Careers Service information sheet

Competency based Interview questions

15

1. Tell me about a time when you had to persuade a group of people to your point of view. a. How did you do that? b. How successful were you 2. Tell me about a time when you had to face a challenge head on. a. What exactly did you do? b. What were the outcomes of your input? c. If faced with the same challenge again, would you do differently and why? 3. Tell me about a time when you provided support to colleagues and team members? a. Why did you have to provide support? b. Tell me how you provided support? c. How was your support received? d. Can you discuss the outcomes with me? 4. Describe a time when you most effectively came up with an idea and then turned it into a concrete plan of action. a. What alternatives did you consider? b. How did you decide what approach was most appropriate? 5. Describe a time when a plan you made had to be modified due to an obstacle or change that you had not anticipated. a. What was the obstacle? b. What modifications did you have to make? c. How did it affect the overall plan? d. How did you identify and engage with the opportunities raised within the new situation? 6. Tell me about a time when you needed to apply considerable levels of energy in ensuring that a task was completed successfully. a. Why did the task require large amounts of energy? b. What was your thinking? c. How did you feel at the time? 7. Tell me about a time when you were faced with multiple obstacles and were able to overcome and implement your initiative. a. How did you do that? b. How successful were you? 8. Can you give me an example where you have had to disassemble a very large and complex challenge into its component parts in order to make the work more manageable? a. Can you explain the event? b. How did you break the challenge down? c. What do you remember about the results? Further information