Competency-Based Interviewing Made Simple: How to Identify Star Performers

Recruiting the right talent is crucial for the success of any SME. Competency-based interviews are a powerful tool to help you identify star performers who can drive your business forward. This approach assesses candidates' past behaviours and experiences to predict their future performance.

These kinds of interviews are 5x more accurate in choosing the right candidate for your role compared to standard interview questions. They are most effective at predicting the difference between a top and an average performer and at predicting future potential. Here’s how you can make competency-based interviews work for you.

Key Questions to ask.

First, go back to your job descriptions and spend some time identifying the skills that you want this person to bring to your organisation and then design your questions around these skills. Here are some key questions to consider.

1. Tell me about a time when you had to solve a difficult problem. What steps did you take?

2. Describe a situation where you had to work as part of a team. What was your role, and how did you contribute?

3. Can you give an example of a goal you set and how you achieved it?

4. Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a challenging customer or client. How did you handle it?

5. Describe a situation where you had to adapt to a significant change. How did you manage it?

Probe each answer more deeply to get a better understanding of what the candidate did, why they did it and what difference this made for the organisation.

Use positive indicators to create a scoring system

For each competency, you should create a list of positive indicators that the candidate would need to demonstrate. The idea with this is you can compare skills between one candidate and another and you remove subjectivity. These are the behaviours you would expect a candidate to show. For example, if you were assessing someone on their planning and organisational skills you could give them a point for each area if they show you that they use a diary, they work with to-do lists, they are clear as to their daily priorities and that they can handle unexpected requests. From this, you can create a pass level and can compare candidates directly.

Action points for you:

Considering this information as a business owner/hiring manager when you are next interviewing you may want to:

• Create a list of all the competencies/skills that a person would need in a role to show they can do the job and identify the top 4 to ask them about.
• Create a scoring system for comparison purposes between candidates based on the behaviours you want to see. You may want to have just a three-point system – below competency, competent and above competency.
• Contact me for my worksheet for more guidance.

Competency-based interviews, when done right, can significantly enhance your recruitment process. By asking the right questions, objectively evaluating the responses, and avoiding common biases, you can identify star performers who will contribute to your SME’s success. If you want help to reduce the time that you spend on recruitment as well as optimise your hiring processes and attract the best candidates book a free strategy session with me, Caroline Hunt at Emerald Starfish HERE.