My name is Richard McMunn from the interview training company.

www.PassMyInterview.com, and in this tutorial I am going to teach you how to answer competency

based interview questions.

If you have any kind of interview coming up, I encourage you to watch this from beginning

to end because I promise it's going to make a significant difference to your preparation,

and more importantly, to your performance at the interview.

I want you to get the job.

Now, before I get into it, a very warm welcome to this tutorial.

That's me there on the right-hand side.

My name is Richard McMunn.

I am extremely passionate about helping people pass their interviews and in this particular

tutorial I'm going to focus specifically on how to answer competency-based interview questions.

As always, please do make sure you subscribe to the channel by clicking the red button

below the video.

I'm creating and uploading new videos on a weekly basis and I don't want you to miss

out.

Also, if you enjoy the content and the sample questions and answers I'm about to provide

you, please do hit the LIKE button, give the video a thumbs up.

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OK.

So, the aim of this presentation is I want to make you the standout candidate during

your interview.

I want you to pass.

So how am I going to do that?

Let's get straight into it.

So, first and foremost, how do you answer competency-based interview questions?

In order to tackle that we need to understand what competencies are.

Now this is going to take about a minute but it's very important.

Now competencies are basically a set of skills and attributes that are needed to perform

the job to the required standard.

And that is why most interviewers will utilize competencies during interviews.

They are actually very easy to answer, using the structure that I am about to disclose.

So, let's say, for argument's sake, you were going for a customer service role and a lot

of jobs require an ability to deliver great customer service.

What would be the competencies?

Well you would need an ability to communicate effectively.

You would need to be able to provide great customer service.

You would have to deal with customer problems as and when they arise.

And you would also need to work effectively whilst under pressure.

So, there are four competencies.

Now, if we take a look at the interview questions based on the competencies, what could they

be?

Well, let's have a look at the competency, ‘having an ability to communicate effectively.’

The interview questions would probably be: “Describe a time when you demonstrated effective

communication skills?” or “Describe a time when you delivered a difficult message

to a customer or a group of people?”

And you will notice there's a common theme in these competency interview questions.

They start off with – “Describe a time” or “Describe a situation”, that means

you have to give a specific example.

I'm gonna disclose something in a minute that's gonna help you to stand out as the top candidate.

Let's have a look at another competency for a customer service role.

You have to work effectively under pressure.

So, the interview questions would probably be “Describe a time when you completed a

difficult task whilst under pressure?”

Or “Describe a situation when you worked with other people to complete a difficult

and time sensitive task?”

So, how do we answer competency based interview questions?

We know what competencies are, we can work out what kind of interview questions we will

get asked!

Let's have a look at the structure.

So, this is how to structure your answers to get the highest scores possible.

Excuse me.

First of all, we start off with the SITUATION.

Then we tell them what the TASK is.

What ACTION we took.

And then the RESULT.

So, it's SITUATION, TASK, ACTION, RESULT and all you have to do is think of STAR -SITUATION

TASK ACTION RESULT, and I’ll tell you something in a second which will make you stand out.

So, when you respond to the interview questions, explain the situation you were in.

Then explain the task that needed to be done.

Then tell the interview panel the action that you took and then explain the result following

your actions.

Always make sure the result is positive following your actions, and then, this is a new thing

but it will make you stand out at the end.

Add another ‘R’ which is REFLECTION.

So you would say at the end of your response – “Upon reflection, I learned a lot from

this situation and this is what I learned.”

And I'll give you a couple of examples in a second of how to add the reflection bit

at the end to make you the standout candidate.

So, when responding to competency interview questions, use situation, task, action, result

and then reflection.

So, how do we answer the questions?

Let's take a look at a sample competency-based interview question of “Describe a time when

you worked under pressure to complete a difficult task?”

So, here's my sample answer.

I'm going to utilize the star technique with the R at the end, so situation: “One day

at work, we received notification that one of our key stock suppliers had gone into liquidation,

meaning we were not able to supply our customers with their orders.

I volunteered to start sourcing a new supplier who could send us the relevant stock within

24 hours meaning our customers would not be delayed in receiving their orders.

I started looking online and I drew up a short list of three potential suppliers.

I then conducted reviews of their service before calling the one that had the best reviews

to discuss commercial terms and delivery times.

Within two hours of commencing the task, I managed to source a new supplier who sent

us the goods within 24 hours, meaning our customers all received their orders on time.

Upon reflection I learned how important it is to remain calm under pressure and follow

a logical plan.

If you do this, you can resolve any type of problem regardless of the pressure you are

under.”

So that reflection at the end really solidifies your response and shows that you are a mature

and intelligent employee.

So, shall we take a look at another example?

Another competency based interview question and response?

Yes, let's do it.

OK.

So, “Describe a time when you changed how you did something following feedback from

someone else?”

This is a real common competency-based interview question.

It shows that you can take on board feedback and constructive criticism and then use it

positively.

So, once again: Situation, Task, Action, Result and Reflection, and the question is “Describe

a time when you changed how you did something following feedback from someone else?

Here's the sample response: “During an appraisal with my line manager, It was put to me that

I needed to improve my technical skills when using some Adobe software applications.

This would in turn increase my output within the team.

I viewed it as my job to take on board the feedback in a constructive manner and learn

the new skills as professionally and quickly as possible.

I immediately signed up to an intensive two-day online training course to learn the new software

applications, and during the training course I studied hard and quickly learned the new

skills required.

At the end of the course, I passed the final exam with an eighty seven percent pass mark,

and have since been using the new software applications which has allowed me to complete

more office tasks as and when required.

I learned a lot from that situation, and I now conduct my own six-monthly, self-appraisal

to look at ways I can improve to help the team increase output and performance.”

So, those two are fantastic responses to those competency-based interview questions.

Now, if you would like more, 50 for more modules to help you pass your interview, click the

link below the video or go to my Web site PassMyInterview.com.

I'll quickly show the website.

This is the website.

PassMyInterview.com.

There's over 550 excellent TrustPilot reviews and it is a free online interview training

course: you can get access to this for 30 days and you can be learning literally within

two minutes.

It's me giving you all of the tutorials on there and I cover every conceivable possible

interview question you could get asked and give you tips on how to answer it, and also

more importantly, sample downloadable responses to the interview questions.

So, I hope you've enjoyed that tutorial.

Don't forget to go to PassMyInterview.com.

If you have an interview coming up, I'd be more than happy to give you a few sample competency-based

interview questions.

If you put them in the comments below.

Don't forget to subscribe.

I hope you really enjoyed that guys, I love helping you to pass your interviews.

Thanks for watching.

My name's Richard McMunn and I wish you all the best in your pursuit to passing your competency

based interview.

Thank you very much.