When it comes to interview preparation, especially Competency-based Interviews, there are three things that are the source and foundation of your work:
- The Department / Organisation that you will be working in
- The Job Description (not the job advertisement)
- Your Letter of Application / Cover Letter / CV / Competency-based Application Form
The above are what the Interviewers are going to base there questions on, have no doubt about that; so, it is up to you to pre-empt what they could ask you from these and prepare accordingly.
The Department / Organisation that you will be working in
You need to know the Department / Organisation that you are being interviewed to work in i.e., their products, services, history, clients, customers, markets, challenges, plans (you need to know just as much as they know!)
The Job Description (not the job advertisement)
Most of the Interviewers’ questions will stem from the Job Description, where they will go through your understanding of the role, essential requirements, desirable requirements, personal specification and last, but not least the key skills i.e., competencies required to carry out the tasks, duties and responsibilities of the job successfully. Give every line / every bullet point in the Job Description due respect; striving to develop an example, because behind all of these lines and bullet points is a question they could ask you and 9 times out of 10, they are expecting to hear a story i.e., a competency-based example.
Your Letter of Application / Cover Letter / CV / Competency-based Application Form
You need to know the contents of your application in whatever means they have requested ‘your information’ from you i.e., Letter, CV, Competency-based Application Form. These days there is a huge focus on competencies i.e., to every question they ask you, you have to think about giving an example i.e., instead of telling them what you would do, tell them what you did do!