Even if an employer has not told you that you will be involved in a behavioral style of an interview, you are still likely to face “behavioral/competency interview” style questions.

Traditional interview questions ask you questions, such as “Tell me a little bit about yourself,” “Why do you want to work here?” or “What motivates you?”

The process of competency based interviewing is much more difficult. A prospective employer will try to make a prediction of your future success by understanding how you have handled certain situations in the past.

While in a traditional interview, you can usually get away with somewhat vague answers, in a competency interview, you will be asked for very specific examples.

Be prepared to be asked for details, including names, dates, budgets and outcomes. The interviewers are likely to ask you about lengthy projects you’ve been involved in—you’ll need to tell them how your role has evolved, how you handled deadlines, pressures and difficult personalities.

When you give examples from your work experience, the interviewer is going to probe you to try to understand how you think, and how you determined what steps to take and in what order.

The questions will start with “Tell about a time...” or “Describe a situation...” and then you might be encouraged to elaborate further with questions like “So why  did you decide to do this?” or “What’s made you decide to do this?”

The interviewer will try to establish what benefits you will bring to the company, and where you’re stronger than other candidates interviewing for the same job.

Therefore, when giving examples, I’d recommend that you use the S.T.A.R. Statement format:

S – Situation
T – Task
A – Action
R – Result

S.T.A.R. represents how your key skills are applied in work. Your STAR examples should illustrate your depth of knowledge, level of ability and value for each key skill.

Situation / Task
Describe a work-related situation that you were in or the task that you needed to accomplish. Be very specific and give details, but keep it short and concise.

Action
Describe the action you took and be sure to keep the focus on you. Even if you are discussing a group project or effort, describe what you did—not the efforts of
the team.

Don’t tell what you MIGHT do, or WOULD do—tell what you DID do.

Please make sure you don’t say ‘WE’ all the time as this is a very common mistake. If you’ve implemented or initiated something, you need to make that clear.

Results
Describe what you achieved.

What happened? What feedback did you receive? What did you accomplish? What did you learn? How much time/ money did you save?

Take the time to develop and practice your S.T.A.R. statements! You’ll want to have AT LEAST 6 to 8 S.T.A.R. statements at the tip of your tongue when you go into an interview.

Create S.T.A.R. statements from the jobs on your resume that you want to bring attention to. As you use the inforstatements as examples, your interviewer will become familiar with the various positions you have held, and will get a good idea of your track record of success in those various positions.

Below you’ll find some examples of how to answer these questions:

Example: Skills area: COMMUNICATION SKILLS— able to adapt your communication style to particular situations and audiences / able to produce clear and concise written information.

Have a look at these 2 examples:

EXAMPLE 1

I was responsible for producing important management reports and supporting presentations for a range of important and high profile clients. Through my understanding of the clients’ needs and my effective communication skills, I have ensured that the reports that go to the clients are relevant and focused, and are continually improved.

The reports I have produced and the presentations I have made were well received by all my clients. As a result of the combination of my analytical thinking and
interpersonal and communication skills, my brief has been extended to lead the development of the strategic plan for the organization.

EXAMPLE 2

(a) The unit I was attached to was responsible for producing a management report and supporting oral presentation for several large clients, some with significant problems and issues to report. In some cases the management report was publicly available and was subject to a great deal of scrutiny. A new style/format of management letter needed to be developed for my clients, as many of the clients were complaining that the letters were too large/ long and difficult to read.

(b) I was tasked with developing a new style of management letter for the clients. I had to meet stringent quality requirements/criteria whilst addressing the need to reduce its size. Following consultation, mainly over the phone and face-to-face, with the majority of our clients, I realized that a summarized report format with a better visual and more interactive presentation was the answer. I developed a format for a summarized report, reducing the average length from 40 pages to just
10. I achieved this through careful editing of information and increased use of graphs etc. I then developed a more focused presentation to clients and included more graphical displays and incorporated short presentations by colleagues directly involved in producing the work. During the presentations I encouraged clients to ask questions and develop their understanding of the issues at hand.

(c) The summarized management report and improved presentations were seen as a success by the clients, who with exception, in responding to an evaluation survey, found the new format/style better than the previous, and all requested that the revised system should be continued.

Which example is better? Example 1 is not a good example, as it doesn’t give sufficient details of exactly what the person did or how they actually demonstrated
their “effective communications skills.”

The second example is much better as it describes exactly what the person did and how they communicated.

The RESULT is the most important part of your answer as a successful outcome proves that your actions were effective. If possible, detail statistics or figures which highlight the magnitude of your success, mention positive feedback you received and talk about what you learned and how this learning will help you in the job being recruited.