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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To hate competency based interviews!

67 replies

TheDairyQueen · 02/05/2018 21:01

I had an interview today for my dream job.

Firstly, they say you should never meet your idols. This could never have been truer than it was today - it turns out that they are, after all, just people with the same failings as everyone else. It was so disappointing to see a disinterested face sit across the table from me when there was one person I've always been keen to impress.

I couldn't have done better on the technical questions, it's the one thing I am confident about. However, for me, the killer has always been the competency based questions, the real fucking difficult ones that I always find myself stumbling over. I always end up thinking my examples are so stupid and before I know it, I'm blethering a load of shit to fill the silence.

I miss the old days when the technical knowledge alone was enough, without the HR box-tickery of "can you give me an example of...?" No, I bloody well can't. I'm going to be unreasonable, I am unreasonable and I'm unreasonably unreasonable about reasoning.

Ah fuck it, I just wanted a moan about my own interminable stupidity.

OP posts:

CurlyhairedAssassin · 02/05/2018 21:49

But anyone can learn generic answers about teamwork, managing change etc with a completely made up example ready to reel off when they are asked. It would never be checked.

What would be more beneficial would be for them to look at YOUR roles listed in your application and for them to say “tell me a bit about your role as x/your time at Y organisation. What aspects did you enjoy about it? What did you find challenging?”

It makes for a more natural flow of conversation. “Ah, so you want from working solo to working on a team. How did you find that? Which did you prefer and why?” Etc etc.

Competency based interviews are bollocks. They started with beaurocratic organisations like the civil service and have spread like a disease. DH only got a promotion on a specific team in the civil service (where he already worked but on a different team) because he made sure he grilled people already working in that role about what kind of thing they would be looking for in his answers at interview. Very difficult for an outsider to get a look in.

Gwenhwyfar · 02/05/2018 21:50

"I haven't had an interview in years as the thought of doing one fills me with dread!"

I know someone in her thirties who's only ever temped because she hates interviews so much.
I hate them and get really, really nervous. At one point I was going to so many that I got slightly less nervous, but then working in the same place for a bit got me back to normal.

"a recent uni interview and find a panel of 3 interviewers all asking set questions with them taking notes and no dialogue at all. It threw me so much that by the end I was stumbling over my answers. Their lack of engagement with what I was actually saying made me think they were completely disinterested in what I had to say, or that I was not on the right track at all, so I shut up after a coupe of sentences for some questions "

I had this. Big company and a young supervisor asking all the questions and noting everything down. Didn't always look at me because she was so busy taking notes. Might as well have just given me a form to fill. I think the notes were because she wouldn't be deciding herself and every interview had to be exactly the same.

TrappedWind · 02/05/2018 21:53

I recently had a 1st interview and I was very pleasantly surprised to find that it was not competency based, rather it turned out to be an enjoyable hour, spent building a rapport with the interviewer, discussing my professional experience and how that would fit into the role. the interviewer was lovely, very complimentary and interested in what I had to say. It was a great way to conduct an interview and in my opinion, far more beneficial for the employer, than competency based interviews. Which tend to be rigid and dry.

I am going back for a 2nd interview shortly, so I sincerely hope it will be along the same lines!

Maranello4 · 02/05/2018 21:55

Arghh I'm sorry you had a bad experience. A skilled interviewer should be able to probe in enough detail to explore the skills and qualities that you bring. I've worked for a uni and in the private sector and it fair to say that those interviewing on the uni side were not very good at all (okay, terrible). Remember it's meant to be a two-way process so they should impress you as much as you impress them. I'm bewildered as to why people are stony faced when they do interviews, doesn't exactly create the best impression.

CurlyhairedAssassin · 02/05/2018 21:55

Why do they not record (sound only) the interview instead of taking notes? They must miss things because they are concentrating on what they’re writing rather than listening and properly engaging with that person.

CurlyhairedAssassin · 02/05/2018 21:56

Oh good luck, Trapped! Sounds like they’d be a great organisation to work for.

CocoPuffsInGodMode · 02/05/2018 21:58

CurlyHaired you can have both types of questions though. Your example of asking about their existing role is one of the things I ask applicants and you're right, you get a more natural flow. I think the difficulty arises when interviews are purely competency based and some of the experiences pps have given here are just awful! However you can't just not have competency based questions because well, the employer is trying to find people who are competent to do the job!

Maranello4 · 02/05/2018 21:59

CBI are also a bit old hat nowadays as it's easier for people to pre-prepare their answers (eg graduates, there's not much distinction between answers when you have very little work experience and most of your answers are from hobbies/working in a bar/ voluntary work/uni tutorial groups).

There's been an increase in strengths based interviews over the last 5 years, much more positive and all about looking at what you do have, what motivates you and not about what you don't have.

Gwenhwyfar · 02/05/2018 22:00

"But anyone can learn generic answers about teamwork, managing change etc with a completely made up example ready to reel off when they are asked. It would never be checked. "

Well, I can't. I mean I can make up examples, but the interviewers obviously don't think they're good enough.

PaintedHorizons · 02/05/2018 22:04

CurlyhairedAssassin = I had a similar experience. In the open day/migling I knwo I impressed two key people as they mentioned that when I went for the interview a week later. The interview was a disaster. I got no reaction, I felt like an idiot talking into a silence to three men who didn't look at me. I know I would have been good at the job - but I didn't get enough points. (3 short apparently because they needed fuller answers??!!)

Maranello4 · 02/05/2018 22:04

Re the question about writing notes, rather than taping - this is usually why you'd have two people there. One person to be friendly and build rapport and the other to take notes. It's also a legal requirement as a candidate can ask for a written copy of their interview notes.

Candyflosss · 02/05/2018 22:05

OMG I could have written that post! OP, what do you do? I passed all the technical interviews or papers but not the competancy questions. I sometimes think I am a bit autistic. No matter how hard I think I just can not come up with answers that people like to hear.

Louiselouie0890 · 02/05/2018 22:07

It leads to robotic staff. Not good customer service

Maranello4 · 02/05/2018 22:10

Some of it comes with practice - there's a book called Brilliant Interviews which is straightforward and easy to follow. I used to use this a lot when coaching people in this area.

Passportto · 02/05/2018 22:10

I've seen both sides of this, as an interviewer and interviewee and I think in all cases the interviews are the best way there is to get the right person.

You do need to prepare well and you need to understand what they're looking for but if you do that and you do indeed tick all the boxes you will perform well. If you're making it up it will show.

Original poster

TheDairyQueen · 02/05/2018 22:11

It was most certainly not a failure to prepare. I kew the comptencies as specified and could give you examples of what I've done in a particular situation. What I can't do is the window dressing that seems to be a pre-requisite for it.

What I object to is shoehorning people based on a few discrete examples that can be so artificial or contrived as to render them meaningless.

OP posts:

PaintedHorizons · 02/05/2018 22:11

I know my scenarios were good. I know I gave examples of the skills I was supposed to demonstrate - but there was some thing I missed. It's like shooting in the dark - you have to hope enough arrows hit the target.

A friend of mine failed because when she was asked how she would deal with a client she apparently didn't say "Good morning" and ask him to take a seat" so lost marks for customer care. It's mad. But people need jobs now so employers can pick and choose and they are terrified of being called out on something

bridgetreilly · 02/05/2018 22:13

Interviewers should always be disinterested.

MajesticWhine · 02/05/2018 22:19

OP I completely agree - I hate competency based interviews too. I recently had one and crashed and burned. I did prepare, very thoroughly and I know I’m good for the job. The person who got it is bland and robotic. Grr.

bialystockandbloom · 02/05/2018 22:25

Totally agree OP, I've had a few interviews over the last few months, the first for years, and they've all been competency. Awful, regardless of how much you've prepped, how many examples you have - I suck at them, and have no idea what exactly they're looking for, or how they actually score the answers. Is it just use of buzzwords?

As pp have said, it also seems to give no credence to the quality or length or level or type of the experience itself - eg if the question is "tell us a time you've influenced somebody" does it even matter whether the person you've influenced is, say, a team member who asked should they use Ariel or helvetica font in a document and you suggested Times New Roman, or whether you influenced the editor of a national newspaper to run a story? Stupid example but just to illustrate! Are they scoring according to the issue in question or simply the process you used and how well you manage to spin your own actions? Totally penalises someone (like me!) who has a huge amount of experience and skills but pretty shit at selling myself on bland generic questions. If they just asked me about some of the relevant things on my cv I'd do so much better! I've interviewed lots of candidates in the past and if I have to do again in the future will insist on doing it the proper old school way

Good luck op.

Original poster

TheDairyQueen · 02/05/2018 22:25

Interviewers should always be disinterested

How so? They need not feign interest, but to look decidedly bored is just plain rude.

OP posts:

bialystockandbloom · 02/05/2018 22:30

OP absolutely right about being contrived. How the fuck, for example, are you supposed to demonstrate eg a "value" such as "seeing the big picture" without sounding like a total wanker?

Polarbearflavour · 02/05/2018 22:31

I make up my competency answers using the STAR formula. It’s not like I do anything amazing at work like change a process, influence a team, save the company millions etc. I do lots of budget management, invoices, plan events etc but it’s not like I make a difference or do anything exciting that merits an answer to a competency based question!

bialystockandbloom · 02/05/2018 22:35

passporto but that's just it - you say you "need to know what they're looking for" - how is a normal human person supposed to know what they're looking for??

My dad is a professor, one of the most eminent in his field in the world, Cambridge Fellow, 40+ years of experience etc. Not that it would ever happen but the thought of him having an interview for a new position where he had to put into a succinct braggy answer how he eg "managed a conflict" is totally laughable.

Polarbearflavour · 02/05/2018 22:35

Civil Service Framework : seeing the big picture, building capability for all, managing a quality service. I certainly don’t sit at my desk thinking how I am going to demonstrate those values. Load of crap really.

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