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RichSheffield · Newbie Joined: 24 May 2008 Posts: 1 Career Advice: +0/-0

I'm consistantly told by employees that my compentency based interview questions are not specific enough.

Things such as - "Think of a time when you went above and beyond for a customer? What did you do, how did you know that was the correct course of action, and what was the result?"

Now I'll often say "There was this time when bla bla bla, and I did bla bla bla, and the customer was very happy afterwards because bla bla bla."

Personally I'm finding it hard to know what the problem with my answers are. More details?

Is it good or bad ettiqutte to name names? ie: "...our customer North West Water, a huge customer for my employer, needed xyz and so I etc..."

Are there any really good guides on compentcy based questions?

Pauloz · Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 7:54 am Post subject:

RichSheffield

Not nitpicking, but if you were asked "How did you know that was the correct course of action?" you have to answer that.

Naming names isn't really allowed. Privacy laws don't allow you much leeway. You could say "a major customer" instead.

Don't know that I'd agree you're not being specific enough, though.

Generically, these are called situational interviews. The theory is that your past performance is a guide to your work.

This is our situational interviews page: http://www.cvtips.com/situational_job_interview.html

We did quite a bit of research on this, and it's intended to give a step by step approach to the interview questions, with examples.

The links are also handy for going into some of the related skills and issues.

Notice that part of the article is based on what the question is trying to achieve.

You're actually being asked more than one question in any situational interview, and your answer scores for covering required skills, as well as giving an example of how you work.

I think you'll find that what they're trying to say is that you're not giving answers which fit their script. Those required skills are actually part of the criteria for the job.

So if a job ad says "communications skills" and "problem solving" in that question you'd be expected to come up with how you explained the situation to the customer, solved the problem, etc.

Some of the people who get the jobs don't give particularly good, or even interesting, answers, they just put more pegs in holes than other candidates.

That's relevant, because when the recommendation for the job is made, they have to show how applicants matched criteria. You can score a few points by showing skills like that throughout the interview.

Randy · Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 5:48 am Post subject:

I think you'll find that what they're trying to say is that you're not giving answers which fit their script.

Ain't that the truth!

Tell 'em what they want to hear which, in most cases, reduces the whole matter to lying in varying degrees....

Employers may well indeed want honest answers to specific questions, but they run like hell from honesty of character which was, at one point in my lifetime, far more important than merely being better at playing the role of the potential "ideal candidate".

Companies keep hiring the "ideal candidate" and then complain about getting lousy "employees" and I think they're never, ever going to figure any of this out.....Their minds are made up and any attempt at confusing them with the facts is met with a resounding "we'll let you know" which, of course, is the employment version of "Yes, darling, of course I'll call you tomorrow...."

Julia Penny · Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 7:03 am Post subject: Behavioral Interview Answers

It seems that you may be required to give more detail of the actual steps and actions you took to get to the outcome. The interviewer is looking for these criteria:
- the specifics of the situation
- why you took the approach you did
- the specific steps you took
- the results of your actions
You can prepare examples beforehand for likely competency-based or behavioral questions that explore the competencies required in the job you are interviewing for. A complete and free guide to answering behavioral interview questions is given at http://www.best-job-interview.com/behavioral-interview.html including sample interview questions and answers. I hope this helps you.

Mark McCormick · Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 8:55 pm Post subject:

Hi RichSheffield,

I recommend that you use the SAR or PAR Technique when answering these behavioral questions:

S or P= State the Problem or Situation
A= Describe the Action taken to fix the problem
R= Give the Result of the Action taken.

As far as specifics go, be specific on the numbers. For instance, how much time was being wasted because of this problem or the action we took improved our efficiency by 15%. By providing these types of details it gives your answer more credibility. As far as naming individual companies, this is a bad idea because you may be violating a confidentiality agreement with that company that your former company has. It is better to describe the company, (ex. a major shoe company on the West Coast) and if they press for the actual name, state you are not able to go into specifics because of confidentiality reasons. This type of answers actually will add to your credibility because it is a sign you can be trusted with private information.

Hope This Helps,
Mark McCormick
Behavioral Interview Questions

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