Article Options
	Print Article
	Email Article
T	Textsize: down up
Share Article Delicious Digg Facebook reddit StumbleUpon Yahoo! MyWeb

Job Interview Tips

Coping With Job Interviews

Tough Interview Questions

Assessment Centres - How to Succeed

Presentations

Body Language

Psychometric Testing

Behaviour Interviews

Telephone Interviews

Behaviour Interviews

Competency Based Interviews are used to establish examples of your previous performance in order to gauge your probable future performance in a job role.  The interviewer will pose “scenario based” questions that require you to give clear, concise examples of your experiences which can then be analysed to ascertain whether or not you are capable of carrying out the duties of the job you are applying for.

The interview process

All candidates will be set the same questions, which is why these interviews are considered to be one of the fairest methods of making a selection.  These questions will be designed around the essential criteria for the job role and will vary according to industry sector.  However, the types of skills that may be assessed in these interviews include:

• Communication
• Teamwork
• Problem Solving & Analysis
• Organisational Skills
• Time Management

The interviewer will ask questions requiring you to explain a given situation, detail your specific involvement and finally to summarise the result and what you learnt from it.  They may also interrupt every now and then to ask you to give more information on certain areas of your response.  You should think of examples from your career, your education and your hobbies and interests so that your answers are both varied and interesting. Examples of the types of questions that you may be asked include:

• Provide an example of when you have had to organise your workload in order to meet a tight deadline
• Explain a situation where you have had to develop a positive relationship with a client in order to secure a sale
• Describe a time when you have had to make an unpopular decision that has affected other members of your team

The importance of preparation

The most successful candidates at Competency Based Interviews are always those who have spent time preparing.  They will have researched the company on the Internet so that they know and understand the business’s core values.  They will also have studied the job description and prepared a list of examples of situations that they have experienced which are directly related to the person specification for the job role.

Interview success

Although Competency Based Interviews may sound rather daunting, they are not really that frightening as long as you have prepared properly.  On the day, there are also other ways to improve your chances of success:

• Don’t panic! – the interviewer will not expect you to know exactly what questions will be asked and in what order; you will be given some time before you are required to answer so use this time well
• Judge the mood of your interviewer – if you are talking about a subject that they really seem to be interested in, take advantage of this if you can but be careful not to get carried away and bore them!
• It is a theory that people who share similar characteristics are capable of building better relationships – see if you can identify any traits you may have in common with your interviewer and use this but without it looking too obvious!
• Above all, just try to be natural – if your answers are delivered honestly, the interviewer will be able to pick up on this and will be all the more appreciative.