How do you use competency-based interviewing to assess a candidate's teamwork skills?

1 What are teamwork skills?

Teamwork skills are essential abilities and attitudes that enable a person to work productively with others to reach a shared goal. These skills involve listening and giving feedback, respecting and supporting diversity, delegating tasks, managing conflict and resolving issues, adapting and learning from others, and celebrating and recognizing achievements. Teamwork skills are not only necessary for team-based roles, but also for individual contributors who need to interact with different stakeholders, such as clients, managers, or peers. Furthermore, these skills can showcase a candidate's cultural fit, values, and growth potential.

2 How to prepare competency-based questions for teamwork skills

In order to prepare competency-based questions for teamwork skills, you must first define the relevant competencies for the role and organization. A framework such as STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) or CAR (Context, Action, Result) can be used to structure the questions. For example, if you are looking for a candidate who can respect and support diversity, you could ask them to describe a situation where they had to collaborate with a diverse group of people to achieve a goal. Furthermore, follow-up questions should be prepared to dig deeper into the candidate's responses and elicit more details and examples. These could include queries on how they handled disagreements or conflicts in the team, how they communicated their expectations and feedback to others, and how they celebrated and recognized the team's achievements.

3 How to conduct competency-based interviews for teamwork skills

When conducting competency-based interviews for teamwork skills, it's important to set clear expectations and guidelines for the candidate. Ensure that you use a consistent and structured approach for all candidates, asking the same or similar questions and using the same rating scale. Focus on the candidate's behavior and actions, rather than their opinions or feelings, and use open-ended and neutral questions to avoid leading or influencing their answers. As you listen to their responses, show interest and encouragement with verbal and non-verbal cues. Finally, evaluate the candidate's responses objectively and holistically, considering the context, complexity, and outcome of the situation.

4 How to use competency-based interviewing to promote diversity

Competency-based interviewing can help you promote diversity in your hiring process by reducing the impact of unconscious bias, stereotypes, and personal preferences. To do so, create a diverse and trained panel of interviewers from different backgrounds and perspectives. Employ a standardized and transparent scoring system with a rubric or matrix to rate the candidate's responses based on predefined criteria and evidence. Supplement the competency-based interview with other tools, such as tests, simulations, or portfolio reviews, to get a comprehensive picture of the candidate's skills and potential. Finally, use a data-driven and inclusive decision-making process to collect and analyze the data from the interviews and assessments, taking into account the diversity of the team and organization. Consider how the candidate can add value and enrich the culture.

5 How to provide feedback and follow-up to candidates

Providing feedback and follow-up to candidates is an important part of the competency-based interviewing process. It can help you build trust and rapport with the candidates, enhance your employer brand, and improve your hiring outcomes. To do this, you should provide timely and constructive feedback that is specific and actionable. Make sure to use examples and evidence from the interview to support your feedback, and focus on competencies rather than personality or traits. Additionally, be honest and respectful when providing feedback, expressing appreciation for their skills and experience. Finally, ask the candidate how they would like to receive feedback and follow-up, using the channel that suits them best.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?