Interview preparation guide

How to Prepare Competency Based Interview Answers

Competency based interview questions ask you to prove that you have the skills, behaviours, judgement, and experience required for a role. The interviewer is not asking for a general opinion about your strengths. They want evidence from a real situation where you demonstrated the competency.

These questions often sound like: Tell me about a time you solved a difficult problem, give me an example of when you showed leadership, describe a time when you had to influence a stakeholder, or tell me about a time you dealt with conflicting priorities. A strong answer connects the role criteria to a specific example and explains what you personally did.

Core idea: A strong competency based answer is not a story for its own sake. It is evidence that you meet a specific requirement. Start from the competency, choose a relevant example, structure it with STAR, and make the result clear.

1. Understand what competency based interviews assess

Competency based interviews are designed to assess whether your past actions show the qualities required for the job. Oxford Careers explains that analytical and competency based questions help employers find out whether candidates have the personal qualities, motivation, and skills required, understand themselves, and can identify why they match the job.

For example, a question about managing priorities is not only asking whether you are organised. It is testing how you make trade offs, communicate deadlines, manage pressure, and protect the quality of the final output.

Weak answer: I am very organised and I always meet deadlines.

Stronger answer: In my internship, I had to prepare a client report while also fixing an error in the dashboard. I clarified which task had the nearest business impact, fixed the data issue first, then reused the cleaned dataset for the report. Both tasks were delivered on time and the team avoided presenting inaccurate figures.

2. Read the job criteria before choosing examples

Do not begin by memorising generic answers. Begin with the job description, person specification, and competency framework. Identify the behaviours the employer is likely to test.

For instance, if the role asks for stakeholder management, data analysis, communication, and independent working, you should prepare at least one evidence based example for each area. If the role uses a formal framework, such as Civil Service Success Profiles, read the behaviour descriptions for the role level.

Preparation table:

  • Competency: teamwork. Evidence: group project with unclear ownership.
  • Competency: leadership. Evidence: taking initiative when a project was blocked.
  • Competency: problem solving. Evidence: diagnosing a data or process error.
  • Competency: communication. Evidence: explaining a technical issue to a non specialist audience.
  • Competency: resilience. Evidence: recovering after criticism or a setback.

3. Use the STAR method as the basic structure

The STAR method stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result. The UK National Careers Service describes it as a way to prepare for interviews and show your skills and experience. Situation is the context, Task is what you had to do, Action is what you did, and Result is what happened as a result and what you learned.

STAR is useful because it prevents vague answers. However, the method only works if the Action section is strong. Oxford Careers advises candidates to spend most of the answer on the Action part because this is where the interviewer sees your behaviour.

STAR structure:

  • Situation: What was the context?
  • Task: What was your responsibility or objective?
  • Action: What did you personally do?
  • Result: What changed, what was achieved, and what did you learn?

4. Choose evidence, not impressive sounding stories

The best example is not always the most dramatic story. The best example is the one that proves the competency. A small but specific workplace example is usually stronger than a large project where your personal contribution is unclear.

For example, a story about creating a checklist that reduced mistakes may be stronger for attention to detail than a story about joining a large successful project where you cannot explain your exact role.

Question: Give me an example of when you improved a process.

Weak answer: I was part of a team that improved the whole reporting process.

Stronger answer: I noticed that weekly reports had inconsistent figures because different team members used different spreadsheet versions. I created a shared template, added version control rules, and asked the team to use one source file. The number of manual corrections fell and the report was completed faster each week.

5. Make your personal role visible

Competency answers often fail because the candidate says we too often. Team context matters, but the interviewer must understand your individual judgement and action.

Use we for shared context and I for your actions. For instance, say: we had a deadline, but I created the timeline; we had a conflict, but I arranged the meeting; we had a technical issue, but I tested three possible causes.

Weak answer: We worked hard and solved the problem together.

Stronger answer: I identified the cause of the delay, proposed a revised task split, and took responsibility for testing the final output. That helped the team recover two days in the schedule.

6. Match one story to several competencies

You do not need twenty separate stories. You need a carefully prepared story bank. One story can often be adapted for teamwork, leadership, communication, prioritisation, or problem solving depending on which part you emphasise.

For example, a project where the team was behind schedule can be framed as leadership if you took initiative, communication if you clarified expectations, problem solving if you diagnosed the cause, or resilience if you recovered after an early mistake.

Story adaptation:

  • Leadership focus: I stepped in to organise the work.
  • Communication focus: I clarified expectations with stakeholders.
  • Problem solving focus: I identified the root cause of the delay.
  • Resilience focus: I adjusted the plan after a failed first attempt.

7. Prepare a story bank around common competencies

Most competency based interviews test a recurring set of areas. Build a short bank of six to eight stories and map each story to two or three possible competencies.

Common competency areas:

  • Teamwork and collaboration.
  • Leadership and initiative.
  • Communication and influencing.
  • Problem solving and analysis.
  • Planning and prioritisation.
  • Adaptability and resilience.
  • Customer or stakeholder focus.
  • Attention to detail and quality control.
  • Decision making under uncertainty.
  • Learning from feedback or failure.

8. Prepare results that show value

A competency answer needs a result. The result may be quantitative, such as reduced errors, saved time, increased response rate, improved accuracy, or delivered ahead of schedule. It may also be qualitative, such as stakeholder approval, clearer decisions, stronger team coordination, or a process that others adopted.

A result is not only the final outcome. It can also include what you learned and how you changed your future behaviour.

Weak result: It went well.

Stronger result: The team submitted the report two days early, the client accepted the revised analysis, and I now use a shared assumptions log whenever a project has several contributors.

9. Handle negative examples with responsibility

Many competency interviews include questions about mistakes, conflict, criticism, or failure. Do not choose an example that exposes poor ethics, serious negligence, or unresolved blame. Choose a real but recoverable example and show responsibility.

For example, if asked about a mistake, explain what happened, what you did to correct it, how you communicated the issue, and what system you put in place to prevent recurrence.

Question: Tell me about a time you made a mistake.

Strong answer direction: I made an error in a data summary because I used an outdated file. I noticed the inconsistency before submission, told my manager, corrected the analysis, and introduced a version control check for later reports. The lesson was that speed is not useful if file control is weak.

10. Prepare for probing follow up questions

Competency based interviews often include follow up questions because the interviewer needs to test whether the example is real and whether your role is clear. Prepare to explain why you chose an action, what alternatives you considered, how others reacted, and what you would do differently.

Common follow up questions:

  • What exactly was your role?
  • Why did you choose that approach?
  • What alternatives did you consider?
  • How did you know the action worked?
  • What feedback did you receive?
  • What would you do differently now?

11. Keep the answer concise and scored around the competency

A strong answer is usually one to two minutes. It should not become a full project history. Keep the background short, make the action detailed, and connect the result back to the competency.

For example, if the competency is communication, do not spend most of the answer explaining the technical problem. Spend more time explaining how you adapted the message, checked understanding, and changed the outcome.

Timing guide:

  • Situation: fifteen to twenty seconds.
  • Task: ten to fifteen seconds.
  • Action: forty to sixty seconds.
  • Result: twenty to thirty seconds.

12. Avoid common competency interview mistakes

The first mistake is giving a general claim instead of an example. The second mistake is choosing an example that does not match the competency. The third mistake is hiding your personal role. The fourth mistake is ending without a result. The fifth mistake is memorising a script so rigidly that you cannot answer follow ups.

For instance, if the question asks for influencing, do not simply describe a successful project. Explain who needed influencing, why they were not already convinced, what message you used, how you adapted it, and what changed.

Bad pattern: I have always been good at communication. In my last project there was a challenge and we solved it.

Better pattern: The challenge was X. The person I needed to influence was Y. I explained Z, listened to their concern, adjusted the proposal, and achieved A result.

13. Practise common competency based questions

Practise the questions below aloud. For each one, identify the competency, choose one story, outline STAR, and prepare a result.

14. Final competency interview preparation checklist

Before the interview, check whether you can clearly answer these points:

Practise competency based answers with MockBase

Reading examples is useful, but competency based interviews test whether you can provide specific evidence under pressure. Use the Behavioural Interview Practice App to build STAR answers, map stories to competencies, and practise follow up questions.

Open Behavioural Interview Practice App View more MockBase guides

Related guides

How to answer behavioural interview questions How to prepare competency based interview answers How to answer academic job interview questions How to prepare for a faculty interview How to prepare for a grant interview

Preparation sources

This guide was informed by official and university career guidance on competency based interviews, the STAR method, behaviour examples, and role criteria from the UK National Careers Service, Oxford Careers, Imperial College London Careers Service, MIT Career Advising and Professional Development, and Civil Service Success Profiles.