Competency Based Interview Questions

Competency Based Interview Questions

(How Many Can You Answer?)

Core Competencies

Adaptability

•Tell me about a time when you changed your priorities to meet others' expectations.

•Describe a time when you altered your own behaviour to fit the situation.

•Tell me about a time when you had to change your point of view or your plans to take into account new information or changing priorities.

Client Focus

• Give an example of how you provided service to a client/stakeholder beyond their expectations. How did you identify the need? How did you respond?

• Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a client/stakeholder service issue.

• Describe a situation in which you acted as an advocate within your organization for your stakeholder’s needs, where there was some organizational resistance to be overcome.

Communication

• Describe a situation you were involved in that required a multi-dimensional communication strategy.

• Give an example of a difficult or sensitive situation that required extensive communication.

• Tell me about a time when you really had to pay attention to what someone else was saying, actively seeking to understand their message.

Organizational Awareness

• Describe the culture of your organization and give an example of how you work within this culture to achieve a goal.

• Describe the things you consider and the steps you take in assessing the viability of a new idea or initiative.

• Tell me about a time when you used your knowledge of the organization to get what you needed.

Problem Solving and Judgment

• Tell me about a time when you had to identify the underlying causes to a problem.

• Describe a time when you had to analyze a problem and generate a solution.

• Tell me about a situation where you had to solve a problem or make a decision that required careful thought.  What did you do?

Results Orientation

• Tell me about a time when you set and achieved a goal.

• Tell me about a time when you improved the way things were typically done on the job.

• Describe something you have done to improve the performance of your work unit.

• Describe something you have done to maximize or improve the use of resources beyond your own work unit to achieve improved results.

Teamwork

• Tell me about a time when you worked successfully as a member of a team.

• Describe a situation where you were successful in getting people to work together effectively.

• Describe a situation in which you were a member (not a leader) of a team, and a conflict arose within the team. What did you do?

Role Specific Competencies

Developing Others

• Tell me about a time when you coached someone to help them improve their skills or job performance.  What did you do?

• Describe a time when you provided feedback to someone about their performance.

• Give me an example of a time when you recognized that a member of your team had a performance difficulty/deficiency.  What did you do?

Impact and Influence

• Describe a recent situation in which you convinced an individual or a group to do something.

• Describe a time when you went through a series of steps to influence an individual or a group on an important issue.

• Describe a situation in which you needed to influence different stakeholders with differing perspectives.

Innovation

• Describe something you have done that was new and different for your organization, that improved performance and/or productivity.

• Tell me about a time when you identified a new, unusual or different approach for addressing a problem or task.

• Tell me about a recent problem in which old solutions wouldn't work.  How did you solve the problem?

Leadership

• Tell me about a time when you had to lead a group to achieve an objective.

• Describe a situation where you had to ensure that your "actions spoke louder than your words" to a team.

• Describe a situation where you inspired others to meet a common goal.

Relationship Building

• Describe a situation in which you developed an effective win/win relationship with a stakeholder or client. How did you go about building the relationship?

• Tell me about a time when you relied on a contact in your network to help you with a work-related task or problem.

• Give me an example of a time when you deliberately attempted to build rapport with a co-worker or customer.

Resource Management

• Describe a situation in which you took a creative approach to resourcing to achieve a goal.

• Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a particular resource management issue regarding either people, materials or assets.

• Describe the options you would consider to resource a project or goal if you did not have the available resources within your own span of control.

• Describe a situation in which you established a partnership with another organization or stakeholder to achieve a mutual goal. What steps did you take to ensure the partnership was effective?

Self-Management

• Describe the level of stress in your job and what you do to manage it.

• Describe a time when you were in a high pressure situation.

• Describe a time when things didn't turn out as you had planned and you had to analyze the situation to address the issue.

Strategic Thinking

• Describe a challenge or opportunity you identified based on your industry knowledge, and how you developed a strategy to respond to it.

• Describe a time you created a strategy to achieve a longer term business objective.

• Describe a time when you used your business knowledge to understand a specific business situation.


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