Competency-Based Interviews, Revised Edition

How to Master the Tough Interview Style Used by the Fortune 500s

Robin Kessler

• Publisher: Career Press
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781601635945
• Topic: Persönliche Entwicklung
• Subtopic: Karriere

People interviewing for jobs today often fail because they are using yesterday's strategies. Technology is becoming more sophisticated and virtual assessment centers are being used to assess how strong candidates are in key competency areas. Global competencies are being used to help organizations choose people for international assignments or simply to work on diverse international teams.The best employers are constantly changing the way interviews are done. This newly revised edition of Competency-Based Interviews offers you a new and more effective way to handle the tough new interviews so that you will emphasize the knowledge, skills, and abilities that you have and that employers demand.Preparing for a competency-based interview will give you the strategy you need to:

• Be selected for the most competitive positions
  
• Win the best job at a new organization
  
• Get a great first job or internship
  
• Be chosen for that critical promotion in your current organization
  
• Take control of your career path
  
• Increase your salary
  
• Secure more interesting assignments and more interesting work

Chapter 1

Understand Competency-Based Interview Systems

When we were students most of us realized the importance of understanding what the teacher or professor was looking for—which assignments were required and which were optional. If we are playing sports, we need to understand the strengths, vulnerabilities, and game plan of our opponent, even if we are the number-one seed in the tournament. When we give a business presentation, we need to understand the needs and interests of the audience before we start developing the speech. Figuring out what other people are expecting is critical to success in most if not all aspects of life. In an interview, we simply have to convince them that we will fit well in the organization and have the skills needed to do the job.

Before you start preparing for an interview, it is important to understand the method of interviewing that will be used by the interviewer. Some organizations are still fairly traditional in their approach to interviewing. Many hiring managers still make decisions about candidates based simply on whether or not they like them. In addition, they may focus on whether the candidate meets their basic requirement on credentials, such as grades and class standing. Many law firms and more traditional companies are still interviewing candidates this way. Some hiring managers use hypothetical questions that ask what a candidate would do in a given scenario. People who like this interview style believe it gives them a chance to see how candidates think on their feet, but many others believe that it is not as effective as finding out how individuals have performed in the past. This type of interview, which has been used by consulting firms for years, includes questions based on hypothetical and real cases, and can be used to assess a candidate’s ability to answer difficult case-study questions under pressure while the interviewer assesses his or her strengths in key competency areas. (See Chapter 13 for details on case-study interviews.) That said, most organizations with good reputations have realized that the old-style interviews aren’t terribly effective in helping them choose employees. They’ve changed to the newer, competency-based interview style because they believe in staying current. According to Dr. Amy Conn, a senior consultant for assessment solutions at Personnel Decisions, Inc., one of the consulting groups working closely with Fortune 500 companies to develop and improve competency-based systems, “Competency-based interviews are clearly the most widely used approach to an interview.” Recognizing how the labor market has changed—and learning how to make those changes work for you—can be the difference between success and failure.

What’s Changed?

The most sophisticated employers are primarily using competency-based interview systems to select candidates. If you haven’t interviewed recently or if you come from a different culture, you probably know you need some help to do well in the interview. Some candidates think they know what to expect in the interview, and it may take a few bad experiences before they decide their old approach is not working as well as it used to. But even if you are articulate, think well on your feet, have the best credentials, and are confident you are a great candidate, preparing for any interview is important. Remember that how well you perform on the interview gives the interviewers an idea of the quality of work they can expect from you in the future. Whether you are writing a resume, preparing for an interview, or getting ready for a performance review, becoming more aware of what competencies the employer is looking for is the first step toward success. The next step? Learn how to prove to the employer that you are strong in these critical competency areas.

How Does a Competency-Based Interview Work?

Very simply, a competency-based interview is a highly structured interview that involves the use of behavioral questions to help the interviewer assess the candidate based on critical competencies that have already been identified by the employer. Key questions help the interviewer(s) determine how strong candidates are in specific competency areas.

Key Definition

Competency-based interviews are highly structured and use behavioral questions to help the interviewer assess candidates based on critical competencies identified for the position.

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Whether you are a candidate who wants to work for an organization using competency-based systems or an employee currently working in a competency-based company, it is important to recognize that it may be time to change your own approach to the process. Retool and retrain. Adjust the sails. Add a warm-up period before running. It’s time to accept the fact that in today’s most sophisticated organizations, almost all are using competency-based interviews.

The most commonly used competency-based interviewing style involves asking candidates primary questions targeted to the critical competencies for the position. Almost every major consulting firm working to help organizations identify competencies, including Lominger, Personnel Decisions International, Hay Group, and Hewitt Associates, encourages its clients to use structured, competency-based interviewing approach that they have developed. One well-known example of this approach is targeted selection interviewing, which was developed by the consulting firm Development Dimensions, Inc. The firm markets targeted selection on its Website by saying it uses behavioral interviewing and helps organizations:

Identify the competencies needed for all key positions.

Build interviewing skills and confidence for more accurate selection decisions.

Increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the employee selection process.

Another approach starts with the manager asking a question about a major accomplishment and then asking follow-up questions to probe for additional information about competencies, strengths, and weaknesses. An example of this approach can be found in Lou Adler’s The One Question Interview. In both styles, managers are taught to ask candidates...