Competency-based interview: questions and how to score them
By Deibson Silva · Reviewed on
A competency-based interview asks about real situations the person has already lived through and scores each answer against a scale written before it starts. The questions come from the job profile, every candidate answers the same ones and each interviewer gives a mark separately before sharing impressions.
What is a competency-based interview?
It is an interview in which every question asks for a specific episode from the past: what happened, what the person did and how it ended. It rests on a simple idea: what someone did in a similar situation says more about what they will do than what they claim about themselves.
It differs from a free-flowing conversation in three ways. The questions are written beforehand. They are the same for every candidate for the role. And there is a written yardstick for deciding whether an answer is good.
It takes more preparation and less improvisation. In return, two interviewers who have seen the same person can explain why they mark them differently, and the decision can be defended to whoever was not chosen.
Where do the competencies you ask about come from?
From the job profile, and nowhere else. If the profile says the role means coordinating with three areas and meeting tight deadlines, the interview asks about collaboration and about delivering results. If it does not say so, those questions are surplus.
Choose between four and six competencies. With more, the interview drags and each one is only skimmed. For each competency, write one main question and two follow-ups.
The must-haves in the profile always get a question. The nice-to-haves can wait for a second interview, or for the conversation with whoever will manage the person.
How do you word a good question?
Start with 'Tell me about a time when…' and ask for a case in place of an opinion. 'How do you handle pressure?' invites a speech. 'Tell me about the last time two deliveries fell in the same week' makes the person recall something that happened.
A complete answer has four parts: the situation, what the person had to do, what they did and the result. When one is missing, you ask for it. 'What did you do, specifically?' separates what the person did from what their team did. 'What happened next?' brings out the result. 'What would you do differently now?' shows whether they learned anything.
Avoid three kinds of question. Hypotheticals, of the 'what would you do if…?' kind, because they measure what the person knows they ought to say. Questions that carry the answer inside them, such as 'we really value teamwork here, what are you like?'. And double questions, which mix two behaviours and let the person pick the more comfortable one.
Which questions work as examples?
These eight cover the competencies that turn up most often in job profiles. Adapt them to the role and swap the context for one the candidate may have lived through.
| Competency | Question | What to look for in the answer |
|---|---|---|
| Delivering results | Tell me about a piece of work that nearly did not go out on time. What did you do? | That they gave warning before the deadline and proposed a way out |
| Collaboration | Tell me about a time you depended on another area that was not responding. | That they went to find the person and understood their position before escalating |
| Problem solving | Tell me about a problem whose cause was not the one it seemed. | That they gathered facts before pointing at anyone |
| Customer focus | Tell me about a customer who asked for something that was not in their interest. | That they asked about the real need and said no with reasons |
| Organisation and priorities | Tell me about a week when you could not get to everything. What did you leave out, and why? | That they chose by a yardstick and told people |
| People leadership | Tell me about the last time you had to tell someone in your team that their work was not good enough. | That they spoke about facts, in good time and in private |
| Adaptability | Tell me about a change of plan that reached you halfway through a project. | That they reorganised the work without losing quality |
| Continuous learning | Tell me about something you had to learn fast for a job. | That they looked for help and applied it at work |
How do you score each answer?
With a short scale, written before the first interview. Four points are enough. One: gives no example, or answers in general terms. Two: gives an example, but it is not clear what the person did. Three: gives a specific example, with their action and the result. Four: gives more than one example, in different contexts, and explains what they learned.
Each interviewer writes down verbatim phrases and gives their mark before talking to the other. If impressions are shared first, the opinion of whoever speaks first pulls the rest along.
The mark is per competency. There is no overall mark for the interview, because a brilliant talker would end up with a good mark for everything. And the weight of each competency is settled with the profile, before anyone is seen: a low mark on a must-have is not offset by a high one on a nice-to-have.
At the end the marks are brought together, differences of more than one point are discussed and two lines are written on why each candidate does or does not go forward.
What can you not ask?
Anything that has nothing to do with the work. In Spain, Act 15/2022 forbids limitations or exclusions on the grounds it protects in access to employment, selection criteria included, and Article 9.5 says the employer may not ask about the applicant's state of health. Article 4.2.c of the Workers' Statute sets out the right not to be discriminated against in employment.
The Spanish data protection authority's guide on employment adds two warnings. A person answering in an interview is not the same as consenting to the processing of that data. And data obtained by deduction, such as beliefs or trade union membership, cannot be processed without a legal basis either. The same guide cites a court ruling that found it discriminatory to put family and personal questions unrelated to the post to a candidate.
The practical rule is short: if the question does not come out of the job profile, it is not asked. Family plans, age, origin, marital status or political ideas stay out, even if they come up in friendly small talk at the start. Other jurisdictions have their own equality rules, and the same habit keeps you inside them.
What do you do with the notes afterwards?
Keep what is necessary, for as long as is necessary. Article 5 of the GDPR asks for data to be adequate, relevant and limited to what is needed, and not kept in a form that identifies the person for longer than the purpose it was collected for requires.
For someone who is not hired, the Spanish authority's guide is clear: once the process is over, the basis for continuing to process their data disappears. To keep it with another vacancy in mind you need their consent, unless the company can show a legitimate interest. If you want to keep a good candidate in your talent pool, ask them.
Interview notes are part of that data. Write them as if the candidate were going to read them: Article 15 of the GDPR gives them the right to access the data held about them.
Which mistakes are common?
Improvising the questions with the CV in front of you. Each candidate ends up answering a different interview and there is no way to compare them.
Deciding in the first few minutes. First impressions form quickly, and the rest of the interview is spent confirming them. The written scale is there to put a brake on that.
Talking more than the candidate. If the interviewer takes up more than a third of the time, they leave knowing little.
Accepting 'we' as an answer. What matters is what that person did within the team.
Using the interview as the only test. It gives information about past behaviour. Technical work is better checked with a practical exercise, and fit with the role with the behavioural profile.
Sources
- Spanish Act 15/2022 on equal treatment and non-discrimination, Articles 2 and 9 (BOE-A-2022-11589, in Spanish)
- AEPD: data protection in employment relationships, section on selection and hiring (in Spanish)
- Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR), Articles 5 and 15 (EUR-Lex)
- Spanish Workers' Statute, Article 4.2.c (BOE-A-2015-11430, in Spanish)
Frequently asked questions
- How many questions fit into a competency-based interview?
- Between four and six main ones, with their follow-ups, in an hour. With more competencies, none is explored in the detail needed to score it.
- Does it work for someone with no work experience?
- Yes. The episodes can come from studies, a placement, volunteering or a project of their own. The behaviour is what counts, wherever it took place.
- Who should interview?
- Two people: whoever will manage the candidate and someone from outside the team. Each scores separately before comparing marks.
- How is it different from a situational interview?
- A situational interview sets out a hypothetical case and asks what the person would do. A competency-based one asks what they did in a real case. The two can be combined, but the second tells you more.
- Can I keep the notes on a candidate I did not hire?
- According to the Spanish authority's guide, keeping their data with another vacancy in mind needs their consent, unless you can show a legitimate interest. The simplest course is to ask when you close the process.