I need help again please from interviewers

[dimsum123]

Please help, I'm so stressed out.

Have got an interview on Tuesday. I think it's going to be competency based, but not 100% sure.

It's for an administrator role. Some of the skills are:

Great face to face customer service
Ability to communicate effectively at all levels and externally
Able to work unsupervised
Well organised, proactive, able to take responsibility for own work
Accuracy and attention to detail
Understanding of project management and processes
Understanding of contract management
Understanding of health and safety

The job is covering for reception and providing administrative support for the global facilities and travel team, in a not for profit organisation.

Can somebody please give me an idea of what sort of competency questions I might be asked and an example of a good answer?

I understand there is a scoring system for this type of interview, how are the answers scored?

And although I've thought of some questions I might be asked, they really could ask almost anything, how on earth do I prepare for every eventuality?

Is there a particular type of question interviewers prefer? Eg. Where they're asking you a negative thing that you've done rather than positive like, Can you give me an example of when you failed to communicate effectively?

With the skills where they want an understanding, does that mean not necessarily any actual experience? Will they just ask me what I know about those things?

If it's not competency based what other type of interview might it be?

I'd be very grateful for any info at all about what to expect. Thank you!

Most organizations have leadership principles or behaviours that the identify as underpinning their culture. It’s worth looking that up and ensuring you have some good examples.
Competency based interviews are where they are looking for past track record to assess whether you will be suitable for the job. So tangible examples of how you have dealt with situations being described in question. So if they ask you talk about how you deal with a difficult customer, for instance, use STAR (situation, task, action, result) to show you one did that.
When they ask you about your weaknesses and failures, be self critical and show that you know your flaws and what measurable actions you are taking to work on them. No one is perfect and there is nothing worse than a candidate that walk in without any self awareness. It means they will not grow with the organization. Usually these are behavioral weaknesses and not technical, if it’s technical you aren’t suitable to begin with.
If you are asked hypothetical questions like how would you deal with....refer back to the organizations leadership behaviours.
Good luck

Tell me about a time when you had to work with a difficult person (eg customer or colleague)

Tell me about a time when you worked in a team

Tell me about a time when you had to persuade someone

Tell me about a time when you had to come up with a creative and innovative idea

Tell me about a time you failed

Tell me about a time when you had to meet a deadline

@strictlymomdancing, @sst1234 thank you for your input.

I'm finding it really hard to think of examples for some of those questions. What if I really can't think of something? What do I do?

The questions strictlymomdancing lists are the kind that will be asked in a genuine competency based interview. If you can't think of an example from your working life, think about your life outside work.

When answering, remember that the interviewer wants to hear about what you did. Far too many interviewees talk about what "we" did, leaving the interviewer unclear how much was them personally and how much was other members of the team.

@prh47bridge, thank you, will make sure I talk about what I did.

These are the competencies they look for, I got these from other roles that are being advertised, but they are much higher level than the one I'm applying for eg global head of fundraising.

The organisation works in a lot of poor and developing countries and a lot of their posts are based in these sorts of areas and I can see how and why those competencies would be needed, but I'm not sure about how to apply them to my role as a very junior receptionist/administrator.

Ability to be open minded and respectful
• Ability to be resilient and adaptive to new situations
• Ability to facilitate positive change and build sustainable working relationships
• Ability to seek and share knowledge

I work in the sector. Go on the charity commission site (or national equivalent) and read the last published set of accounts which will also include the annual report. It will tell you what the current strategic focus is, really helpful info.

I'd prep an example for each of those criteria, it will put you in good stead.

Also think up an example of why you are inspired, interested or excited by the cause.

Finally, Google 'elevator pitch' and write one for the intro question, they are brilliant.

Ability to be open minded and respectful

okay so maybe think of a time when you had a customer who was maybe from a diverse background or where you had to work with someone who had a different opinion from you?

• Ability to be resilient and adaptive to new situations

This is basically "how do you deal with a challenging situation"

• Ability to facilitate positive change and build sustainable working relationships

this is team work and/or coming up with new ideas

• Ability to seek and share knowledge

this is another team work example.

Okay so think about examples from previous work, volunteering (even things like playgroups, PTA etc), things that happened at home, things that happened at school or college - did you have to work on any joint projects, meet any deadlines, were you in any clubs, do you do any sports (which comes under teamwork).

I'm dead good at giving advice on interviews but when I do them myself I fall to bits!

I would also add for the STAR technique, focus on what you did over what the context is.
So for example if they ask for a time you had to persuade someone (communication):

Last year I was doing a sponsored walk for my local hospital.
I wanted to get some sponsorship from local business.
I put together some information about exactly what the charity was doing with the money I raised, I thought it was important that people could see it was going on something immediate and tangible. I empthasised that it was the local hospital as I thought they would be more likely to support something that would help their customers.
I showed them my training plan and told them how I'd been feeling during training so there was a personal story they could connect to. I offered to tag them on my Twitter feed during the event so they would get some publicity on the day.
The local hairdresser sponsored me £200 so that was a fantastic result.

That's not a perfect answer but most of the time is spent on talking about persuading the company.
Too often people start talking about why they wanted to support the hospital or the fact the money was going to the ward where their auntie was or how much they trained or the fact they asked lots of friends as well as business etc. Keep tightly focused!

Prepare some competencies in advance, often good examples have a problem that was solved.

If they ask something and you really really can't think of an example, say what you would do

"I've never been in that situation myself but I think it would be important to stay calm, find out exactly what was going on etc etc ..."

Open minded and respectful, a time you disagreed with someone but acknowledged their views, could be a difficult customer type scenario

For resilience think of a time you've overcome a problem or dealt with disappointment,

positive change: when have you improved something?

Built sustainable relationships: teamwork but also talk about listening, being consistent and trustworthy, under promise and over deliver

Seek and share knowledge: curiosity, learnt a new skill, told someone something they needed to know

Don't worry about how it relates to being a receptionist, that's their problem to sort out! Just talk about a time you did those things

Have you looked on Glassdoor for similar jobs?

Look at the STAR method for answering competency based questions. Situation, Task, Action, Result.

Prepare 6 examples that cover the competencies you could be asked about - focus on Customer Service, Communication, Personal Organisation and Decision Making.

Have 1 example of managing a project, to include your accuracy and attention to detail, personal organisation and decision making.

2 really strong Customer Service examples that are both face to face. 1 of them should also involve communicating internally with different departments and managers at different levels.

1 really strong Communication examples, including internal and external communication and how you organise yourself to ensure communication is accurate, timely, and appropriate.

1 example of Decision Making, showing you working independently and communicating appropriately with those who need to know.

Strongest example of the achievement you're most proud of. Highlight the skills they are looking for as part of this example.

They will ask you 4-5 questions, with these examples prepared, you will have enough to fit the example to the question.

If you're asked a negative question, tell me about a time you made a mistake, they're looking for how you dealt with it. Did you get someone else to sort it out or take responsibility for resolving it yourself? What did you do to make sure it didn't happen again, what did you learn? Use an example that isn't recent, at least 2-3 yrs old and show you've developed yourself from that experience.

Good luck!

@BadnessInTheFolds @strictlymomdancing @Onedaylikethi5 @prh47bridge @sst1234 @whatnow40 @BadnessInTheFolds

Just wanted to say a huge thank you for all your advice and taking the time to post.

I had my IV today and it seemed to go ok and was 100x better than the car crash IV I had last week when I had no idea what a competency interview even was and turned up completely unprepared and fumbled and waffled my way through the whole thing. Am cringing now at the thought of it.

Even if I don't get this job at least I've now had 1 practice at a competency interview. Have got another interview in a couple of weeks for an NHS administrator/secretary role.

Am going to start preparing now.

That's fantastic news, I'm glad you had a good experience! Seeing it as practice is a great idea, stops me getting too stressed about hearing back from them

Having said that, fingers crossed you hear back soon and it's positive news. Enjoy your treat of choice to celebrate today going well

Al the best

You are welcome. Glad the interview went well.

@BadnessInTheFolds @strictlymomdancing @Onedaylikethi5 @prh47bridge @sst1234 @whatnow40

I got the job!😄

Thanks so much everyone, I couldn't have done it without you.

The only issue I've got is that I've got another IV on the 29th for a role that I'm also very very keen on in the NHS for an administrator/secretary.

Do any of you have any experience of NHS IVs? I know it will be competency based and they're very strict on the scoring criteria. Will have to start researching but am sure the prep for the first IV will be useful again.

Yay! Congratulations!! 🥳

Pretty sure NHS has a careers section with interview guidance on it, best of luck for that one too!

I've only just read this thread for the first time but wanted to say congratulations! I have an interview tomorrow which I stupidly agreed to, even though I had an operation on Monday and I'm off sick so I'm going to be showing up on crutches

Congratulations!

Can't help with NHS interviews, I'm afraid.

well done you!

I hope the luck rubs off on me if I get an interview for the jobs I'm applying for.