REVISITING THE ESSENTIALS

In the world of Human Resources there are two terms in play – ‘competence’ and ‘competency’. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) outlines a technical difference: ‘“Competency” is now generally defined as the behaviours that employees must have, or must acquire, to input into a situation in order to achieve high levels of performance, while ‘competence’ relates to a system of minimal standards or is demonstrated by performance and outputs.’ As Michael Armstrong wrote in his article ‘Demystifying Competence’, ‘try telling that to a line manager’.

In the world of work the terms are used interchangeably. A competency is not just about what you do, but how you do it. From a candidate perspective you don’t need to worry about the theory of competencies, but you do need to give attention to the way they are being used by recruiting organisations.

A good working definition of a competency is ‘a combination of skills, knowledge and personal qualities which enables an employee to carry out specific tasks at an effective or superior level of performance’. You will notice that a competency is therefore not the same as a skill. A skill is purely about action. Van driving is a skill. A proficient van driver making local deliveries will also possess underlying knowledge (route planning), will have measurably good driving skills (measured by testing or a clean complaints record), and will probably have a flexible and relaxed manner with customers.

Competencies are therefore a mix of five elements:

1. Skill – the tasks completed (e.g. designing a PowerPoint presentation).
2. Knowledge – having an underpinning knowledge (what the software is capable of achieving, how to get the desired results from the options available).
3. Behaviours – what an observer can see (completing the presentation accurately and on time).
4. Attitude – the state of mind which underlies activity (using imagination, considering the needs of the end user, taking care and attending to detail).
5. Impact – how others experience, remember and feel about your contribution (doing a great job is noticed by the Marketing Director).

A NOTE ON IMPACT

To be strictly accurate, ‘impact’ doesn’t appear in most competency statements, but is probably more important than anything else. We often make the mistake of believing our career performance is judged by an overview of everything we have done in a working year, summarised in an appraisal report.

However, all the evidence for why people get promoted or attached to interesting projects is that they are noticed in one or two peak moments with good outcomes. This might, for example, be when you are presenting information to senior staff, leading a project, researching something that really matters to the organisation. In these key moments someone important gets a quick but decisive glimpse of you doing something important, and doing it well. You have done things, consciously or not, which have made you visible to decision makers at critical moments.

These moments are often about emotional impact. The American poet Maya Angelou wrote: ‘I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.’ Impressing someone, going the extra mile, really focusing on what your employer is most excited about – these are all characteristics that get you noticed and considered for future roles. You bring this into the interview by mentioning in passing how people showed their response to your actions, for example by sending a personal thank-you note or recommending you to others.

DIFFERENT WAYS YOU WILL ENCOUNTER COMPETENCIES

Competency-based interviews are common and very much part of the fabric of recruitment and selection. You may come across them in a variety of ways:

• A list of competencies is provided showing how each will be measured. You will probably be asked to write statements describing how you match each competency.
• Sometimes competencies are listed but it is not clear how they will be measured. In this case highlight your competencies in your documentation and at interview.
• A list of competencies is provided, but it is clear that other factors are also going to be considered. Broad preparation is required, as well as working out the employer’s shopping list (see Chapter 7).
• You suspect that the employer has some competencies in mind, but they are not listed. Here you have to do even more homework reading between the lines and pulling in whatever information you can from people who know the organisation well.
• A discussion of competencies comes up informally during an interview. Having more than a few pre-prepared narratives is a vital line of defence.

HOW COMPETENCY-BASED INTERVIEWS LOOK DECEPTIVELY SIMPLE

Competency-based questions are a form of behavioural interviewing – focusing closely on past events and life situations. According to the CIPD, about 6 out of 10 employers currently use some kind of competency framework. Why do competencies appeal to employers? They have some value in increasing objectivity, and there is certainly evidence to suggest that a structured interview looking at competencies is more likely to give an accurate result than the rambling, ‘friendly chat’ which passes for an interview in some organisations. However, perhaps the real reason is that this approach uses tick-boxes and matrices, which make the selection process look fairer and more scientific. Used well (and sparingly), selection of competencies requires employers to think about the skills and qualities which provide above-average workplace performance, and encourages answers based on evidence rather than bragging.

The great mismatch in the marketplace is this. Employers are keen to examine competencies (but not always good at drawing them out of candidates). Candidates have little interest in competencies (they would much rather talk about more tangible things like skills, qualifications, attitude to work), and make the mistake of believing that talking about competencies is a stroll in the park.

Far from it. Your responsibility to deliver is even greater than in a standard interview – you’ve got to structure your answer, know where to begin and end, and make sure it hits the target, at the right standard, and in the right language. Don’t get fogged by complicated language – the backbone of your approach needs to be narrative: ‘Let me tell you about a time when ... the problem I was dealing with was. This was my approach ... this was the outcome.’ For each competency you will be developing a good short story.

Simple enough. So why are these interviews ‘deceptively simple’? Because there are hidden dimensions. First, you need to think carefully about language. You may have everything being sought, but if you don’t describe your competencies in the language an employer understands, immediately, you’re missing the target. Look carefully at the competency statements and look also at language used by the organisation on its website and in other documents. For example, you may have managed budgets in the past, but this employer is looking for cost control. Translating your experience into language which is immediately meaningful to an employer is vital if you are switching from one sector to another.

Second, think about depth and breadth, the invisible dimensions. How much detail you need to give depends very much on the culture and style of the organisation. Some interview situations will simply give you an opportunity to describe an example of where you demonstrated a particular ability. A short, snappy answer won’t work if an interview panel does not allow itself supplementary questions, so in that context you need to offer a more developed answer. You need to practise setting the scene for your answer so you don’t go straight for the punch line; however, do be aware that too much scene-setting causes an interviewer to switch off.

That’s depth. Breadth is about the way you use answers to introduce other skills, qualities and areas of experience that are not necessarily part of the competency framework, but may make you the preferred candidate. For example, an answer on teamwork might show not just your ability to win over difficult colleagues but your verbal communication skills.

SIX (SLIGHTLY SUBVERSIVE) RULES FOR PREPARING FOR COMPETENCY-BASED INTERVIEWS

1. Do the preparation. It’s a no-brainer. You have been told exactly what an employer is looking for, and you’ve been warned that against each competency someone is going to ask a question beginning ‘Tell me about a time when you ...’ So prepare your evidence carefully and thoroughly. See Chapter 13 for tips on preparing mini-narratives.
2. Prepare in depth. Don’t just prepare surface level stories: ‘Sure, I can tell you about a time when I led a team. I recruited a great team at XYZ. I motivated everyone and we hit our targets.’ Everything sounds good, but your evidence is as thin as a coat of gloss paint. How did you achieve this? What barriers did you overcome? What went wrong? What would you do differently next time? Think of each example as a problem you solved, and be prepared for probing questions.
3. Prepare supplementary evidence. You may already have provided evidence of competencies in an application form or in your CV. What other examples can you come up with?
4. Read between the lines. You may be dealing with a long list of competencies. Research – through contacts, employer website research, talking to a recruiter – which ones matter most. What skills or knowledge isn’t listed that might also be interesting to an employer? Sifting ahead of time, so you pitch the right information, marks you out as an above-average candidate.
5. Don’t leave gaps. What if you don’t have the competency? Think hard, because you are probably under-selling yourself. Offer strong, compensatory evidence which matches as closely as possible – for example, if you don’t have a particular qualification, describe your skill and knowledge level in such a way that it is clear you know more than someone who has the qualification but insufficient experience.
6. Throw in something different. You have no idea how boring it is to conduct competency-based interviews listening to repetitive, dull evidence. Throw in something surprising – an unusual problem, an unusual solution to a problem, perhaps examples that are taken from outside the world of work. Competency frameworks encourage dull interviews. Be different.

STRUCTURING YOUR ANSWERS

Faced with a printed list of competencies, it’s easy to think you can cover all the bases with detailed preparation. It’s a good place to start, of course. You will be asked a question about each competency identified, and you will need to provide evidence from your experience that you can meet the required standard.

There are various models around to help you give a structured answer to a competency-based question. Here is mine, first published in Take Control of Your Career:

Learning not to say ‘we’ all the time makes a huge difference. It’s interesting to video interviews and then run them back for the candidate, asking the question ‘How much of the story was about you?’

Careers specialist Fiona Ward writes: ‘When interviewing I have prompted candidates to speak about themselves, even to the extent of the direct question, “Tell me about your personal involvement”, and they still say “we”. Interestingly, when the same candidates receive feedback about how the interview went and are told this fact, they argue “But I told you what I did!”’

COMMERCIAL BREAK

Keep your stories tight and to the point. Think of the very tight storylines that are used in television advertising where there is a narrative – the scene is set quickly, and the point of the story is reached within 30 seconds or so. In an interview you may have a little longer, but the same principle applies. Each answer is like a TV ad for one particular competency – you have to get an idea across very quickly.

The art of storytelling is so important it gets special focus in Chapter 13, but it’s worth emphasising here that there is a careful balance to be struck, especially when setting the scene in the opening part of your answer. Too much and the interviewer becomes frustrated; too little and your punch line falls flat because you haven’t shown the size of the problem you solved.

Don’t try to learn answers word for word, but prepare well enough so that you can address each competency with a brief, convincing narrative. Rehearsal, by the way, means speaking a story out loud at least three times until the material is safely embedded, awaiting your first competency-based question.