Competency Interview Question

slowboy

I had an interview on Wednesday for a public sector employer, one of the competency based questions was can you give me an example of your ability to develop and apply creative solutions to problems, I was not expecting a question like that, so i froze and after a long pause and a big drink of water the best answer I could come up with was
While working for an appliance supplier a customer brought in an appliance that needed repairing, but we couldn't verify the warranty. The customer had lost the receipt but didn't want to have to pay for repairs.
I checked our sales records, and found a payment which looked too match the information provided by the customer. The customer had paid by credit card, and we could use the credit card statement to verify the date for warranty. This was checked and the repairs were done under warranty,the customer was very pleased.
Not a bad answer but I didn't get the job and when asking for feedback this was the answer that scored lowest, any idea how I could better answer this question?

Hedgehog99

Did you ever adapt a completely different spare part or piece of equipment to solve a problem, either at work or in your home life? If the correct part was no longer available, did you just look at the space it needed to go / function it needed to fulfil & know that something else would do the job, even if it was something from a cookery shop / garden centre / haberdashery or artists supplies shop?

Armorica

That's probably more problem solving that creativity

InsideInsurance

To be honest, without having actually heard what you said exactly its difficult to give advice.

The problem could be the example itself, that they didnt feel it demonstrated enough creativity/ thinking outside the box or it could be the example was fine but how you explained it was poor.

For the latter look at the STAR method as a starting point. Secondly, it can often be the little things that trip you up, for example you continuously saying "we" rather than "I". Interviews are a time for showboating and when they ask what YOU did they explicitly want to hear "I" rather than "we"

pinpin

I think we need to compile a huge list of all of the questions asked at such interviews in a new thread, and then have a list of generic answers that can be memorised and used in interviews.

slowboy

Thanks for the reply's, I will be better prepared if that question ever comes up again.
That's not a bad idea pinpin, I have had a few of these type interviews and they do tend to use similar questions
On reflection I just didn't see the fit between problem solving and creative solutions, in Hedgehog99 example is that just not the way problems are normally solved, i.e try the obvious solution first then "think outside the box"(I hate that phrase) and how does that demonstrate I am able to develop and apply creative solutions?

tomtontom

pinpin wrote: »

I think we need to compile a huge list of all of the questions asked at such interviews in a new thread, and then have a list of generic answers that can be memorised and used in interviews.

The key is not to give generic answers - you want to stand out, not be the same as everyone else.

pinpin

tomtontom wrote: »

The key is not to give generic answers - you want to stand out, not be the same as everyone else.

Maybe not generic, but a pre-planned answers that can be very slightly adapted so as to be believable?

example:

Tell me about a time in which you were required to produce
something to a high standard, within a fixed period of time??


During my final year of university, I conducted a quantitative research project on consumer brand loyalty and customer satisfaction. My project received an undergraduate research
grant from the organisation of which I conducted my research in.

In order to provide valuable information to the organisation financing my research project, and maintain my grade average of over 70%, I was required to conduct high quality research, within the project deadline of 4 months, and achieve a grade result of 70% or above. Simultaneously, I was required to continue with my part time job, volunteering activities and assignments for other
courses

To ensure that a high quality project was produced prior to the deadline, I first attended additional training in quantitative research methodology, I attended a short course in academic
writing in business, and I conducted a pilot study prior to my main project in order to gain
preliminary data.

Despite a heavy workload and significant pressure, my undergraduate project received a
grade of 75%, and was published in the journal of consumer marketing. The organisations which
provided the research grant incorporated the findings of my project in their overall marketing
strategy and offered me a 7 week paid internship at their company

---

(If you didn't go to uni, you could say ''college' instead?)
Memorise ''high standard - fixed time'' and when teh question comes up, give them as much of the above answer as your memory will allow

pmduk

It's worth practicing the Star Technique mentioned above, possibly thinking of previous situations that may assist you in these interviews and deciding how best to present them.

tomtontom

pinpin wrote: »

Maybe not generic, but a pre-planned answers that can be very slightly adapted so as to be believable?

example:

Tell me about a time in which you were required to produce
something to a high standard, within a fixed period of time??


During my final year of university, I conducted a quantitative research project on consumer brand loyalty and customer satisfaction. My project received an undergraduate research
grant from the organisation of which I conducted my research in.

In order to provide valuable information to the organisation financing my research project, and maintain my grade average of over 70%, I was required to conduct high quality research, within the project deadline of 4 months, and achieve a grade result of 70% or above. Simultaneously, I was required to continue with my part time job, volunteering activities and assignments for other
courses

To ensure that a high quality project was produced prior to the deadline, I first attended additional training in quantitative research methodology, I attended a short course in academic
writing in business, and I conducted a pilot study prior to my main project in order to gain
preliminary data.

Despite a heavy workload and significant pressure, my undergraduate project received a
grade of 75%, and was published in the journal of consumer marketing. The organisations which
provided the research grant incorporated the findings of my project in their overall marketing
strategy and offered me a 7 week paid internship at their company

---

(If you didn't go to uni, you could say ''college' instead?)
Memorise ''high standard - fixed time'' and when teh question comes up, give them as much of the above answer as your memory will allow

Your answer is sound, but only relevant to you. It would be very foolish for someone to use an example that is not your own - an experienced interviewer will see straight through it.

windup

interview questions like that are a load of hogwash, it's a variation on the how did you overcome a difficulty question that seems to creep into every interview nowadays, it's probably part of a HR course somewhere.

Your answer on how you used your initiative was fine, maybe your face didn't fit, there was someone better, you were one of many for a limited number of jobs, or as is often the case, they had someone from inside lined up for it already and were just going through the motions