Assessments and Competency Based

Interviews

A Candidate’s Guide
What to Expect from Sesame Bankhall Group

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Recruitment Methods
SBG uses a variety of recruitment methods when selecting the right person for a particular role. This
allows us to assess a broad range of skills in a variety of situations; helping us to place the right people
in the right roles.

The exact methods we use will vary depending upon the specific requirements of each vacancy. Your
interview invite will let you know which of the following assessments may be used on the day:

Competency Based Interview – Please see page 3 for guidelines to competency-based interviews at
SBG.

Role Play Scenarios

In a role play exercise you’ll be asked to simulate a real-life working incident, this could be over the
telephone or in a face to face scenario. The main thing is to be aware of the ‘background’ to the role
play, but never make up your mind in advance about what’s going to happen.

• Keep cool
• Make sure you understand the situation and ask questions before launching in
• Get an overview of the issues first
• Be prepared to argue your case calmly
• Expect the unexpected
• They may try to put you in a stressful/confrontational situation to see how you react in
difficult situations. Avoid being aggressive, even if they are

Case Studies, In Tray Exercises and Written Tests

Case studies and in-tray exercises are used to test your ability to review written material and draw out
the important points. Case studies might require you to sift through large amounts of data (written
reports, memos, phone messages, statistics etc.), understand the issues and come up with proposals
or recommendations. In-tray exercises simulate several day-to-day tasks and require you to prioritise
them usually with an explanation to the order you’ve provided. Written tests may be assessing
technical ability for the role, the most important advice for completing written tests is:

• Take your time to read each question carefully

• Be aware of the time limits and spread your time appropriately between the answers
• Don’t panic if you don’t know the answer, move on to the next question

Presentations

You may have been provided with a brief before the day to prepare a presentation or could be asked
to produce a short-presentation on the day. If you have to deliver a presentation, here are a few
ground rules to calm your nerves:

• The best presentations have a solid structure. This is helpful both as a safety net to you as
the presenter if you lose your train of thought, and also to the audience who like to know
where they are and what is to come
• Don’t try to include too much. Remember what it feels like to listen to a speaker – too much
information and you begin to switch off

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 • Get both the verbal and non-verbal messages across. Avoid mumbling or talking too fast, look
at the audience, don’t pace up and down and use your hands naturally
• Practice giving presentations before the real thing, in front of other people or a mirror
• Prepare for questions; try to anticipate what they will ask you and prepare some answers
• If you make a mistake, forget it instantly. As long as you don’t dwell on it your audience
probably won’t even notice
• If you require any equipment on the day (such as flipchart or a projector) please let us know
in advance of the interview

Competency Based Interviews

Competency based interviews use questions which aim to find out how you have used specific skills in
your previous experience and how you approach problems, tasks or challenges. All our interviews are
competency-based. We do appreciate that the prospect of any interview can cause individuals to
worry, and make you think about:

• What will they ask me?

• Who will be interviewing me?
• What if I don’t know any of the answers?
• What if I feel I don’t do my best?
• What is a competency anyway?

We are going to try to allay some of your fears by explaining a few features of competency-based
interviewing and giving you some ‘hints and tips’ on how to prepare yourself.

What is a Competency?

A competency is simply a description of the behaviours you display when performing a role
effectively. Different sets of behaviours are put together for different aspects of someone’s role and
this is how an overall competency framework is made up.

Let’s explain with an example:

If your role involved being able to organise your work effectively, the competency for this might look
like: Organisational Skills

Plans and organises own and delegated workload to ensure deadlines are met. Adapts plans when
departmental priorities change.

That’s a short example but it’ll give you the idea.

What is a Competency Based Interview?

The aim of a competency-based interview is pretty much the same as any interview, that is, to give
you the chance to tell the interviewer as much about your past work performance as possible. What
will probably feel different about the competency-based interview is it uses a very structured
approach.

The interviewer (or interviewers, there will probably be two) will have a set of questions to ask you
that have been prepared in advance. They will read these questions to you from their page almost
like a script – the reason for this is that they will be asking exactly the same questions of each
candidate applying for the role, to ensure fairness and consistency.

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The interviewer will have chosen to ask you about the competencies that most closely link to the role,
this means they may not question you on every one of the competencies in our framework. They may
also tell you as each question starts, which competency they are questioning you on.

How do I prepare for the questions?

In answering the questions, you need to provide the interviewers with examples or stories of
situations you have faced in your previous roles that demonstrate how you have performed. So, for
example, if you are asked:

Interviewer: Tell me about a time when you had to answer the phone to an angry customer.

You: You will need to tell them of a time when this happened. You could start by telling them the
background to the situation – what was happening, why, who else was involved etc. then go on to
explain exactly what you did and how you went about handling the situation.

Bear in mind, they will want to hear specifically what you did. If others were involved you can mention
that but remember to give a clear picture of the part you actually played in the example.

It’s important to remember to tell them what the outcome was. If the outcome wasn’t quite what you
had hoped for this is still useful information for the interviewer but let them know what you learned
from the situation.

The interviewer is expecting to hear a description of the Situation, Task, Action and Result, an
example of which we have included below:

Interviewer: Tell me about a time when you had to answer the phone to an angry customer.

You:

Situation

I was working within my current role and customer called me, she was unhappy and raised her voice at
me. Her bank statement was showing a charge that should not have been applied to her bank account
for the sum of £20.

Task

My job is a Customer Service Adviser and I deal with these sorts of issues every day; my role is to speak
with customers and sort out their issues.

Action

I calmed the customer down by listening to her problem and letting her vent her frustration, I then
empathised with her and looked into her account. I realised that she had been incorrectly charged, I
told her that I would remove the charge from her account with immediate effect and apologised
sincerely.

Result

She ended up apologising to me and said thank you very much for sorting out the problem, she went
away a happy customer.

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You will need to prepare enough examples for each competency. There is likely to be more than one
question per competency so bear that in mind. Some of your examples may overlap more than one
competency. That’s to be expected and the interviewers will make use of all the information you
provide against all of the competencies.

What will the Competencies be?

SBG has a behavioural framework, which all roles are measured against. These are the behaviours
that we require from our staff in order to drive our company values; Engaged, Professional, Innovative
and Collaborative. Your competency interview will be based on a number of these behaviours that
are translated into competency questions.

The competencies are:

• Technical Competence
• Organising & Executing
• Managing & Developing Self & Others
• Service Delivery Excellence
• Entrepreneurial & Commercial Thinking
• Embracing Change
• Leadership
• Collaborative Working
• Interacting & Engaging

In every job description you will see each role is marked against these behaviours with different levels
from A to D. These correspond to the behaviour that we would require from individuals working in
that particular role. Please see Appendix 1 for a brief description of the behaviours required at each
level.

Where do I get all my examples from?

There are many areas you should consider when gathering examples including:

• Projects you’ve been involved in, whether work or education based

• Challenges or problems you’ve faced
• Relationships with customers, managers, peers and/or colleagues
• Times you’ve influenced a decision
• Negotiations and deals you may have been involved in
• Successes you’ve had surrounding work completed

Once you sit down and start to think about it you’ll find that you have many situations that examples
can come from. Ideally your examples should be from your last two or three years work experience
but you can go further back if you need to.

What about my technical knowledge?

Technical questions will be covered under the competency for Technical Competence, there may be
some additional technical questions added to some of the competency-based questions.
Interviewers, in this situation, will be asking questions designed to check what level of technical
knowledge you have and how you have applied it in the past. They may equally introduce some form
of testing following the interview, for example, case studies or presentations.

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Once I’ve prepared my examples, how can I prepare myself?

You may still be feeling nervous. In reality, we can’t take all your nerves away but we will give you as
many hints and tips as possible about preparing yourself beforehand and during the interview.

Mentally and physically preparing beforehand

To make yourself feel better in the lead up to the day of the interview you could:

• Rehearse your examples in your mind

• Find a friend or colleague to rehearse with (this one’s handy because they can give you some
valuable and constructive feedback)
• Remember you have good examples to describe
• Visualise yourself being successful
• The interviewers are there to help you give off your best – they are not aiming to trip you up
or trick you
• The day before, try to relax by keeping to your usual routines
• Exercise is good for relieving stress so this may help you
• Try to get a good night’s sleep the night before

During the interview itself

What you need to do:

• Pace yourself with slow, even breathing

• Answer in a clear, logical manner that the interviewers can easily follow
• Pause for thought when you need to, the interviewers won’t think badly of that
• Keep a clear focus on the competency being discussed
• Keep your language specific, positive and above all sound interested!
• Make sure you get across specifically what you as an individual did

You may feel that you want to take notes in with you to help you remember your stories/examples.
There is no problem with doing this but keep them brief. The recommended approach would be to
use prompt notes or cards with minimal wording. Bear in mind that constant reference to notes
spoils the flow of the interview and can look less professional. If you do choose to use notes, don’t
read directly from them.

What will the interviewers be doing?

• The interviewers will have been trained on how to help you through this process, helping you
to describe yourself and your skills
• They will be trying to obtain as much information as possible
• They will be working from their script of questions so don’t be put off if they sound less
spontaneous than other interviewers you’ve met
• If they feel they’ve gathered sufficient evidence against one competency they may well say
“thanks but we’ll move on now…” or words to that effect so don’t be offended at this
• They will start with open questions to help get you started and then may probe for details to
find out more information
• Remember they will want to help you as much as they can

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It’s over to you now. The key to a successful interview will be the preparation you put in beforehand.
Rehearse if you can, in your mind or with someone else and remember that everyone involved in the
process will be there to help you give off your best.

Good Luck!

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 Appendix 1 – SBG Values & Competency Framework

Competency Framework
The below provides and overview of the internal skills, knowledge and behaviours we require from
our employees to drive our values.
Competency Level A Level B Level C Level D
Seeks to keep up to date Identifies and prioritises
Actively seeks opportunities to Fosters a culture of
with knowledge, skills and development needs and
Developing Self enhance leadership learning continuous learning and
role-specific procedures knowledge gaps, provides
& Others and experiences for self and establishes employee
required for own job. appropriate coaching, support,
others. engagement.
Drives own development. guidance and training.
Takes the lead of own
Provides leadership,
workload to meet personal
Nurtures others, has a genuine creative vision and
objectives and deadlines, Empowers people in their role,
presence and authentic strategic direction, whilst
Leadership in the support of encourages team members to
relationships that generates creating a culture for
departmental objectives, voice their opinions.
buy-in and enthusiasm. success by empowering
prioritising time and
the team.
activities appropriately.
Leads the function with fitting
Is an acknowledged source of Leads the business to
Possesses the technical working practices, processes
expertise, is able to perform ensure the technical
Technical and business knowledge and service standards.
more complex tasks, displays competence of its people,
Competence necessary to perform role, Possesses a breath of
accountability for risk acting to deliver good
shares own expertise. professional or technical
management. outcomes for Customers.
knowledge.
Responds to key internal Leads a culture which
Agrees demanding and
and external stakeholders Promotes a culture of 6* service supports 6* service
Service achievable service standards in
in a timely and accurate delivery with the Consumer Duty delivery and decisions that
Excellence line with other departments
manner, takes ownership principle at its heart. lead to good outcomes for
across the business.
of issues. Consumers.

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 Identifies opportunities for Develops commercial
Recognises the day-to-day Is commercially aware of
business improvement and awareness throughout the
Commercially issues and decisions that competitor activities. Spots
makes recommendations for business with the
Focussed are commercially opportunities for development
ways to improve SBG’s standing Consumer Duty principle at
important for the business. in the marketplace.
in the marketplace. its heart.
Considers impact of
Promotes a focus on process
change and progress on Fosters a culture of
improvement, ensures change Looks to the future to make
internal and external challenging the way we do
Embracing brings about positive outcomes, new suggestions of ways of
stakeholders, drives things to simplify
Change develops solutions, working to bring about
continuous improvement, processes and deliver good
communicates change business benefits.
adapts and responds well outcomes for Customers.
accordingly.
to change.
Shows commitment to Promotes a culture which
Promotes teamwork and
team goals, is co-operative, Builds successful teams, fosters the value of each
collective responsibility, creates
positive, helps others, enables an environment which individual’s contribution to
Teamworking an environment of trust and
shows empathy and is open, supportive and the team, enabling team
respect, establishes relationships
collaborative working style. considerate to others. building activities and
across tams.
Really listens to others. events.
Listens and asks questions Develops communication lines
Promotes a culture which
to fully understand needs, Proactively and sensitively within and across departments
provides feedback as the
uses tact and diplomacy, is communicates with others, to foster openness, trust and
Communication norm, builds influential
open and approachable. listens to others, takes others effectiveness, a professional
networks and strategic
Builds rapport, needs into account. and confident presenter who
relationships.
communicates clearly. makes a lasting impact.