Your Guide to Landing the Job

The job search ain’t what it used to be. Today, you need more than just a polished resume to stand out from other candidates. Hiring managers are now using video assessments, virtual interviews, and behavioral questions to evaluate candidates’ “competencies”.

But what does that actually mean? And how do you make sure you ace this style of interview? Let’s dig in and find out.

 Why Competencies Matter More Than Ever

Traditional job interviews are notoriously inaccurate at predicting performance. According to Harvard Business Review, they have only a 20% success rate. That means that interviewers who rely on “gut feeling” are wrong 80% of the time and why more companies are switching to competency-based interviews.

These interviews focus on concrete examples of how you’ve handled situations in the past and how transferable they are to  the role you’re interviewing for. The idea is that past behavior predicts future performance.

If you can demonstrate the right competencies, you stand out as a stronger candidate. One who is truly prepared for the day-to-day realities of the position. At the end of the day, the interviewer wants to make sure everyone is set up for success. They want to hire the right person for their team who can do the work properly. And for the candidate, you want to make sure you’re being set up for success.

 Breaking Down the Competency Interview

Competency interviews dive deeper into your potential value. The interviewer asks targeted questions about specific work situations and how you’ve navigated them or how you would navigate them if you encountered it.

Some common questions include:

• Tell me about a time you had to rapidly learn a new technical skill…what was the situation and what steps did you take? 
• Walk me through a recent successful project you led. How did you keep team members engaged and aligned?
• Describe a time when you had to be very strategic or demonstrated critical thinking in your work. What was the thought process and outcome?

 They want clear examples that showcase both your hard skills (like data analysis or coding) and soft skills (like communication, creativity, and problem-solving).

Essentially, they’re looking for a picture of how you’ll handle the realities of the role and add value.

And this data-driven approach seems to be working. LinkedIn’s research predicts these are the most sought-after soft skills for 2024: 

1. Creativity
2. Persuasion
3. Adaptability
4. Emotional intelligence
5. Time Management
6. Analytical Thinking
7. Active Listening
8. Communication
9. Problem-Solving
10. Teamwork

 Bring your A-game in these areas, and you’ll be in great shape!

 Rock the Competency Interview in 5 Steps

 With the right preparation, competency interviews can be a huge boost (rather than a hurdle). Here are five tips to shine:

1. Research the Position Details

Closely review the job description and any available info on the company’s website. Make a list of the competencies and skills they mention. These are what they’ll assess.

2. Reflect on Your Stories and Experiences

Spend some time thinking through impactful anecdotes from your past experience that map well to those key competencies. Look at your resume for projects you’ve completed and make sure you can describe challenges you encountered, how you overcame them and what the outcome was. (I literally mean practice saying it out loud. It makes a difference)

3. Use the STAR Method

Structure your stories using the STAR framework. Set the scene, explain the task, describe your actions, and share the tangible results.

 S: Situation: Outline your specific situation, role, and responsibilities.

T: Task: What did you need to accomplish? What were the project’s goals, and which challenges did you have to overcome?

A: Action: What did you do to achieve your goals? How did you align your actions to the requirements of the situation?

R: Result: What was the outcome? How did you know you were successful? What did you learn from the experience?

4. Quantify Your Impact  

Include measurable results and key data points whenever possible to demonstrate your value-add. Explaining what you achieved and what you learned from each experience is crucial in a competency-based interview. The more specific you can be when explaining your results, the better your impact on your interviewer.

For example, if the interviewer says, “Tell me about a time when you overcame a challenge in the workplace”, you can respond by outlining a specific problem you faced relevant to the role and business you want to work for.

Then, follow up by saying, “At the end of this project, I had increased the company’s profits by 5% and learned how to improve my leadership abilities through transparent communication.

5. Practice!

Even if you prepare carefully for your competency-based interview and participate in several “mock” interviews before the big day, you’ll likely feel anxious. Around 93% of candidates say they feel nervous before a job interview, so it’s essential to be prepared for anxiety.

Run through mock interviews with mentors and peers until the stories flow smoothly. You can even record yourself answering questions to help you see where you can improve and/or practice reciting responses in front of a mirror. The more polish, the better the impression.

Dress professionally, as this will help to convey a positive image and make you feel more confident.

Remember to focus on active listening during the interview itself, too. Paying attention to what your interviewer says, clarifying their questions (by repeating them back to them), and making eye contact will help you appear confident, professional, and enthusiastic. 

Bring these five tips to your interview prep, and you’ll have the competency boost you need to land the role!

Now go get that dream job!

When it’s time to interview the shortlist of candidates for your vacancy, you need all the help you can get to ensure you eventually make the ‘right’ hire.

Interviewing is a skill, and just because you are in a managerial position, that doesn’t mean that interviewing comes naturally to you.

Likewise, just because you’ve been interviewing for years, this doesn’t mean that your technique doesn’t need honing.

Today, we share 6 clever tips for interviewers to help you make the best possible hire from your shortlist of applicants.

1. Review Your Company Mission and Vision

Companies with the strongest culture attract the best candidates; it’s a fact.

Reviewing your company vision and mission might be a case of refreshing your memory of the values and attributes that your business aspires to, but it could also be a case of rewriting them entirely.

Since the pandemic and the shake-up to businesses that this caused, many companies are finding that their mission and vision has changed – is this true in your business?

For example, in some organizations, communication between employees in the form of weekly in-person meetings might have once been an essential part of their business strategy. But since the introduction of remote working, this is no longer the case. Does your company recognize and appreciate the need for flexibility to allow for remote working, which is more vital than ever?

The first thing to do before the interview process starts is to review your company vision and mission statement for our post-pandemic world.

2. Get Familiar with the Job description

In an ideal world, you will have written the job description yourself and inherently understand what you need from your new hire, but this is not always the case.

In larger companies, there can be several people involved in the recruitment process, so it is essential that everyone involved is aware of what you are looking for in your open role and that this is communicated to candidates at every stage.

Especially now in our ever-changing world, the position that you are hiring for might be an entirely new role for the company – do you know the exact skills and attributes that you are looking for?

3. Use a Consistent Process

Interviewing candidates can be an emotionally-charged experience for both the employee and the employer.

Many interviewers by-pass red flags in the interview and go with their ‘gut feeling’ – but this is not the best way to hire the right talent for your business.

For every interview to have the best outcome, you must work to a method and stick to it. This means:

• Choose your questions carefully and don’t deviate. You can ask extra questions that might crop up in your mind at the end of the planned questions – this gives all candidates a fair interview.

• Practice your note-taking – taking accurate notes is an essential quality for all interviewers to have.

• Use a scale to rate candidate answers – you can give a score out of 10, or use ‘excellent’ to ‘poor’ at the end of each answer to remind you when you are looking back over your notes.

4. Be Compassionate

Interviews can be daunting, and this is something that interviewers and hiring managers can become desensitized to, especially if they have a lot of experience conducting interviews.

Showing compassion and consideration instead of the stony managerial tone some interviewers adopt will benefit both the interviewee and yourself.

Candidates perform much better in interviews when they feel at ease, and so making sure they feel relaxed is a great way of seeing the real candidate and allowing their best self to shine through.

So, don’t be continually testing the candidate or focusing on negativity and flaws to try and ‘catch them out’. Keep it positive, even if you plan on asking the dreaded ‘what’s your greatest weakness?’ question (we will look at interview questions in another next section).

Take your time, and allow the candidate to take theirs – allow enough time for a good conversation, don’t aim to get them in and out in 20 minutes.

And finally – smile!

5. Get Your Questions Right

There are certain interview question stereotypes, which it is best to avoid if you want better interview outcomes.

There are standard questions that many interviewers ask, such as ‘what will you bring to the role’, ‘tell us what you know about our company’ and of course, ‘what is your greatest weakness’.

Try asking the candidate to explain a passion of theirs to you – preferably work related. As this will allow them to demonstrate their communication skills and their interests. It can help bring people out of their shell and shows how effective they can be at communicating ideas to another person.

Another great question right now is to ask how they coped with the Covid-19 crisis, either at home or at work. We all had to make changes to our lives and routines – did they take it in their stride or did they find it hard to adjust quickly to new ways of living and working?

Additionally, aim to curate an interview environment which feels like a conversation rather than an interrogation – this will put candidates at ease and makes the interview experience more pleasant and productive for everyone involved.

6. Candidate Aftercare

Ensure that you treat each candidate, even unsuccessful ones, as you would treat a customer, even after the interview process is over.

This is a great way of looking after your talent pipeline – candidates who are suitable but unsuccessful on this occasion will be inclined to apply again if they come out of the experience with a positive view of your company.

Respond to candidates in a timely manner – this goes for successful and unsuccessful candidates both during and after the interview process.

Encourage unsuccessful candidates to apply again, and you can even keep in touch on LinkedIn, where you can share information and updates about your business.

As for the successful candidate – congratulations on your new hire; now it’s time to get them onboarded successfully.

Finally

If you are looking to employ new talent into your organization and you need help attracting the right talent – we can help.

For more information on how we can help you recruit the high-performing individuals you need, get in touch with us at 919-813-2454 or email us at Info@TheBlackDiamondAgency.com.