This is an article aimed at helping you with competency questions that you normally will face in an interview:

This document contains an amalgamation of competency questions split into two parts, CORE and ROLE SPECIFIC. These questions are by no means the only ones, but they will help you get started. Try role playing with a friend and see if you can really answer these questions to another person. Remember to have more than one example for each question.

The following five questions are general for any situation/experience, they will help break down examples you find for each question and also help you when interviewers go through these question. (It appears to me that they ask you a specific question or example then ask 1 or 2 of the questions from the 5 questions below!):

• Consider your role in the situation
• Were there any potential barriers or pitfalls?
• How did you overcome them? 
• Is there anything you would have done differently? 
• Is there anything that you have learned?

CORE

• Adaptability

o Tell me about a time when you changed your priorities to meet others' expectations.
o Describe a time when you altered your own behaviour to fit the situation.
o Tell me about a time when you had to change your point of view or your plans to take into account new information and/or changing priorities.

• Communication

o Describe a situation you were involved in that required a multi-dimensional communication strategy.
o Give an example of a difficult or sensitive situation that required extensive communication.
o Tell me about a time when you really had to pay attention to what someone else was saying, actively seeking to understand their message.

• Organisational Awareness

o Describe the culture of your organization and give an example of how you work within this culture to achieve a goal.
o Describe the things you consider and the steps you take in assessing the viability of a new idea or initiative.
o Tell me about a time when you used your knowledge of the organization to get what you needed.

• Problem Solving and Judgment

o Tell me about a time when you had to identify the underlying causes to a problem.
o Describe a time when you had to analyze a problem and generate a solution.
o Tell me about a situation where you had to solve a problem or make a decision that required careful thought.  What did you do?

• Results Orientation

o Tell me about a time when you set and achieved a goal.
o Tell me about a time when you improved the way things were typically done on the job.
o Describe something you have done to improve the performance of your work unit.
o Describe something you have done to maximize or improve the use of resources beyond your own work unit to achieve improved results.

• Teamwork

o Tell me about a time when you worked successfully as a member of a team.
o Describe a situation where you were successful in getting people to work together effectively.
o Describe a situation in which you were a member (not a leader) of a team, and a conflict arose within the team. What did you do?

ROLE SPECIFIC

• Developing Others

o Tell me about a time when you coached someone to help them improve their skills or job performance.  What did you do?
o Describe a time when you provided feedback to someone about their performance.
o Give me an example of a time when you recognized that a member of your team had a performance difficulty/deficiency.  What did you do?

• Impact and Influence

o Describe a recent situation in which you convinced an individual or a group to do something.
o Describe a time when you went through a series of steps to influence an individual or a group on an important issue.
o Describe a situation in which you needed to influence different customers/people with differing perspectives.

• Innovation

o Describe something you have done that was new and different for your organisation, that improved performance and/or productivity.
o Tell me about a time when you identified a new, unusual or different approach for addressing a problem or task.
o Tell me about a recent problem in which old solutions wouldn't work.  How did you solve the problem?

• Leadership

o Tell me about a time when you had to lead a group to achieve an objective.
o Describe a situation where you had to ensure that your "actions spoke louder than your words" to a team.
o Describe a situation where you inspired others to meet a common goal.

• Relationship Building

o Describe a situation in which you developed an effective win/win relationship with a customer or colleague. How did you go about building the relationship?
o Tell me about a time when you relied on a contact in your network to help you with a work-related task or problem.
o Give me an example of a time when you deliberately attempted to build rapport with a co-worker or customer.

• Resource Management

o Describe a situation in which you took a creative approach to resourcing to achieve a goal.
o Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a particular resource management issue regarding either people, materials or assets.
o Describe the options you would consider to resource a project or goal if you did not have the available resources within your own span of control.
o Describe a situation in which you established a partnership with another organization to achieve a mutual goal. What steps did you take to ensure the partnership was effective?

• Self-Management

o Describe the level of stress in your job and what you do to manage it.
o Describe a time when you were in a high pressure situation.
o Describe a time when things didn't turn out as you had planned and you had to analyze the situation to address the issue.
 
• Strategic Thinking

o Describe a challenge or opportunity you identified based on your knowledge, and how you developed a strategy to respond to it.
o Describe a time you created a strategy to achieve a longer term objective.
o Describe a time when you used your business knowledge to understand a specific business situation.

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