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Competency Interviews – Comparing Apples & Oranges

Guest blogger - Liz Barron www.realize.ie

Competency based interviews are becoming more common as part of the recruitment process – recruiters use it as a means to compare how well different candidates will meet the requirements of the role.

So how does an Interviewer compare apples and oranges? Let’s say I’m looking for a piece of fruit to go in a fruit salad, and I want that fruit to be round, sweet, easy to peel, and to complement the flavour of the other fruits.

So first I interview an Orange…

Interviewer: “How would you describe yourself?”

Orange: “I’m fairly round, very sweet, easy to peel, I work well under pressure and I’m best enjoyed on my own”…

Interviewer: “Tell me more about being easy to peel ”

Orange: “Yeah my role involves being in a still life painting – I did find it a bit tough to get my peel off initially – I kept some bits on … I didn’t mind though as long as it was tastefully done..” ’

Interviewer: “Hmm… yes thanks Orange… Next! – the Apple… what are your strengths?”

Apple: “I think my core strength is in being easy to peel – in my last job I had to get my peel off, as quickly and neatly as possible, using a specialist peeler, resulting in my peel all remaining in one complete piece, which the clients were delighted with”.

Get the picture? It’s a metaphor guys – I wouldn’t really interview fruit – that would be silly; if I know them well enough I would just give them the job.

Here are some key things to remember about how competency based interviews work…

■It’s the interviewers job to find the best person for the role, with the least amount of effort – they want YOU to be the right person – if you can demonstrate that you have the necessary experience then you make the choice easy for them.

■Each job you apply for will have a set of associated competencies (combination of knowledge, skill & behaviour) which should be pretty obvious from the job description – if you’re called for interview it will be because you have ticked off most or all of their required competencies or key words from the job ad on your CV.

■Make a list of the competencies and prepare examples in advance of situations where you have demonstrated those competencies

■Tell your stor(ies) using the TAR structure – Task required, Action I took and Result

■If you find it difficult to remember a list of examples, use a mind map to help you remember times when you were doing what you do best.

■Use “I” where relevant instead of “we” e.g. I was a member of a team who… I was tasked with xyz within the team… I delivered … I completed…

■PRACTICE YOUR EXAMPLES OUT LOUD! We are mostly guilty of being too modest about ourselves!

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So What?

What a cool question?

How often do we use it? When should we use it?

Interviewer: So, tell me about yourself?

Interviewee: eh, eh, eh, well I am a good communicator?? a good team player...eh eh I have a good personality, I work well with others...

SO WHAT?

Consider this CV profile...

"A highly motivated and skilled individual who is always well presented and a good company advocate. Works well under pressure whilst delivering duties effectively and accurately. Can work in a team setting or alone unsupervised. Willing to join an organisation where he/she can develop new skills building on existing experience."

SO WHAT?

So what about this post! Asking So What? puts you in someone else's shoes, the interviewer, the person you meet at a networking event, the investor you are pitching your idea to. This sort of thinking and questioning allows you into their decision making process. If you want to influence someone the first principal you must understand is that people are motivated for their reasons, not yours. So what?

Johnny Bunko taught us a valuable lesson - Rule Number 3: It's not about YOU!! This isn’t an abstract moral point about selflessness. It is the common sense piece of arithmetic that says you need to exchange that self-actualizing stuff you love to do for the money to buy the stuff and services you need to survive. Therefore you need to find a way to do what you love in a way that makes somebody want to pay you....

SO What?

The reason why Miles Davis was considered the greatest Jazz musician of all time, was not because of the notes he played, but the notes he did not play...

10 Questions you should have prepared

Guest post from PJ, thanks for the input....

Here are a list of 10 questions every interviewee should have prepared. You may not get asked word for word but they will come up in some form and a difficult question can be turned to you advantage with just a little preparation.

* Why are you interested in this position?
* What areas of your work do you feel most confident doing?
* What areas of your work do you find most difficult?
* What gives you the greatest satisfaction at work?
* What has been your greatest achievement in your current role?
* What is it about you, or what you do, that has enabled you to succeed in your current role?
* How would you describe yourself?
* What things frustrate you the most? How do you usually cope with them?
* If you were your manager, is there anything you would want to change about you?
* What support would you need to become fully productive in this role?

Now write them down and prepare at least a one sentence response to each.

Interview Preparation

My message to worksearchers is think like a designer. A designer works with amongst others three things;

Restraint, Naturalness and Simplicity

Restraint - in the interview situation you have approximately 45 minutes in which to get yourself into second round or onto the team. You might think you are there to answer questions, however you are also there to pitch yourself. You have a short period of time in order to that. Know what they are looking for, find the answers from your experience, knowledge and skills then give them what they are looking for and nothing less.

Naturalness - today employers are looking for high achievers, they are also looking for "fit". Think of it as being on a first date, build rapport, be yourself, ask questions, demonstrate your professionalism and commitment.

Simplicity - as mentioned the interviewer is looking for someone who can deliver results and fit into the organisation. Simple is not easy. Our ego determines more is better than less, big is better than small. Why do we fail to keep things simple? Lack of focus! "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" Leonardo da Vinci....it's simple focus and give them what they are looking for.

One last thing, do not spend the 15/20 minutes before the interview in your car or on a bench reading your notes. Spend it getting plenty of oxygen, your brain and body need oxygen to function and deliver results.