuring that students with high mobility will benefit directly from a competency-based system.

The common core includes application of knowledge through high-order skills. However, there are other skills that are important to all students but particularly critical for students living in areas of concentrated poverty and/or violence. These include social-emotional and navigational skills that help them overcome trauma and engage others in helping them to manage highly complex dilemmas in their lives. In addition, workforce and career development are critical for finding jobs to support families and increased motivation through the broadened horizons. For students that are first in their families to go to college, gaining knowledge about the college application and financial aid process is imperative. States can facilitate the development of shared lifelong learning competencies, rubrics and professional development so that educators and community members can work together to support students.

You should have an idea before the interview of the experiences from your life that you could use as examples to demonstrate the key competencies of the firm to which you are applying. You are likely to have to provide at least two examples for each competency during your interview.
It is quite acceptable to ask for and to use a few moments of thinking time before answering competency questions. If necessary, simply notify your interviewer by explaining you "may need to think about this for a few moments". Once you have thought of a good example to use, continue with your answer.

Interviewers ask career motivation questions to determine why you want to work for their company and why you want to work in role to which you have applied. Career motivation questions are similar to, but not the same as commitment to career questions and are often used as part of a competency based interview.

Some questions that you might be asked:
★ You are allocated a new project of a type you never had before. How do you structure it? Where do you start?
★ You have a limited budget. It is not enough for all the activities you want to implement. How do you prioritize?
★ You have a huge list of things to do and not enough time for everything. What do you do?

A focus on organizational competencies is more critical to achieving team alignment, effective execution and the right allocation of scarce resources than is a focus on strategic goals.

To answer these questions you should give examples of intelligent and useful decisions you have made to solve problems that have arisen either at work, in education or during extracurricular pursuits in the past.

Examples of problem solving competency questions are:
★ How do you solve problems?
★ Give me an example of a problem you have faced in the past, either as part of a team or as an individual. How did you solve the problem?
★ What do you do when you can't solve a problem?

The ability to solve problems is an analytical skill that employers look for evidence of in applicants, particularly for jobs that involve frequent problems that must be solved, such as mathematical problems or managerial problems.
The ability to solve problems can be defined as the ability to accurately assess a problem and effectively arrive at an excellent solution.

You need to make it clear that you understand how important results are, that you are a competitive and results driven person and that although you may not always have achieved the desired results in the past, you certainly did aim to do so and have learnt from your mistakes.

Results orientation questions you may be asked include:
★ Are you successful?
★ Give me an example of a time you have been very successful.
★ Why do you think people aren't successful?
★ Give me an example of a time you were not successful. Why do you think this happened?

Results orientation is a term used to describe "knowing what results are important and focusing resources to achieve them." Interviewers will ask competency questions to determine if candidates are results driven, aware of the importance of results, to find out what kind of results are important to a candidate and if the candidate understands how to achieve results.

Examples of competency questions that are used to find out about a candidate's trustworthiness and ethics are:
★ Give me an example of a time a member of a team you were in had a problem. What did you do to help?
★ Give me an example of a time you told a lie.
★ Would you lie if your job depended on it?
★ Do you think it can sometimes be ok to deceive people if this leads to a positive final outcome?
★ It is late on a friday afternoon. The rest of your team, including managers, have left the office for the day but you have stayed to finish some work. A client company calls and you are the most relevant person to talk to. They are angry and demand that you shred some key documents immediately, otherwise they will terminate their relationship with your firm. You are almost certain destroying these documents is illegal. What do you do?

Trustworthiness and ethics are key competencies employers want to see evidence of in candidates, in particular for jobs in industries that require a high level of confidentiality such as law, accounting and consulting.

Examples of competency questions that are used to evaluate leadership skills are:
★ Describe a time when you had to lead a group to achieve an objective?
★ Describe a work based situation where you had to lead by example to achieve an objective?
★ Describe a situation where you inspired others to meet a common goal?
★ How do you motivate team members to do something they decide they do not want to do?

Leadership is a competency employers look for in candidates who are applying for jobs that require them to lead, motivate and/or develop other people, usually team leader and management positions (or trainee positions that lead to management positions).

It is likely that you will need to show evidence of your own communication skills during a competency based interview. Questions you may be asked include:
★ Give an example of how you dealt with a difficult or sensitive situation that required extensive communication.
★ Give me an example of how you dealt with a difficult customer at work.
★ Tell me about a time when you had to explain an issue or process to a colleague (or colleagues) at work.
★ Tell me about a time when you taught someone else something.
★ How do you explain things to other people?

Employers are looking for employees who can communicate well with other people. Strong communicators make good team members because they can efficiently and effectively transfer information from person to person, follow instructions and instruct other people.
Strong communicators generally also make good leaders and decision makers, which makes communication a key competency.

To answer these questions you should give examples of sensible and pertinent decisions you have made during difficult situations either at work, in education or during extracurricular pursuits.

Examples of decision making competency based questions are:
★ What is the toughest decision you have ever made? Why was this so difficult?
★ How do you come to conclusions?
★ Tell me about a decision you have made that has affected other people.
★ Do you find decisions difficult?
★ Give me an example of a bad decision you have made. Why was this a bad decision?

Employers need to know that the people they hire are competent enough to make good decisions during these times. This is why interviewers test candidates with competency based questions targeted at measuring their decision making skills.

Top jobs give employees both power and responsibility. Employees are forced to make difficult decisions as part of their employment, often during times of intense pressure and/or stress.

Career motivation questions you may be asked include:
★ Why do you want to work for our firm?
★ Why do you want to work in the service line to which you have applied?
★ What can you tell me about us and the service line to which you have applied?

You need to logically illustrate your desire to work for the company you are interviewing with. Good answers should make reference to any, training, qualifications and/or experience that you would receive, if you were to be offered the role you have applied for.

Typical commercial awareness questions include:
★ Describe a company you think is doing well/badly and explain why you think this is so.
★ What do you think are key qualities for a company to have to be successful?
★ What significant factors have affected this industry in recent years?
★ What do you understand of the role this firm plays in this industry?