Understanding Competency-Based Interviews at Uni Lever

Uni Lever uses the Competency Based Interview why is it called competency is that because it is a concept linking three parameters : Knowledge, Skills and Attitude. For example you’re going to join a company as a Project Manager you have a good Interpersonal Skills (Skills) , but you lack the adequate education/experience or as we called it knowledge , and the right temperament/Behavior as this relates to Attitude. Competency-based interviews (also called structured interviews) are interviews where each question is designed to test one or more specific skills. For example, the interviewers may want to test the candidate's ability to deal with stress by asking first how the candidate generally handles stress and then asking the candidate to

provide an example of a situation where he worked under pressure.

Where is the Competency-based interviews also being called as structured or behavioral interviews are more systematic , which is each question targets a specific skill or competency. Candidates are asked questions relating to their behavior in specific circumstances, which they then need to back up with concrete examples. The interviewers will then dig further into the examples by asking for specific explanations about the candidate's behavior or skills.

Well in its favors, it is a uniform, non-discriminatory way to compare candidates across the requirements for the role. It’s a level playing field, and a great opportunity for you to really highlight your achievements and experience in a pragmatic way. You can prepare effectively in structured manner, and can avoid that blank moment when an interviewer asks you something you haven’t thought about!

However one challenges with competency based interviewing is not knowing what the interviewer is trying to unpick. If they ask you about handling conflict, are they interested in your management style generally or do they have a dysfunctional team? Have their had experience with a manager previously whose style went against the culture of the company? It is important to do your research on them as well as your own prep, find out what their organizational culture and values are, and make sure you are aligned. Examples which are too extreme, or to which they can’t relate, might be detrimental.