Questions for competency based interviews should be released beforehand

[BingoFlamingo]

I know some companies do this, but most don't. Job applicants going for competency based interviews should be given the questions they will be asked at the interview in advance. AIBU?

The whole point of competency questions in job interviews is to choose the best candidate based on previous actions; to make the best decision, you need the best evidence; to get the best evidence, candidates should be given the questions that will be asked beforehand so they can focus on coming up with examples in those areas and not waste time with hypothetical questions.

Everyone wins: The companies hiring get better examples to base their decisions on and candidates don't waste time second guessing what questions they will be asked. Not giving the candidates the questions beforehand actually defeats the whole point of comp questions as it prevents the company from gaining the best information possible.

It seems to be a remnant from a time when conversational led interviews were the norm and questions often came out of the conversation so often weren't known in advance, but it doesn't make sense in com based interviews when specific historical examples to a question are demanded.

I've went into interviews with scenarios in my head based on the competencies, but the scenario asked was worded in such a way, or had a caveat added which meant I couldn't use the examples I had in mind.

And I think people are far more likely to try and make up a scenario if they are struggling to come up with an example rather than because they know the scenarios required beforehand.

What kind of job would that kind of interview be useful for? If it's a job that would never require the candidate to come up with their own solutions it would be appropriate, but there are not that many of those. You want to see people think on their feet (and if you know the competency areas you have a pretty big clue there!) and I have often been impressed during interviews when someone dries but recovers well. That is more useful than hearing a pre-planned response.

(Former HR, non-profit environment)

When I'm interviewing, I don't want carefully prepped potentially fake answers, designed to say whatever the candidate thinks I want to hear.

From the interview, I want a more spontaneous and genuine response. It should be relatively easy to consider potential examples in advance on the basis of the published competencies, but I don't mind if people ask for a moment to think about the question.

Providing the actual questions would result in over-rehearsed answers and would tell the interviewers more about the candidate's ability to prepare and memorise a speech rather than what they're actually like in a work situation. Might as well do away with the interviews altogether and just get them to submit written answers to the questions.

What is STAR format? (interested)

I hate competency interviews and agree you should be told that interview will be competency, questions, and score weighting for structure. I failed at one recently that I didn't know was scored competency I failed because I answered in the "wrong' order. It was internal ffs and they didn't tell me the format!!..stupid

Star - situation task action result

Thanks.

And you don't think people would google to find out answers on the web that have nothing to do with their real experience?

Although I don't believe questions should be given in advance I do believe Lanark2 that the structure of the interview and objectives should be clearly conveyed to each candidate

It gets you star employees..
Stupid Tossers whose Answers are Rehearsed.

As in:
I was in an interview
The task was to find the best candidate
I followed rules designed soley to protect HR from legal challenge.
I recruited the highest scoring interviewee, instead of the best person for the job.

I recruited the highest scoring interviewee, instead of the best person for the job.

Then there's something wrong with your recruitment process or you and your scoring.

Also you haven't actually included any actions. Just a second task.

I've never not been told in advance what the structure of the interview is including whether it's competency based - although in my industry it always is IME. But that said I've used competency based in a different industry too and found it useful to sort out those who really reflected on experiences they'd had. But they were used as a start point for discussion

I hate those kinds of questions, i'm a techy and damned good at what i do, but because people/companies want these kinds of interviews I consistently fail at interveiws - I do plan for all the questions i can think of (and those that people have been to before tell me because they like me) - but I still fall over!