The document discusses competency-based interviews, which assess candidates based on behavioral competencies rather than subjective judgments. It explains that competencies are skills, abilities, and knowledge required for a role. Competency-based interviews ask behavioral questions to understand how candidates have demonstrated competencies in past situations, and situational questions to evaluate their abilities. The document provides examples of behavioral and situational questions and the STAR method for answering behavioral questions. It emphasizes that competency-based interviews reduce bias and better predict future job performance compared to traditional interviews.

1. COMPETENCY BASED INTERVIEW
LET’S START WITH AN ACTIVITY.
List down top 10 questions you ask during an interview for the job of Sales
Executive.

2. INTERVIEWING SKILLS THAT PROVIDE RESULTS:
- Have you ever interviewed a candidate only to have a different person show up for
the interview with your hiring authority? This embarrassing scenario can all but be
eliminated if you implement the interview skills we will outline in this session.
While interviewing candidates with job experience, interviewers use their past
experiences and records to verify merit, but such an approach is not possible for
fresh-out-of-college candidates. In traditional unstructured interviews, the format is
more like a one-to-one discussion where you are asked certain questions and your
suitability is judged on the basis of your answers. This format has been found to be
faulty as there is no scientific basis for judgment being applied here. Most questions
are hypothetical and so are the answers.
For example, “How will you handle an upset customer?” or “What strategy will you
use in such and such case?”
A more rational approach can be applied in the form of a competency-based
interview. In such competency-based interviews questions, the interviewer tries to
find out how candidates have actually performed in various situations in the past,
which help in revealing individual competencies (see definition below).
To cut a long story short, it means they use past behavior to predict future
performance.
WHAT ARE COMPETENCIES?
Let us first understand what competency-based interview actually means.
COMPETENCY = SKILLS + ABILITY + KNOWLEDGE
To give an example, Company A requires a person for handling the job of a Retail
Executive in a regional office. In addition to the requisite skills and qualifications
needed for the job profile, the company has identified certain performance-related
behaviors that are critical to performing the job effectively. These behaviors or
“competencies” are traits that have elevated job performance in the past and are
likely to be the basis of successful job performance in the future as well. Company A
lists such behaviors as key job competencies and formats their selection processes
on these.

3. Some key competencies that form the basis of a competency-based interview may
be:
 Effective Communication
 Teamwork
 Negotiation skills
 Risk Taking
 Empathy
 Leadership
 Handling cross-cultural diversity
The above list is just indicative and may be a part of an exhaustive competency
manual prepared by company HR for individual jobs.
NOW,
LIST DOWN THE KEY COMPETENCIES REQUIRED FOR THE ROLE OF SALES
EXECUTIVE

4. COMPETENCIES
MAPPING
B2B B2C
WELCOME TO COMPETENCY BASED INTERVIEW;
Most companies these days prefer to use a competency-based interview to test
candidate ability and potential. Also called behavioral or situational interviews,
these interviews assess past demonstration of specific behavioral competencies in
particular situations.
For the past couple of decades, competency based interview questions examples
have become popular in corporate selection and training processes. Used either in
personal interview formats or as the basis for conducting assessment center tests,
competencies help in the selection of new recruits, staff development programs,
and career planning programs.
INTERVIEW
TRADITIONAL
CBI

5. ADVANTAGES OVER TRADITIONAL INTERVIEW FORMATS:
The reason why competency-based interview has become so popular is that rather
than depending on individual judgment and subsequent bias of the interviewer for
selecting a suitable candidate for a post, these are centered on tried and tested
behavioral competencies.
The logic is simple. These competencies have proven to be critical to optimizing job
performance in the past, therefore, these are likely to be the make-or-break factor
in future job performance as well. Of course, it goes without saying that
competencies need to be upgraded and modified with time as corporate realities
keep changing.
The Competency-based Interview Structure:
Since each job profile comes with its list of key competencies, the role of the
interviewer is to detect such competencies in the potential candidate. Competency-
based interview questions goad you to reveal how you have displayed certain skills,
abilities, and behavior in handling tasks and challenges in your past.
There are three basic question formats:
 Behavioral
 Situational
 Resume based.
Most common questions fall into either behavioral or situational structure.
The first and most common are behavioral questions:
 The concept is to use your past behavior to predict future behavior.
 It will often take the form of, tell me about a time, or give me an example.
 This allows you to draw upon your past experiences to show your skills and
knowledge.
You will want to have specific examples using the STAR Method by
outlining the situation, actions, and results in each answer.

6. SITUATION:
Can you explain a situation in which..?
Where & when did the situation happened?
What event led up to the situation?
TASK / ACTION:
What task were you suppose to do at that time?
What did you actually do? How did you do it?
What specific steps did you take?
Who was involved?
RESULT:
What was the outcome?
What was the result of the action taken?

7. USING STAR design behavioral questions on the following situation:
 Failed to achieve monthly targets
 Achieved high sales target
 Fight with co-worker
 Conflict with customer
The second type of question is case or situational.
 The purpose is to evaluate your abilities, and skills.
 Used especially when candidate is a fresher.
 These questions will often take the form of how would you, or what would
you do.
NOW,
We have our list of competencies.
Communication Skills
Listening Skills
Optimistic and Resilient
Result oriented
Problem solving
Calm and composed under pressure
Team Player

8. Now select any one Competency and design 5 behavioral / 5 situational questions
on the same.