Competency Based Interview 1

Interviewers’ details

Surname Initials Designation Department

Date: Time:

Approximate Timing for Interview

Component Suggested Time

Opening & Introduction 3 mins
Leadership/Motivation 4 mins
Attention to Detail/Perf Management 4 mins
Planning and Organizing 4 mins
Tenacity & Drive 4 mins
Decisiveness 4 mins
Analytical 4 mins
Closing & Scoring 3 mins
Total Time 30 mins
Competency Based Interview 2

1. DIMENSION: Leadership/Motivation

Definition:
Communicates team objectives clearly and allows input from team members. Understands
strengths and weaknesses of own team and uses this information constantly to motivate and
improve their output. Rewards good performers and motivates poor performers into action.

Key Actions:
1. Translates organizational and departmental 4. Capitalizes on strengths of team
goals into day-to-day activities and behaviours members and counsels the weaker
of the team members
2. Communicates team and individual 5. Always looks for ways to motivate the
expectations clearly team to excel
3. Allows contributions from team members 6. Sets team goals and manages their
achievement
Questions:
1. Can you give us an example of when your team improved their achievements/outputs due to
your input or motivation? How did you do this?
2. Different team members have different capabilities. Can you tell us of a time when you
involved all team members in a decisions or action? How did you go about it?

Situation/Task Action Result

Communication: __________________________________________

Impact: _________________________________________________
Rating:
Competency Based Interview 3

2. DIMENSION : Attention to Detail/Performance Management

Definition:
Provides and insists on work of a high quality where every detail is accurate. Has an eye for
quality in processes and written work.

Key Actions:
1. Finds mistakes easily
2. Able to detect work of sub-standard 4. Picks up discords in data and
quality conducts logical checks thereon
3. Spends time on checking detail and 5. Checks and re-checks own
self-checks own work work before submitting it

Questions:
1. Sometimes our teams do not perform according to expectations. Can you tell us about a time
when one of your members did not achieve the expected outputs and how you addressed this
with them? What was the result?
2. What has been the level of efficiency in your team over the last 6 months? Has it changed? If
so, why? How have you responded to these changes?

Situation/Task Action Result

Communication: __________________________________________

Impact: _________________________________________________
Rating:
Competency Based Interview 4

3. DIMENSION: Planning and Organizing

Definition:
Establishing courses of action, for self and others, to ensure that work is completed efficiently,
taking interruptions (like, material shortages) into account. Management of time and resources to
ensure that production targets are achieved.

Key Actions:
1. Prioritizes critical activities and adjusts the day’s schedule accordingly
2. Allocates tasks to the team based on the day’s objectives
3. Ensures work is evenly distributed among members in an organized manner
4. Uses time effectively and prevents distractions from interfering with completion of work
5. Logically plans activities, providing sufficient time and resources to the important tasks

Questions:
1. Sometimes things do not work according to plan. Can you tell us about a time when you had
to reschedule your work plans due to shortage of materials, parts, etc? What did you do?
2. How do you go about planning your day/week at work? What do you consider when doing
this?

Situation/Task Action Result

Communication: __________________________________________

Impact: _________________________________________________
Rating:
Competency Based Interview 5

4. DIMENSION: Tenacity & Drive

Definition:
Staying with a position, or plan of action, until the desired objectives are obtained, or are no longer
attainable. Does not give up easily when obstacles come up.

Key Actions:
1. Persists in endeavours to improve 4. Able to redirect focus when it is
productivity clear that goal cannot be achieved
2. Works to achieve a goal, in spite
of difficulties
3. Actively works to overcome
obstacles and creates this thinking
within the team

Questions:
1. Tell us about a method or plan you have tried to use to obtain the best performance from your
team, which required repeated effort on your part to get it right? Why did you decide to keep at it?
2. Team members do not always provide the results we want from them. Can you tell us about a
time when you made attempts to improve a team member’s performance. What made you keep
trying?

Situation/Task Action Result

Communication: __________________________________________

Impact: _________________________________________________
RATING:
Competency Based Interview 6

5. DIMENSION: Decisiveness

Definition:
Assesses situations and makes a leadership decision to go in a certain direction. Makes
decisions known to the relevant parties timeously, especially on important matters.

Key Actions:
1. Makes decisions and communicates 3. Does not stand “on the fence” about
these timeously issues requiring clarification or decision
2. Stands by decisions s/he has made 4. Uses information on hand to make
meaningful decisions

Questions:
1. Tell us about the most difficult situation at work that you’ve had to deal with. What did you
decide to do and what was the result?
2. Describe a situation in which you had to make a tough decision. Why did you take the decision
that you took and not another?

Situation/Task Action Result

Communication: __________________________________________

Impact: _________________________________________________
Rating:
Competency Based Interview 7

6. DIMENSION: Analytical

Definition:

Uses data (historical) to gather the trends and decide on an appropriate course of action. Can
establish problematic trends from a set/sets of data or reports and use such to correct these
trends.

Key Actions:
1. Can make the correct deductions from data
2. Able to compare sets of data or information and make sense of this
3. Able to interpret data and graphical information to explain trends to the team

Questions:
1. Tell us about a time when you had to compare different sets of information and make
recommendations or presentation based on this. What was the situation and how did you go
about it?
2. What has been the most interesting finding for you where you could make sense of the data or
figures to tell a story or justify a course of action? Why was it so?

Situation/Task Action Result

Communication: __________________________________________

Impact: _________________________________________________
Rating:
Competency Based Interview 8

Summary Score Sheet

1. As an individual, decide on the score you are awarding for each Dimension and record this in the
Rating Box at the bottom of each page.
2. The following scale should be used:

 5 – Excellent (goes beyond provision of adequate evidence)

 4 – More than acceptable (provides more than adequate evidence)
 3 – Acceptable (provides adequate evidence)
 2 – Weak (provides little evidence)
 1 – Unacceptable (does not provide evidence required)

3. Transfer the scores for each Dimension into the Summary Sheet below.
4. Record all other Interviewers’ scores into the Summary Sheet.
5. As a team of interviewers, find consensus on the rating for each dimension. Record this rating in
the Summary Sheet.
6. Transfer the interview ratings into the main score sheet for the assessment.

SUMMARY SCORE SHEET

INTERVIEWERS
DIMENSIONS CONSENSUS
RATING
1. Leadership/Motivation

2. Attention to detail/
Performance Management
3. Planning & Organizing

4. Tenacity & Drive

5. Decisiveness

6. Analytical

OVERALL SCORE : ………………………