Tips for Successful Competency-based Selection Interviewing

It is important to weigh each behavioural example provided by an interviewee in terms of its overall contribution to the rating for each competency. Since this is not simply a process of averaging all of the +'s and -'s to arrive at an overall rating, it is important to take the following factors into account:

• Significance: The importance of the examples in relation to the job being filled should be carefully considered. Two complete behavioural examples may be provided. One may be a good example in a very unimportant situation, and the other may be an example of poor performance in the same competency area in a very critical situation. It is necessary, therefore, to give the more important example more weight in the candidate's overall rating for that particular competency area.

• Recency: The more recent the behaviour, the better it predicts future behaviour. If the candidate provides a number of negative examples of a competency earlier in their career, but also provides several more recent positive examples, then the recent examples should be given more weight in the overall rating of the competency, other things being equal.

• Trends: Consistent with the concept of recency, examples which show a trend either positively or negatively should be taken into account. It is likely that a trend would continue if the candidate were selected for the target position.

• Job-Relatedness: The job-relatedness of the examples provided by the candidate should also be factored into the overall rating of a competency. For example, a candidate may have provided good examples of team building skills in volunteer situations involving children, but a number of negative examples with adults on the job. Although volunteer experience is perfectly acceptable, the latter examples must be given more weight if the candidate is expected to demonstrate this skill with adults on the job.

• Assign a Rating to Each Competency: The next step is to assign a rating to each competency based on the candidate’s demonstration of the relevant behavioural indicators.

This post is based on content from 'Effective Interviewing' by Human Resource Systems Group, Ltd.