Competency Based Interview Questions And Answers

Competence indicates sufficiency of knowledge and skills that enable someone to act in a wide variety of situations. Because each level of responsibility has its own requirements, competence can occur in any period of a person's life or at any stage of his or her career.

Competency based education or learning is an approach to teaching and learning more often used in learning concrete skills than abstract learning. It differs from other non-related approaches in that the unit of learning is extremely fine grained.

Human resource management model which addresses job performance. This approach fosters increased training, skill building, job satisfaction and other measurements and leads to improved hiring practices.

The following definition provides elements of a high quality competency-based approach:
★ Students advance upon demonstrated mastery
★ Explicit and measurable learning objectives empower students
★ assessment is meaningful and a positive learning experience for students
★ Students receive rapid, differentiated support
★ Learning outcomes emphasize include application and creation of knowledge

The core element of a competency-based approach is that students progress to more advanced work upon demonstration of learning by applying specific skills and content. The most important implications of this design principle include:
★ Students are advanced to higher-level work upon demonstration of mastery, not age.
★ Students work at levels that are appropriately challenging.
★ Students are evaluated on performance.
★ Some students may complete courses more rapidly than others.
★ Teachers guide students to produce sufficient evidence to determine proficiency.

In competency-based practices, a course is organized into measurable learning objectives that are shared with students. Students take responsibility for their learning, thereby increasing their engagement and motivation. The implications of this design principle include:
★ The relationship between student and teacher is fundamentally changed.
★ The unit of learning becomes modular.
★ Learning expands beyond the classroom.

In a competency-based model, the traditional approach to assessment and accountability "of learning" is turned on its head with assessments "for learning." Formative assessments are aligned with learning objectives. Students receive immediate feedback when assessment occurs. This is used to encourage students to return to difficult concepts and skills until they achieve mastery. It is essential that assessments are student-centered in which students are assessed on material with which they are familiar. In order for competency-based pathways to offer high-quality education, the following must be put into place:
★Schools embrace a strong emphasis on formative assessment.
★Teachers collaborate to develop understanding of what is an adequate demonstration of proficiency.
★Teachers assess skills or concepts in multiple contexts and multiple ways.
★Attention on student learning, not student grades.
★Summative assessments are adaptive and timely.

The core idea of a competency-based model is that all students will master the desired competencies. This requires a rapid response capacity on the part of educators to support students when they are stuck or begin to disengage in frustration. Educator capacity, and student's own capacity to seek out help, will be enhanced by technology-enabled solutions that incorporate predictive analytic tools. This element is essential to a competency-based system. Without it there is risk that the current inequities will be reproduced.
★ Pacing matters - Although students will progress at their own speeds, students that are proceeding more slowly will need more help
★ Learning plans capture knowledge on learning styles, context and interventions that are most effective for individuals students
★ New specialist roles may develop in educator and instructional support roles, providing high quality interventions when students are begin to slip behind
★ Online learning can play an invaluable role in providing feedback to teachers on how students are proceeding

Competencies emphasize the application of learning. A high quality competency-based approach will require students to apply skills and knowledge to new situations to demonstrate mastery and to create knowledge. Competencies will include academic standards as well as lifelong learning skills and dispositions:
★ Competencies and learning objectives are designed so that demonstration of mastery includes application of skills and knowledge.
★ Assessment rubrics are explicit in what students must be able to know and do to progress to the next level of study.
★ Examples of student work that demonstrate skills development throughout a learning continuum will help students understand their own progress.
★ Lifelong learning skills designed around students needs, life experiences, and the skills needed for them to be college and career ready.
★ Expanded learning opportunities are developed as opportunities for students to develop and apply skills as they are earning credit.

One of the most powerful roles a state can play is creating collaborative space for the development of competencies and learning objectives. As states come face to face with the implementation of the common core state standards, many opportunities and questions arise:
★ Well-designed competencies
★ core competencies
★ lifelong learning competencies

Competency-based innovators design two sets of competencies:
★ Academic and skills that students need for college and career preparation using different terms, innovators all include forms of applied learning competencies such as creativity, problem solving, and communication and many include personal skills such as perseverance, cultural competency and study skills.
★ Those serving vulnerable students include social-emotional literacy and navigational skills that are particularly important for students from low-income communities.

Given that the innovations are still at early stage of development, the field has not agreed upon what makes a well-designed competency. Although some attributes such as learning objectives need to be explicit and measurable others are less clear.

A cluster of related abilities, commitments, knowledge and skills that enable a person (or an organization) to act effectively in a job or situation.

Competency based interview questions are a style of interviewing often used to evaluate a candidate's competence, particularly when it is hard to select on the basis of technical merit.

Example:
For a particular graduate scheme or graduate job where relevant experience is less important or not required. Increasingly, companies are using competency based interviews as part of the selection process for experienced recruitment, as it can give valuable insights into an individual's preferred style of working and help predict behaviors in future situations.

A typical competency based interview will last for one hour. At most major firms competency interviews will also be standardized. Consequently all applicants can expect to be asked identical questions.

Competency based interviews may also feature questions that probe candidates on their knowledge of the company and industry they have applied to. This type of interview question tests candidates on their motivation and commitment to career.

In competency based interviews recruiters look for evidence of competencies by asking candidates competency based questions. This style of question forces candidates to give situational examples of times in the past when they have performed particular tasks or achieved particular outcomes using certain skills.

A competency is a particular quality that a company's recruiters have decided is desirable for employees to possess. During interviews and assessment processes, competencies are used as benchmarks that assessors use to rate and evaluate candidates.

A typical competency question could be:
Describe two situations where you have had to work as part of a team. When asked a question like this, you should be able to talk for several minutes about your participation to a particularly strong team you have been part of in the past and how your sense of Teamwork helped lead a task or project to successful completion.

In the case of applications for graduate jobs, candidates typically have no experience in the industry to which they have applied. Consequently it is not possible to assess their suitability for a job role based upon their CV alone. This has led to the development of competency based interviews becoming the prime way to interview inexperienced graduate applicants.

Estimates indicate that a third of all employers are using competency interviews as part of their recruitment process. Large graduate employers are especially likely to use competency interviews as part of their graduate recruitment procedure, in particular as part of an assessment.

In competency based interviews, interviewers will ask questions that require candidates to demonstrate that they have a particular skill or a "key competency" the firm is looking for. Candidates will be asked to do this using examples of situations from their life experiences, to illustrate their personality, skill set and individual competencies to the interviewer.

It is likely you will be asked why you wish to work for this company in particular, and what distinguishes this company, for you, from its competitors. This question requires you to discuss your knowledge of the firm in detail and prove to your interviewer your desire for a job.

To answer this question you should describe:
★ The key strengths this firm has over its competitors in the industry (e.g. more specialized in certain niche areas, more international scope, more respected).
★ What appeals to you personally about the firm (e.g. your interests in the firm's niche areas, your relevant study at university).
★ Other relevant factors you find interesting (e.g. the impression you have of the working style at the firm, the social side of the company, the type of charitable work the firm is involved in).