Competency Based Interviewing
Learn to get down to what really matters in a candidate interview.
In a Competency-Based Interview questions are based on a competency framework with predefined indicators that describe how job holders are expected to behave. The key purpose of this interview technique is to judge candidates objectively by asking for specific examples. Thus, objective evidence is gathered from the candidate’s experience regarding work specific competencies.
About Competency Based Interviews (CBI)
Our definition of CBI is: “A series of structured questions aimed at highlighting information regarding specific professional working criteria.”
The CBI technique is based on the fact that how people have behaved in the past is likely to show how they will behave in the future. This is done by asking for specific examples of past situations and asking supplementary questions about these.
The following are some rules to be used for objective candidate assessment:
- A series of structured questions about what is critical for success in the job
- The questions are asked in the same way to all candidates
- Candidates are assessed/scored based on the answers given
The main purpose of CBI is to overcome subjectivity. The assessment of a candidate should be independent of the assessor’s subjective perceptions and preferences. The questions used in CBI are based on the STAR model:
- What was the situation? (Situation)
- What did you want to accomplish? (Task or goal)
- What exactly did you do or say at that time? (Action)
- What was the result of your actions? (Result)
The STAR interview technique enables you to get areliable picture of someone’s actions, even if you were not there yourself.
Competency-based interviewing can be combined with personality questionnaire and ability test reporting to assess candidates.