Competency based Interviews (Just hate them)

KiKi

pinpin wrote: »

Really? Jeez. I can hardly answer any of the 'easy' 12 you quoted!
What job was it you went for? I'm assuming it a professional role where a degree is a pre-requisite?

Those questions really are pretty standard - you can use plenty of life-based examples for many of those, you don't have to limit them to work.

pinpin wrote: »

Really? I can answer maybe 2 of those questions.
I think these types of interviews are only aimed at graduates going for high-flying extremely well-paid jobs or people who are already managers etc.
I don't know why they are seeping through into interviews for people looking for cleaning work!

For someone looking for a cleaning job, you wouldn't ask those questions; that would be silly. But there are plenty of roles between 'cleaner' and 'high-flying' which aren't managerial. I'd interview someone for an admin role with questions like that, if they were relevant to the sort of behaviour / activity in the role.

pinpin wrote: »

for the 12 questions, I would have nothing in terms of 'work' experience.
Never worked in any sort of pressure. Or had any 'challenges'. Never in a position to make 'unpopular decisions'. Can't remember any disagreements with people at work or even many mistakes if i'm honest! (hard to make too many mistakes with unskilled manual labour!)

Now, I'd possibly be able to come up with *some* answers if I use things from personal life. (I had a good row with an ex-girlfriend once so I guess I could use that for 'a time i had a disagreement with someone'!! )
Although, even then, i'd never be able to think of example on the spot. I'd have to think for a few days and email them my answers! lol

So prepare in advance! Think about what you might be asked and have some 'personal' examples to use.


For the person who said this is an 'HR fad' (!!!!!), it's not; it's just that some stupid people (hiring managers and HR included) just ask competency based questions for the sake of an interview, rather than thinking about what needs to be tested. They let the side down! When I interview for assessors, I do very short competency based interviews to hear about how they manage high workloads and how they treat clients. But most of the 'interview' is observing them in practical situations - role playing an assessment with a candidate and writing a report, which is what they have to do in the actual job. If you did that with someone applying for an admin role that would be pointless.

Like it or not, there are not many reliable methods for recruitment which actually bear out in performance, but CBI is one of the most reliable, comparatively. And if you're recruiting for a critical role, you'd never rely on an interview alone, you'd undertake a range of assessments.

Unfortunately it's the stupid people who use CBI in completely inappropriate recruitment situations who let the side down...

KiKi

3wisemonks

I have the same problem I prepare and prepare but when I get in the room I go blank I'm lucky if I can remember my own name let alone a 'worked under pressure' situation! Funny thing is I work well under pressure normally :rotfl:

I have written out some answers with the STAR technique but I get in the room and forget even how to spell star let alone form a coherent sentence.

I don't suppose they will appreciate me bringing my note book

All the best for anyone with up coming interviews.

Stylehutz

3wisemonks wrote: »

I have the same problem I prepare and prepare but when I get in the room I go blank I'm lucky if I can remember my own name let alone a 'worked under pressure' situation! Funny thing is I work well under pressure normally :rotfl:

I have written out some answers with the STAR technique but I get in the room and forget even how to spell star let alone form a coherent sentence.

I don't suppose they will appreciate me bringing my note book

All the best for anyone with up coming interviews.

Me as well in the same boat, which is why I started this thread.
I even forget basic words and where I have been previously employed. Mind goes completely blank. As I say I can't even remember what I watched on TV last night at an interview let alone remember an occasion where I missed a deadline.


Is this really the fairest way to select candidates at an interview?

tomtontom

Stylehutz wrote: »

Me as well in the same boat, which is why I started this thread.
I even forget basic words and where I have been previously employed. Mind goes completely blank. As I say I can't even remember what I watched on TV last night at an interview let alone remember an occasion where I missed a deadline.


Is this really the fairest way to select candidates at an interview?

What else do you suggest? It sounds like you would struggle with any interview. You need to get over those nerves - that is your issue, not the interview style.

amiehall

pinpin wrote: »

Really? Jeez. I can hardly answer any of the 'easy' 12 you quoted!
What job was it you went for? I'm assuming it a professional role where a degree is a pre-requisite?

Just for a laugh, why don't you write down some of the questions you were asked so that I can laugh at myself trying to imagine what on earth i'd say in the interview! lol

That's why you prepare in advance... Take that selection of questions as a starting point to think of scenarios for. They don't particularly need you to have managed other people. I also wouldn't be afraid of bringing in experiences from outside work. One of my friends managed to pass a suit of competency interviews despite never having had a job.

Stylehutz

tomtontom wrote: »

What else do you suggest? It sounds like you would struggle with any interview. You need to get over those nerves - that is your issue, not the interview style.

Select candidates on actual experience in the role ,mine is over 25 years. Stop using a tickbox system which favours those with the gift of the gab, over confident & who can bluff their way out of anything.


I have no problem whatsoever with your normal interview questions, Strengths weaknesses, where do I see myself in 5 years, what can I contribute to the company etc.No nerves whatsoever. The CBI ones are my downfall.


One for employers using CBI questions. Are there any right or wrong answers to the questions or do you mark each answer out of 10?

devilivus

Stylehutz wrote: »

Stop using a tickbox system which favours those with the gift of the gab, over confident & who can bluff their way out of anything.

I do know where you are coming from. It's just the way it is.

I have a friend (well, the brother of one of my good friends) who is one of the most confident people I've ever met.
People who know him describe him as a 'dreamer' or a 'bull$hit artist'.
If he starts a little Ebay business, he's telling you that he'll be a millionaire in a year. He'll tell you how amazing he is at a sport that you've beat him in despite only being average yourself! He adores to talk about himself. He didn't do good at school and I wouldn't desribe his intelligent, but he ALWAYS get the job, I guess because he has, as you say, the gift of the gab in SPADES!
It's annoying as I really think you are either born with it or you ain't!

It's a shame that the quieter people who maybe don't have lots of confidence are always left on the shelf in this Big Brother audition that is the current job market, lol

tomtontom

Stylehutz wrote: »

Select candidates on actual experience in the role ,mine is over 25 years. Stop using a tickbox system which favours those with the gift of the gab, over confident & who can bluff their way out of anything.


I have no problem whatsoever with your normal interview questions, Strengths weaknesses, where do I see myself in 5 years, what can I contribute to the company etc.No nerves whatsoever. The CBI ones are my downfall.


One for employers using CBI questions. Are there any right or wrong answers to the questions or do you mark each answer out of 10?

Experience does not necessarily equate to competence - people want to know what you can do, not for how long you might have done it.

Used properly competency based interviews are anything but tick boxes. They give you an opportunity to talk about when you have demonstrated key skills, and that is what we want to know. Telling me one of your strengths is that you're good at problem solving tells me nothing - I want you to tell me about when you've proven/ applied your problem solving skills.

In terms of marking your answers I assess them out of 4, 1 being shows no hope of developing x competency to 4 already excelling in that area. There are no right or wrong answers, in fact I appreciate an imperfect situation as long as the candidate understands where they can improve in future.

Stylehutz

tomtontom wrote: »

Experience does not necessarily equate to competence - people want to know what you can do, not for how long you might have done it.

Used properly competency based interviews are anything but tick boxes. They give you an opportunity to talk about when you have demonstrated key skills, and that is what we want to know. Telling me one of your strengths is that you're good at problem solving tells me nothing - I want you to tell me about when you've proven/ applied your problem solving skills.

In terms of marking your answers I assess them out of 4, 1 being shows no hope of developing x competency to 4 already excelling in that area. There are no right or wrong answers, in fact I appreciate an imperfect situation as long as the candidate understands where they can improve in future.

I don't entirely disagree with you but its having the confidence with trying to come up with answers to the CBI questions if you have been in those situations. I think Devilus summed it up well in the previous post saying you are either born with it or You ain't



Again, another one for interviewers, Are you happy that the person who performed best at the interview with the CBI questions is going to be the best person for the job?. I bet some awful candidates have been chosen just by them B**********g their way through the interview and answering questions to your satisfaction at the time.

tomtontom

Stylehutz wrote: »

I don't entirely disagree with you but its having the confidence with trying to come up with answers to the CBI questions if you have been in those situations. I think Devilus summed it up well in the previous post saying you are either born with it or You ain't



Again, another one for interviewers, Are you happy that the person who performed best at the interview with the CBI questions is going to be the best person for the job?. I bet some awful candidates have been chosen just by them B**********g their way through the interview and answering questions to your satisfaction at the time.

I disagree that you're either born with it or you're not - I'm the least confident person when it comes to selling myself. I manage my nerves by making sure I know my stuff, there's little an interviewer can throw at me that I've not already thought of.

Also don't think the bolshy types are more likely to get the job. There's a lot to be said for humility. I aim to leave an interviewer thinking I'm honest and self aware, not faultless but up my own backside

I would never select a candidate purely on the basis of a CBI, it's only one piece of the jigsaw. I'll also use report writing exercises because that would be a key part of the role.

I do think you've got the wrong idea of how/ why CBIs are used. I don't go in with preconceived ideas of the answers I'm looking for - I go in wanting to be surprised.