What is a competency?

Transcription

1 Preparing for competency based interviews It is essential to try to establish the type of interview your customer will face. If it is a competency based interview (CBI) then they need to prepare their responses carefully. In competency based interviews candidates are evaluated on the quality and detail of every answer.. What does a CBI look like? To summarise: There will be more than one person conducting the interview. There will likely be someone from HR and either one or more line managers. The process will be formal. The candidate will be asked a number of pre-prepared questions. The purpose of the questions is to illicit information on skills and competencies. One of those present is likely to have their head down for the entire session, recording the information provided. The responses will be scored and only those candidates achieving the highest marks will continue to the selection process. What is a competency? A competency is a skill or behaviour. The purpose of the interview is to learn from the jobseeker how they have performed in past employment as this is a predictor of how they are likely to perform in the future. This table from lists some of the most commonly questioned competencies in management posts. Skills and competencies for competency based interviews Adaptability Compliance Communication Conflict management Creativity and Innovation Decisiveness Delegation External awareness Flexibility Independence Influencing Integrity Leadership Leveraging diversity Organisational awareness Resilience and tenacity Risk taking Sensitivity to others Team work

2 The interview will consist of about questions such as: Can you please give me an example of How did you deal with? Would you please describe When you were faced with, how did you deal with it? Who uses CBI? Any organisation may use this type of interview which is why it is always important to check. There is no hard and fast rule but it is more commonly used by public sector organisations and large companies. It is always best to prepare for a CBI. How does the scoring work? 0 No evidence Question not answered. No example given. 1 Poor Little evidence of positive indicators. Mostly negative indicators, many decisive. 2 Areas for concern Limited number of positive indicators. Many negative indicators, one or more decisive. 3 Satisfactory Satisfactory display of positive indicators. Some negative indicators but none decisive. 4 Good to excellent Strong display of positive indicators. Positive indicators Demonstrates a positive approach towards the problem. Considers the wider need of the situation Recognises own limitations Is able to compromise Is willing to seek help when necessary Uses effective strategies to deal with pressure/stress Negative indicators Perceives challenges as problems Attempts unsuccessfully to deal with the situation alone Used inappropriate strategies to deal with pressure/stress Try to give yourself plenty of time to prepare. Your customer will need the job description and the person specification to prepare so please make sure you have at least one of these. If you have not

3 been provided with either, contact the agency or the employer (whichever is appropriate) and ask for them. Once you have the job description / person specification look carefully to find the skills and behaviours they want to see. The example of the job description below is from Regardless of the type of person and skills sought, most will follow the same or a similar format. Customer Service Executive Job description and profile Customer Service Executives are accountable for formulating resolution and response in a timely and accurate manner and providing excellent customer services. Their main responsibility is to define a customer service strategy of the organisation. This strategy includes using training, technology, developing, and improving employees skills, maintaining consistent quality control, standardising procedures and policies, and establishing expectations of customer service. Duties and responsibilities Maintaining customers focus at all times and answering customers enquiries, using the standard guidelines. Taking ownership of complaint and queries and proactively following through to resolution. Making sure that all customers queries are well investigated and resolved, and escalating queries if appropriate to supervisor. Assisting management and team manager with any assigned special projects and providing backup to the team manager when required. Maintaining working cognition of each customer service process for various market segments and communicating issues to team manager. Developing and mentoring new staff to satisfy customer service requirements. Maintaining professional strong working relationship with external and internal customers, colleagues, and customer service management. Supporting decisions made by customer service management and conveying positively to team members to reinforce messages. Identifying and escalating consistent or recurring problems with the systems functionality. Assisting in improving and monitoring procedures and processes to ensure the most cost-effective and efficient service. Assisting in preparing and developing the documentation of the organisation s standard policies and procedures towards customer service.

4 Skills and specifications Willingness to discover and develop. Friendly, polite and tactful attitude. Excellent communication and good presentation skills. Ability to cope up with multiple projects and deadlines. Ability to motivate and energise fellow team members. Ability to tackle diverse customers. Education and qualifications General education degree from an accredited institution. High school diploma. Experience in Customer Service activities. Preparing for a CBI Taking the job description, highlight the behaviours and skills the employer is looking for. For example: Duties and responsibilities Maintaining customers focus at all times and answering to customer s enquiries, using the standard guidelines. Taking ownership of complaint and queries and proactively following through to resolution. Making sure that all customers queries are well investigated and resolved, and escalating queries if appropriate to supervisor. Assisting management and Team Manager with any assigned special projects and providing backup to the team manager when required. Maintaining working cognition of each customer service process for various market segments and communicating issues to team manager. Developing and mentoring new staff to satisfy customer service requirements. Maintaining professional strong working relationship with external and internal customers, colleagues, and customer service management. Supporting decisions made by customer service management and conveying positively to team members to reinforce messages.. Identifying and escalating consistent or recurring problems with the systems functionality. Assisting in improving and monitoring procedures and processes to ensure the most cost-effective and efficient service.

5 Assisting in preparing and developing the documentation of the organisation s standard policies and procedures towards customer service. Skills and Specifications Willingness to discover and develop. Friendly, polite and tactful attitude. Excellent communication and good presentation skills. Ability to cope up with multiple projects and deadlines. Ability to motivate and energise fellow team members. Ability to tackle diverse customers. Education and Qualifications General education degree from an accredited institution. High school diploma. Experience in Customer Service activities. Once your customer has a clear idea of the skills and behaviours sought, try to think of the questions the employer is likely to ask. For example, a question related to this job could be: Can you please give me an example of when you have had to manage more than one project and how you did this? To help your customer prepare for the answer you need to consider an example from their previous employment where they have successfully achieved this. Continued/

6 Using the scoring mechanism, these are some sample responses and their likely scores. 0 No evidence I am really good a multitasking and I have always done it. 1 Poor I am used to working under pressure and my boss was always giving me lots of things to do at the same time and I sometimes managed to hit the deadlines although their expectations were often unrealistic 2 Areas for concern In my last job I was expected to manage a different number of areas and to meet the deadlines expected. At xx Company I always did this but they wanted a lot from me and I always usually managed to give them what they wanted. 3 Satisfactory At xx organisation I was in a similar position where I had to run a number of projects to deadline. I coped with this well and expect to be able to do the same for you. Sometimes there were some issues and I had a difficult team to cope with but usually we managed to get through. 4 Good to excellent Whilst at xx company I would have a number of projects to manage at the same time, examples of these projects are x, x and x. It would not be unusual to have different timescales to work to. To ensure that I completed the work required in the time and that the projects were managed appropriately, I would undertake a comprehensive planning process showing each stage of the project through to completion. I would also ensure that my manager was aware of, and able to review my progress against the plans at any time. Once a week we would meet briefly to ensure that my manager and anyone else in the team was confident of the progress being made. At xx organisation I ran up to xx projects simultaneously and each was delivered on time and on budget. Continued/

7 Strong working relationships Can you please give me an example of how you manage customer relationships? 0 No evidence I get on really well with people. 1 Poor I have always got on well with my customers, they like me and like doing business with me. I am not sure that the organisation will keep them now I have left because I don t think anyone else will be able to look after as well as I did. 2 Areas for concern At xx company I had the largest base of customers to manage and I always scored highly in customer feedback surveys. The relationship I had with internal customers was also good; we all got along really well and I think I was popular. 3 Satisfactory I believe that I build and maintain good, effective relationships with all those I work with. For example, at xx organisation I came into the team at a time of conflict about bonus payments. Because I was new I was able to mediate between the parties, able to see both points of view without any history and, with a reasonably mature attitude, I was able to support both sides and reach a negotiated agreement. With internal customers I have enjoyed good relationships; for example, at xx company the credit control team was experiencing problems with overdue payments from one of my customers. I called the customer and asked them to pay their invoices in a more timely fashion and this really pleased the credit control team. 4 Good to excellent I believe that I build and maintain good, effective relationships with all those I work with. For example, at xx organisation I came into the team at a time of conflict about bonus payments. Because I was new I was able to mediate between the parties, able to see both points of view without any history and, with a reasonably mature attitude, I was able to support both sides and reach a negotiated agreement. From then on, I enjoyed a really good relationship with the team and my managers. With internal customers I have enjoyed good relationships; for example, at xx company the credit control team was experiencing problems with overdue payments from one of my customers. As I had been involved in the sales process with the Sales Manager I took responsibility for talking to the procurement office to resolve the matter. In the case of customers, I have always been able to secure new business from past customers I have worked with because I have a reputation for being trustworthy and competent in the advice and support I give. An example of this would be when I left xx organisation I was able to bring xx new customers to the business in the first three months. I would like to make it clear that this was not a case of poaching any previously won business as the two businesses did not compete in the same market. At xx organisation they conduct customer service feedback surveys and I always scored above 90 per cent satisfaction which would place me among the top five customer advisers.

8 The questions your customer will be asked do not always start with Please give me an example. But in replying, your customer should always provide an example of where they have applied this skill or behaviour in previous roles. If the question is: At XX organisation we expect people to support their manager in the execution of monthly returns. How would you ensure that you did this? The answer could sound something like: I would always expect to support my manager with timely information for reporting purposes, for example at xx organisation, I was required to.. (Going on to explain how they you did this is a positive way provides a detailed example of their experience.) Practice Once you and your customer feel that you have a really good understanding of both the jobs and the skills and behaviours the employer is looking for, try to get some sample questions and practise the answers. Listen to how well each question is answered and try to score the answers, using the same criteria as used in the scoring table above. There only one way to succeed at a CBI is by practice. These are situations where mentors, mock interviewers and others can offer help.