A structured, behavioural approach, also known as a competency-based approach, is still viewed as best practice to assess candidate suitability in an interview. This interview style is used globally and is closely aligned to South African labour legislation, considering the key elements of fairness and effectiveness.

What is a competency-based approach?

Watch this video to understand the most popular tool for competency-based interviews

 Time to reflect

1. How does this approach compare to your own experience in interviewing candidates?
2. What did you notice about the applicant’s answer:
3. Is it about what he did do, or what he would do, given that scenario? Which do you think is a more accurate predictor of his future behaviour in the workplace: what he says he DID do, or what he says he WOULD do?
4. Does he refer to himself as “I”; or does he use “we” or “you” to explain what he did? What is the relevance of the use of these pronouns in an applicant answer?
5. This applicant is forthcoming and practised in his answer. What do you think the interviewer would need to do with an applicant who is not as forthcoming?

Remember that a competency-based approach is not based on interviews alone. Evidence for required knowledge, skills and attributes can also be gathered from other sources, such as assessments and checks.

Read Sections 7 and 8 of the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 as amended, to understand the South African requirements for psychometric and non-psychometric selection criteria. These requirements align to best practice principles globally for fair and effective recruitment assessments.

Call to Action

1. Respond to the following questions for effective competency-based interview design and complete the activities outlined below.
2. If you would like feedback on your answers or your design before your skills development session, please email your answers to jane@outerboxthinking.com at least 48h before your session.

Assignment: Effective Interview Design and Practice:

Imagine that you are recruiting to fill the role: Talent Specialist, for your organisation.

The required competencies in your job profile include the following:

• Current knowledge of relevant labour legislation
• Knowledge of Neptune (system) for posting and screening vacancies
• Fully bilingual in English and Xhosa
• Ability to design and write advertisements for posting on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter
• Valid Driver’s licence
• Ability to influence and persuade
• Flexible
• Change agile
• Proactive problem-solving skills
• Outstanding interpersonal skills

1. Answer the following questions:
   1. Determine which of the above-mentioned requirements you think are essential for this role, and which can be trained. Give reasons for your answers.
   2. Which do you believe would be the most effective method/s for assessing each of the above-mentioned requirements? Motivate your assessment choices.
2. Complete the following activities:
   1. Design competency-based interview questions for any two of the above-mentioned competencies for this role (knowledge/ skills/ attributes). Before you design your questions, remember to articulate your definition and behavioural indicators for each competency.
      For example:
      Competency:
      Teamplayer
      Definition:
      Ability to successfully collaborate with a diverse team to achieve a common goal
      Behavioural indicators:
      • Appreciation for diversity
      • Ability to communicate assertively
      • Willingness to be flexible and to go the extra mile to meet deadlines
   2. Use the STAR tool to design your competency-based interview questions. Your questions should aim to probe real, recent and relevant evidence for your desired definitions and behavioural indicators.
      For example:
      Competency:
      Teamplayer
      Situation & Task questions:
      Tell me about a recent situation where you needed to work towards a challenging deadline with a diverse team (Situation question)
      Why would you describe this team as diverse? (Additional probing question)
      What was the deadline? (Additional probing question)
      What was your role in the team? (Task question)
      Action questions:
      How did you go about working towards the deadline? (Action question)
      What obstacles/ conflict did you encounter along the way? (Additional probing question)
      How did you approach this obstacle/ the conflict? (Action question)
      What motivated you to select that approach? (Additional probing question)
      What other options were open to you/ did you consider at the time? (Additional probing question)
      Result questions:
      What was the outcome? (Result question)
      Did you meet the deadline? (Additional probing question)
      In your view, what were the key factors that contributed towards the team meeting/ not meeting the deadline? (Additional probing question)
3. Remember that you will need a tool to rate your applicant answers. Design/ adapt an appropriate rating scale that you can use to score the answers applicants provide in an interview. You are welcome to use the scale below.
   For example:
   Rating scale:

   1. No evidence of the required behaviours for this role	2. Some evidence of the required behaviours for this role with room for development	3. Meets most of the required behaviours for this role with little need for development	4.Meets all the required behaviours for this role with no need for development	5. Significantly exceeds the required behaviours for this role. Evidence of advanced behaviours.

    

4. Prepare for your coach-training session. During your session, you will engage in an interview role play and will ask your applicant the two competency-based questions that you have designed. When role playing the interviewer, you will be required to take notes and score the answer you obtain from your applicant.
   
   Remember to maintain a friendly and professional style during your interview. This means that you will need to focus on coming across as curious and conversational, even though you are using a structured approach to assess your required competencies.