Mastering Competency-Based Interviews: How to Ask the Right Questions

When interviewing candidates, competency-based questions are key to understanding how someone’s past behaviour will predict their future performance. These questions help you gauge whether the candidate possesses the necessary skills and abilities for the role. Here’s how to get it right:

1. Know the competencies you’re assessing – Identify the core skills, knowledge, and behaviours needed for the role. For example, if problem-solving is a key skill, your questions should probe how they’ve tackled challenges in previous jobs.
2. Use the STAR method – Structure your questions to prompt candidates to describe Situations, Tasks, Actions, and Results. This ensures you get a complete picture of how they handled specific scenarios. Ask something like, "Can you give an example of a time when you had to solve a difficult problem under pressure?"
3. Be specific – Generic questions lead to vague answers. Ask focused, behaviour-based questions such as, "Tell me about a time when you led a project from start to finish."
4. Follow up for clarity – If an answer feels incomplete or unclear, don’t be afraid to dive deeper. Ask follow-up questions like, "What was the result?" or "How did you handle setbacks?"
5. Include personality-based questions – While competency questions focus on skills and behaviours, personality-based questions can help you assess cultural fit. For example, asking "How do you prefer to work in a team environment?" or "What motivates you at work?" can reveal how well a candidate aligns with your company’s values and work style. A strong fit here can be just as important as technical ability.
6. Stay consistent – To ensure fairness, ask all candidates similar questions. This allows you to compare responses across a consistent framework, making it easier to assess competencies objectively.

By carefully combining competency-based and personality-focused questions, you can more effectively assess whether candidates have the right skills and are a good fit for your team and company culture. This approach not only ensures you hire someone with the necessary competencies but also someone who aligns with your values, helping to build a stronger and more cohesive team for the long term.

Got a question for us? Get in touch with Humanised Group for you next hire or job search today!