Competency interview tips

[Babber101]

Hi all

Going through redundancy, have been applying and interviewing for jobs for past 6-9months or so

Most are with blue chip companies. I am getting interviews and doing ok (couple of silver medals) but I really struggle with the very rigid competency interview structures.

I am autistic and my mind is a bit black and white so I struggle to flex and adapt my competency case studies for slightly different worded questions

I suspect there is no silver bullet but thought I would throw it out there to see if anyone has any advice?

It’s properly doing my head in!

[xx99xx]

You have a protected characteristic which most decent companies will make an adjustment for.

Ask for the interview questions up front as an adjustment. You don't have to tell them why and they are not supposed to ask why. You might get the questions a day before or an hour before, but either way it should help you choose your best examples for the right questions.

[GiantEnemyCrab]

If these are the STAR method there is plenty of guidance online. Check civil service website amongst others.

Also if you can get the questions up front like mentioned you can rehearse (but not script) your answers.

Also, many of your examples may not have happened exactly like you brief them, but they do allow you to exhibit the required competencies.... aka flower them up a bit.

[Furbo]

xx99xx said:

You have a protected characteristic which most decent companies will make an adjustment for.

Ask for the interview questions up front as an adjustment. You don't have to tell them why and they are not supposed to ask why. You might get the questions a day before or an hour before, but either way it should help you choose your best examples for the right questions.

I'm pleased that I don't employ people anymore.

[Hugo Stiglitz]

Get the questions BEFORE the interview?!

[Babber101]

xx99xx said:

You have a protected characteristic which most decent companies will make an adjustment for.

Ask for the interview questions up front as an adjustment. You don't have to tell them why and they are not supposed to ask why. You might get the questions a day before or an hour before, but either way it should help you choose your best examples for the right questions.

Thanks, I hadn’t thought about that

Majority of people I know are recommending that I don’t reveal my autism because whilst your not legally allowed to discriminate, the employer can always find a way to do so. “Another candidate had slightly more relevant experience “
Sad reality is most blue chips will subconsciously discriminate - if in doubt, why take the risk with someone with a mental disability that you don’t know anything about as it may cause you further challenges down the line. Most would pick another candidate to be safe I believ

[Badda]

Odd that you refer to it as a mental disabilities rather than neurodivergent.

Do you have a diagnosis?

[fat80b]

I’m not a big fan of these types of interviews but have done a few in my time on both sides of the table. Amazon and the likes use them quite a bit and the person doing the interviewing is usually looking for a specific thing in the answer in order to check a box. As such, they are quite formulaic in my experience and your answers can usually be made to fit almost any question as long as you make sure you hit your points.

Not sure what the role is but I’d recommend organising your potential answers into groups that cover several situations.

Check out the Amazon interview guides on YouTube which go into a lot of depth about how to structure the answers and how to build an answer bank that you can lean on. You need 10-12 go to STAR formatted stories that you can lean on. This should cover up to 50 potential questions.

Create a table of all the categories you might get questions on (tip is to search to company website for the company values as they likely are the checkboxes that the interviewer has in front of them) and put the answers in the categories for that specific interview. Post it notes work well for this.

Practice by recording yourself on zoom/teams. The more you practice the more you’ll be ready for it.

[Dog Star]

Babber101 said:

Sad reality is most blue chips will subconsciously discriminate - if in doubt, why take the risk with someone with a mental disability that you don t know anything about as it may cause you further challenges down the line. Most would pick another candidate to be safe I believ

I do a fair bit of competency based interviewing and being 100% honest if I got a candidate that played a mental health card (whether real or not) and expected the questions “up front” I’d not be very impressed at all; I want someone who can react and think on their feet. I’m not saying any more.

[xx99xx]

Dog Star said:

I do a fair bit of competency based interviewing and being 100% honest if I got a candidate that played a mental health card (whether real or not) and expected the questions up front I d not be very impressed at all; I want someone who can react and think on their feet. I m not saying any more.

I guess if reacting and thinking on one's feet was necessary for the role, turn it into a competency question.

'tell us about a time when you had to react and think of your feet' etc

An interview shouldn't be a cognitive test to see how well you can remember stuff under pressure. I want them to demonstrate competence. For that reason, I always provide the questions in advance to candidates whether they ask for them or not. They will get scored down though if they turn up and just read their answer out word for word from a pre prepared sheet. Follow up questions (which they won't have had in advance) based on their answer usually sort out the chancers.

[Hugo Stiglitz]

I really don't lile this system of interviewing. My organisation has plenty who know how to work it.

It doesn't account or allow for those with leadership or ability to rise.

[fat80b]

Hugo Stiglitz said:

I really don't lile this system of interviewing. My organisation has plenty who know how to work it.

It doesn't account or allow for those with leadership or ability to rise.

My comment on not being a fan of these types of interviews is basically for this exact reason - They are designed to restrict people to following the formula, and imho that doesnt really give people the opportunity to shine / be different. Those that do best tend to be those that have "learnt" how to play the interview process.

As a specific example, I interviewed for one company where the person interviewing was so focussed on trying to see if I said some specific turn of phrase so that they could check the right box, they barely looked up from their spreadsheet at all. And once I'd said the right thing, they then just read off the next question on their list. The interview might as well have been done by a robot!

[psi310398]

I have colleagues who use ChatGPT and the like to match their CVs and statements of suitability to the role specs etc. It shouldn’t be too hard to train a bot to generate suggested competency based questions from the role specs and job descriptions.

Such output is usually quite hard to differentiate from the typical dross produced by HR humans anyway!

[Mirinjawbro]

I also do not like this style. Ive had so many interviews I could make an answer up by now with the rubbish they ask.

I prefer a chat through the CV and get to know you type.

[Ranger 6]

Progressive companies have already moved on from these sort of interviews. I've been job hunting for the last few months and all my interviews were 'face fits' sort of thing. They pretty much all said that they knew I could do the job from the roles on my CV.

But it's the usual planning and preparation that gets you through these things - go through what you've been asked in the most recent and practice answers.

If it helps then break them down into STAR responses and have them in front of you.

[Mark83]

Mirinjawbro said:

I also do not like this style. Ive had so many interviews I could make an answer up by now with the rubbish they ask.

I prefer a chat through the CV and get to know you type.

I've have numerous competency based question interviews over the years and the last one was poor both in questions and showcasing my skills and achievements. I had my first chat through my CV interview last week and it was so much better, spent 90mins talking, no nerves, just a good chat and was able to leave knowing I'd given it my best shot.

[vixen1700]

Furbo said:

I'm pleased that I don't employ people anymore.

I'm pleased that I don't go to interviews anymore.

[Furbo]

vixen1700 said:

Furbo said:

I'm pleased that I don't employ people anymore.

I'm pleased that I don't go to interviews anymore.

One of my children has just done a second interview for a London law firm. They have yet to interact with an actual person. It has all been online, computerised and recorded. Some sort of method of negating AI.

Time was when I would have picked up the phone to Mungo Davenport and told him that young Barnaby wants a position.

In fact, if the online interviews don't go well Mungo may yet receive a call...