The Value of Competency-Based Interviews: How to Conduct Them Effectively

A resume provides information about a candidate's work experience and background, adding value for the HR department. However, what truly matters is not the professional history, but the skills they currently possess to perform successfully in the offered role.

A resume provides information about a candidate's work experience and background. It adds value for the HR department. But what truly matters is not the professional history, but the skills they currently possess to perform successfully in the offered role.

What is a competency-based interview?

This is an evaluation technique used in HR that focuses on assessing skills, knowledge, and behaviors that are essential for successfully performing in an open position. This type of interview is a central pillar of competency-based selection, an approach that aligns hiring with real business needs.

Examples of competency-based interview questions

In competency-based interviews, the candidate is asked about past situations that reflect how they have put a specific skill into practice in order to determine their capacity to face different job-related situations.

Depending on the skills you want to evaluate, different types of questions will be asked. For example: imagine we want to evaluate soft skills such as problem-solving, leadership, teamwork, adaptability, or communication. To do this, the interviewer can ask questions like:

• "Tell me about a situation where you had to lead a team through an unexpected challenge. What did you do, and what did you learn?"
• "Have you experienced a conflict with a coworker? Explain how you handled it and what the result was."
• "Give me an example of an occasion when you had to work under pressure and prioritize tasks. How did you make your decisions?"

How do you conduct a competency-based interview?

• Define the competencies you need to evaluate. Start with a skills map or your internal taxonomy to select the most relevant competencies for the position.
• Design situational questions for each competency. They should encourage the candidate to recount past events where they have demonstrated that skill.
• Establish an objective scoring rubric. Before the interview, define what type of answer represents a low, medium, or high level of the competency.
• Avoid falling into common HR biases. Keep your attention on what the candidate has done and how they did it, without letting yourself be influenced by personal affinities, their way of speaking, or their communication style.

Integrate the interview into a broader vision. Cross-reference this information with results from skills tests, previous evaluations, or even feedback from other processes to make decisions based on data rather than just impressions. Have you stopped to objectively analyze your team's skills? Before recruiting personnel, evaluate your current talent to make hiring decisions or apply reskilling plans with real data. Request a demo of our tool and we will give you more details.