Competency-based interview questions

On this page you will find a list of typical questions asked during interviews.
(The questions are used from the website umid.info)

PROFESSIONALISM

Give me an example of when it has been important for you to appear knowledgeable about your area of specialty.

Ø Why was it so important?

Ø How did you go about establishing credibility?

Ø When has your approach been less successful?

Ø What would you do differently?

Give me an example when you have experienced a setback.

Ø Describe what happened.

Ø How did you react to the problem?

Ø To what extent did others see how you were feeling?

How do you define success in your current role/previous work?

Ø Can you give me an example of when this has occurred?

Ø What specifically do you wish to achieve?

Ø How do you know when you have achieved success?

Give me an example of when you have set yourself an ambitious target.

Ø What made it so ambitious?

Ø How did it compare with other targets you had set yourself?

Ø How well did you do?

Tell me about a time when you worked especially hard in your current role/work?

Ø Which aspect of the situation motivated you to work hard?

Ø Which feedback did you have on your performance?

Ø What kinds of professional concerns motivate you?

INTEGRITY

Tell me about that last time you were faced with professional or ethical dilemma at work (in the recent past).

Ø What was the specific situation?

Ø How did you feel?

Ø How did you resolve the dilemma?

When have you been asked to 'bend the rules' by a colleague or client?

Ø How did you manage the situation?

Ø What pressures were you under?

Ø What factors did you have to consider?

Ø What was the outcome?

Describe a time when you have had to choose between admitting a mistake and maintaining credibility to a superior or client.

Ø What did you do?

Ø How did you decide what to do?

Ø How does your approach compare to colleagues (others) who have faced this situation?

Ø What would you differently next time?

Tell me about a time you have observed others working in an unprofessional or unethical manner.

Ø What was unprofessional or unethical about their behaviour?

Ø What did you specifically do about their behaviour?

Ø What were the implications of taking action?

Ø How did you deal with the possible consequences?

In most organizations there are rules, regulations and principles that have to be adhered to and some that can be interpreted more flexibly. Give me an example of a time where you have interpreted the rules with more flexibility.

Ø What was the specific situation?

Ø What made the situation ambiguous?

Ø What did you do well in handling the situation?

Ø What else could you have done?

Give me an example of when you have had to defend an organization's decision to others who did not agree with the viewpoint.

Ø What was the specific situation?

Ø Why did you defend the decision?

Ø What did you say or do that was particularly effective?

Ø In hindsight, what would you have done differently?

COMMUNICATION

How would other people describe your communication skills?

Ø What development areas have been highlighted for you (e.g., speaking skills, listening skills?)

Ø Compared to others, how would you rate yourself as a communicator? Why?

Ø What could you do to become better at communicating with others?

Give me an example of when you had to explain something difficult to someone who did not have your background/ knowledge?

Ø What did you consider when explaining the concept?

Ø What was the most difficult aspect about giving the explanation?

Ø How did you ensure that they understood?

Ø What would you do differently next time?

Tell me about a time when it was important to involve someone in a conversation.

Ø Why was it important to involve them?

Ø How did you go about involving them?

What kind of correspondence have you had to prepare in the past?

Ø What experience have you had in writing formal communication?

Ø How effective is your writing technique?

Ø How could you improve the quality of your writing?

What experience have you had speaking formally in front of the others?

Ø Describe a talk or presentation, which you have given recently?

Ø How did you tailor the discussion to suit the audience?

Ø How did the audience react?

Ø What feedback did you receive?

Tell me about a time when you have chosen not to disclose information to others.

Ø What was the situation?

Ø When are you less likely to share information with others?

Ø What are the main issues you consider when deciding whether to share information with others?

What do you see as being the key to successfully putting an argument across orally?

Give me an example of a situation when it was important for you to communicate a strategy or organizational objective clearly to others.

Ø Why was it important?

Ø What did you do to prepare your communication?

Ø What did you do that was particularly effective?

Ø What factors did you feel were important to address?
Ø How did you make sure you were understood?

TEAMWORK

Tell me about the last time you worked as part of a team?

Ø What was the purpose of the team?

Ø What did you like about working in the group?

Ø What did you dislike?

Ø How did you get the team members to cooperate?

When have your personal objectives been at odds with those of the team?

Ø How did you react?

Ø What was the outcome?

Ø How do you balance competing personal and team goals?

Describe a time when you worked in a really effective team.

Ø What made the team so effective?

Ø What was your particular contribution to the team?

Ø How did your colleagues relate to you?

Give me an example when you had to support others in the team?

Ø Why did they need support?

Ø What did you do to support them?

Ø How did that change things?

Describe an occasion when you had difficulties working with a team.

Ø What caused the problems?

Ø How did you respond?

Ø What was the outcome?

Give me a specific example of when you have encouraged a cooperative approach in a team.

Ø What did you do that was particularly effective?

Ø What were the disadvantages of this approach?

Ø What did not work so well?

Ø How did you ensure that you made the best use of people's ideas?

Ø How did you go about making decisions in that group situation?

How well do you work with people? Do you prefer working alone or in teams?

Have you ever been in a group project where there were difficulties? How were these issues resolved?

PLANNING AND ORGANIZING

Tell me how you personally organize yourself when you have a lot of work.

Ø Where do you start?

Ø On what basis do you make your decisions?

Ø What do you do to ensure that it all gets done?

Describe an occasion when you had to prepare in advance for a meeting or project?

Ø What did you do?

Ø How much time did you have to prepare?

Ø What could you have prepared better?

Give me an example of when you had to work to an important deadline.

Ø What did you do to ensure that the deadline was met?

Ø How would you organize your activities differently next time?

Describe the last time you missed a deadline.

Ø Why did this happen?

Ø How responsible were you for this?

Ø What did you do to try to overcome this problem?

Tell me about the last project plan you had to produce (piece of work or event you had to organize).

Ø What did you do specifically that was effective?

Ø How did you prepare or plan for it?

Ø What timescales did you set?

Ø What could you have done to be more effective in your planning?

Describe a recent situation where you had to set clearly defined objectives.

Ø How did you go about setting you objectives?

Ø What areas do you think you need to work on in terms of your objective setting?

Ø What do you see as being the key to setting realistic objectives?

Using a recent example, describe how you have developed actions for achieving an objective.

Ø How useful were your actions when it came to achieving your objectives?

Ø What would you like to improve on in terms of your action planning?

Ø What do you think are the key things to remember when developing action plans?

ACCOUNTABILITY

Give me an example of when it has been particularly important for you to produce high-quality work.

Ø Why did the work have to be of such high standard?

Ø How did you ensure that these standards were met?

Ø What would you do to improve the quality of your work?

Give me an example of when time pressures prevented you from spending a lot of time on a task.

Ø What implications did this have for the quality of your work?

Ø How did you ensure that the task was done properly?

Ø What would you do differently in the future?

Describe a time when you did not meet your usual standards of work.

Ø What altered you to do this?

Ø How did you overcome this problem?

Describe a time when you failed to complete a task on time.

Ø Why was this?

Ø What steps had you taken to avoid this?

Ø What lessons did you learn?

Describe a time when you delegated a task to another person.

Ø How did you enable them to carry out the work?

Ø How did you follow up with them?

Tell me about a time when it was particularly important for you to take responsibility for your actions.

Ø What had you done that you had to take responsibility for your actions?

Ø Why was taken responsibility so important?

Ø How did you make this known to others?

CULTURAL AWARENESS

What experience have you had with working with people from diverse backgrounds?

Ø Describe a specific situation where you have had to relate to others from a different background from yours?

Ø How could you improve how you interact with people from different backgrounds?

Describe an occasion when you found it difficult to work with someone from a different background.

Ø What caused the problems?

Ø How did you respond?

Ø What was the outcome?

Ø What would you do differently next time?

Give me an example of a situation where you have pursued a course of action, which had to take into account the sensitivities of external (different) parties.

Ø What were the issues?

Ø What did you specifically do to handle these?

Ø What was the outcome?

What opportunity have you had to examine your own biases and behaviours when dealing with people?

Ø What observations have you made?

Ø Describe an example of when you have attempted to avoid a stereotypical response.

Ø What feedback did you get from the person/people?

Ø How could you be more effective in this area?

When you are liaising with colleagues or others from different cultures, what sorts of issues do you need to take into account?

Ø When did this knowledge help you get your job done more efficiently?

Ø When did you overlook something?

Ø How did you handle this?

CLIENT ORIENTATION

How much experience have you had with clients?

Ø What do you like about dealing with them?

Ø What do you dislike?

Ø How do you look after their interests?

Give me an example of when you have put a client first?

Ø What sacrifices did you have to make?

Ø What impact did this have on your other activities?

Ø How was this seen by others?

Tell me about the last time a client made an excessive or unreasonable demand on you.

Ø What made them so demanding?

Ø What did you do to assist them?

Ø What pressure did this put you under?

Describe a time when you were unable to help out a client as much as they wanted.

Ø Why was this?

Ø What did they say about their reaction?

Ø What feedback did you have about the situation?

Ø What would you have done differently?

Give me an example of when it has been important to keep clients (people) informed of progress.

Ø How do you think you could improve your approach to informing clients?

Ø When are you less likely to follow up with clients?

Ø How do you manage the expectations of the client?

When have you considered the perspective of clients when making a decision?

Ø Why was this important?

Ø What did you specifically consider?

CREATIVITY

Tell me about a time when you came up with a new idea at work.

Ø Why was this important?

Ø What risks did you consider?

Ø How did you get other people interested in the idea?

Ø What was the outcome?

Creative ideas may initially seem good but in practice be unusable. How often do you find this?

Ø Tell me about one such situation.

Ø How did you decide that the idea was not practical?

Ø What was the outcome of the situation?

Give me an example of a time when you used a less conventional approach to your work.

Ø Why was this necessary?

Ø Why do you consider your approach to be different?

Ø How well did it work?

In what situations are you least creative?

Ø What stops you from being innovative?

Ø How do you manage these situations?

Ø What would help you to handle these situations more effectively?

Describe a situation when you produced an imaginative solution to a problem at work.

Ø How did you generate the solution?

Ø What feedback did you receive?

Ø What would you do differently next time?

Tell me about a time when you questioned a way of working.

Ø Why did you question it?

Ø What alternative did you suggest?

Ø To what extent were your ideas used?

Tell me about a time when you took a risk with pursuing a new approach or idea.

Ø What was risky about pursuing the approach/idea?

Ø How did you handle the situation?

Ø How far did the new approach/idea progress?

Tell me about a recent time when you went about instituting improvement and change.

Ø How was it decided that an improvement was needed?

Ø How did you go about making the change(s)?

Ø What resistance was there to the change(s)?

Ø What effect did the changes have?

Which is more important: creativity or efficiency? Why?