Competency based interview help!

[Unregistered]

I have a competency based interview next week. I am really struggling to come up with examples of the core competencies that they are looking for! I really do not want to screw this up! The competencies are "performance bias", "wise decisions" and "partnership and teamwork". I have been working in a office environment for the past 12 months and feel like I have just plodded along, so I am finding trying to think of examples really tough.

If anyone has any advice or tips it would be a great help!!

Thanks

[GuinnessMan]

I have a competency based interview next week. I am really struggling to come up with examples of the core competencies that they are looking for! I really do not want to screw this up! The competencies are "performance bias", "wise decisions" and "partnership and teamwork". I have been working in a office environment for the past 12 months and feel like I have just plodded along, so I am finding trying to think of examples really tough.

If anyone has any advice or tips it would be a great help!!

Thanks

I don't think this is for the anon forum....

[The Kraken]

Look right people don't always want to register to post one thread, especially if they don't know if this is the career for them and they aren't in the industry. How about suggesting a non-registering aspiring cadets forum rather than posting unconstructive comments?

[thebrookster]

Then say so in the post. I don't want to sound aggressive, as I can fully understand where you are coming from, but normally this forum is for threads about subjects that people don't want to be recognised for some reason, be that because a company may be involved, or that it touches them personally.

Personally, I can see why you have posted in this thread, but the answers you are looking for are fairly easily found with a bit of internet searching, it really lies in your ability to big yourself up. Try considering what you have done from the perspective of someone else, and what would you say to them? Go through the stuff you have done, and put the best possible spin you can on it. I know it sounds hard, but regardless of what career you decide upon the same thing will apply. Whether it is a CV, or applying for a promotion, you have to find the best way to put it that makes you sound the right candidate.

GM does make a fair point though, this forum is not just for (potential)cadets, we also can give a lot of information for those who are not certain. The seamans life is not for all, that is a given fact, and certainly all of us officers recognise this, we do not wish to serve with people who do not want to be in the industry as it makes everyone elses life a misery. Hence we are normally more than happy to give advice to help you make a decision. Registering an ID here is still reasonably anonymous (if you choose a non-personal moniker), and you should hopefully get some top quality advice!! We won't shout at you if you decide this is not the career for you, it is not for everyone and at least you have checked it out!

[GuinnessMan]

Look right people don't always want to register to post one thread, especially if they don't know if this is the career for them and they aren't in the industry. How about suggesting a non-registering aspiring cadets forum rather than posting unconstructive comments?

That would be a decision that CD would need to make, but if we were to do that then what would be the point in registering with the site at all? Folks could just continue to post in the non-registering bit without signing up, expecting answers and not contributing or helping those that come after them themselves. Also, how do we know it would just be for one post?

GM does make a fair point though, this forum is not just for (potential)cadets, we also can give a lot of information for those who are not certain. The seamans life is not for all, that is a given fact, and certainly all of us officers recognise this, we do not wish to serve with people who do not want to be in the industry as it makes everyone elses life a misery. Hence we are normally more than happy to give advice to help you make a decision. Registering an ID here is still reasonably anonymous (if you choose a non-personal moniker), and you should hopefully get some top quality advice!! We won't shout at you if you decide this is not the career for you, it is not for everyone and at least you have checked it out!

The anonymous part of the forum, as Brookster has said, is for questions of a sensitive nature. For example, we've had questions from Cadets who are having doubts about their career, folks who are not having a good time on board and from folks who have seen something they think might be illegal and just want clarification, all of which should and quite rightly is anonymous and responded to, generally, in an appropriate manner. Pitching up and asking about competency based interview questions, considering we have a rather large thread on interview techniques, is hardly something of a sensitive nature and is not appropriate for this part of the forum.

[The Kraken]

All I'm saying is it would be constructive to have a forum for potential cadets to ask questions about the process. Some people research into the career unsure about if its the right thing to do and the easy thing to do is post on the anon forum because you don't have to register. This website is good but the worst thing you can do is ostracise potential members with comments about not being in the right forum. The point of registering would be so you could post in the cadet, officers, mariners pub or other forums.

[GuinnessMan]

All I'm saying is it would be constructive to have a forum for potential cadets to ask questions about the process. Some people research into the career unsure about if its the right thing to do and the easy thing to do is post on the anon forum because you don't have to register. This website is good but the worst thing you can do is ostracise potential members with comments about not being in the right forum. The point of registering would be so you could post in the cadet, officers, mariners pub or other forums.

We have a forum for that, it's open to public viewing and so long as you register you can post any question you like in there. We've had some folks come along and ask about the industry and then decided it wasn't for them. If we were to do what you're suggesting, then there would never be any reason for anyone to register at all. Besides, it's not like you are being spammed all the time or even at all after registering. Also, I don't see how pointing out that this is in the wrong place ostracise's people at all.

As said, this part of the forum is for questions of a sensitive nature, asking about a competency based interview is not a sensitive issue, especially not when we have a massive thread dedicated to interview help.

[The Kraken]

I've seen people post on here before, get shot-down/thier thread moved and not posted again. As a current cadet about a third of people I know before they started thier cadetship posted on here and got that same response. Their attutide now is "Officer cadet? Don't use it, just get sarcastic or condensing answers". You can bury your head in the sand but thats the truth coming from a current cadet.

[GuinnessMan]

If that is the case, then why are you here?

Also, what you are stating is a subjective opinion, not a "truth"..

Sent from the Batcave via carrier pigeon....

[Midge]

Oh dear we have got our knickers in a twist people! I'm not sure if the anon is the kraken or not, but at the same time people are entitled to their views, even if we don't agree with them. Personally the site has been very useful, I have had a reply in the past that was a bit off, till it was realised I was a parent. The rest of the time everyone has been great. Sad to see the comment though that this forum is seen to offer condescending sarcastic comments. I think at times its just the personalities of some that appear that way I have had conversations with some and PMS with some in the past, and they are very helpful people really !
Now just play nicely as s4 will not be pleased to see this thread, you don't want to upset her!

So to here's my ideas to try and answer the question asked. Re partnership and teamwork, did you have any examples in your CV you could use expand on and use?
Questions asked could be give an example of a team you have worked with, was the team effective, if yes why was that if no, why wasn't it? What was you role in that team? How do you boost morale in a team, how do you motivate others?
They would not have offered you an interview if they weren't interested so there must have been things in your cv they liked.

You don't say if this is for a cadetship or a job. Does your current office job include any team working if so you could also use that experience. When asked a question the idea is you give examples to show you have what they are looking for, they tick their boxes and score it.
Wise decisions is a big one, is that all you have? No clues at all? Same applies though. It could ask give an example of a wise decision you have made, how did you make that decision? What factors were important in making decisions? Did you get advice? Did you take that advice? If not why not?
Performance, I guess is going to be along the lines of. Show an example where you performed well, or where you didn't why was that?
Identify what makes you perform well to answer these sort of questions, but be able to back up your answers with an example.
There are some useful websites if you do a search, and there are posts on here too.
I think its giving an interview with a title competency which is the scary bit!
Research the company well, what do they pride themselves on? What are they good at, what are they trying to achieve, use that information to show how you can help them do that. Show you are keen, tell them why you want the job. Turn up a bit early, neat hair, suit. Hatchorder has posted tips take a look, cadetship take along folder of your achievements ( good boy/girl folder), and anything they have asked you to bring. Going for a job, then hopefully the qualified people on here will give you some tips.
Have your own questions to ask them prepared, have a few even if they are ones you know the answer to at least you can ask if everything else has been answered.
Good luck with your interview.

[gadget123]

I can see why this is suitable for the anonymous forum. A lot of people on here are registed with names which are either their real names or close enough to identify who they are, or that their other posts would identify who they are.

No if I had an interview this week I wouldn't want the interviewer knowing that I had to go the internet to ask for advice on the interview.

Unfortunately I don't have any useful interview advice.

[HolyNougat]

"performance bias", "wise decisions" and "partnership and teamwork"

What exactly do they mean by 'performance bias'? - I don't think I have heard that term before... and it does not come up as being a 'competence' as such...

I think the problem here is the need to be original - I am sure that right now all of the candidates are looking at the same webpage coming up with the same boring answers.

There must be thing in your current line of work / experience you could build on:

1. Have you ever saved your company money by making a wise decision.
2. Did you ever find yourself in an emergency having to make a difficult choice?
3. Are you a member of any organizations which has allowed you to lead? - e.g. did you ever get lost up a mountain during a Duke of Edinburgh award and you had to take the lead?
4. Do you play sports where team work is essential?
5. Have you every worked as part of a team to achieve a goal? - what part did you play in that goal.
6. When choosing your A-levels were you tempted to choose 'textiles and basket weaving' but went for 'pure and applied mathematics and nuclear science' instead even though you hated it but by crikey you got an a*.... something like that.

The trick is to be able to talk clearly, identifying key points without waffling. Talk through the points with someone and time yourself. Don't make yourself sound like some sort of James Bond, but you want to put yourself across as someone with leadership talents, good judgment who can work as part of a team, so when thinking about examples use those three points as a framework.

[Midge]

Great stuff HolyNougat!
This site has some info though nothing about performance bias. As far as I understand that its where the person doing the interview has be careful not to be persuaded by the candidate that they are wonderful without them actually proving it.
i.e. they say they have lots of experience, but do not show that they were good at the job by backing up the statement. They appear to the interviewer to be the perfect candidate, said all the right things, looked good, but no evidence to back up what they said. Which is why using competency interviews that's less likely to happen, more open questions, less closed, and the candidates do the talking.

http://www.assessmentday.co.uk/competency-based-interview.htm

[Unregistered]

Thank you for the great responses.

I feel I should point out that when I posted I was having a bit of a panic, I thought by asking people already involved in this career I would get some advice that would be of help for my interview. I do not want my interviewer to know I have been posting on forums asking for help. I have googled competency based interviews extensively, there is a lot of information out their, sometimes its nice to have someone with more experience than ones self to give advice.
I posted anonymously because my username can easily be linked to my real name.

I have decided that this is the career for me. I have already been offered a cadetship, but it was not the offer I was looking for. My upcoming interview is not going to be easy but I want to make sure I have done everything possible to ensure my own success.

Thank you Holynougat and Midge! This helps me!

TheKraken has a point, and if it wasn't for the fact that there is so much useful information on these forums I would have stopped using it ages ago. I am lucky that I know this is what I want to do and wont be put off by being told "you posted in the wrong place on some forum on the internet"

[Hatchorder]

I was the person who approved the original post so I will add my comments now.

First of all those that post anonymously because they are afraid that prospective employers will know they asked for help I do not understand your reticence. Nobody learns anything without help. When you get to college the lecturers do not sit you in a room and expect you to learn by osmosis just because they are in the room. They teach, you learn....

Prospective employers do visit here - and I know from their feedback that some of them rate this forum and it's advice. Therefore, should people come on here for help and advice I would assume that the employers might recognise that you used your initiative , (on the off chance they remember you from your postings and put 2 and 2 together) and asked for help and they would think of that as a positive. EVERYBODY relies on help throughout their lives to learn how to do things, and those that do better are usually those who have asked more questions and take more advice. What is there to be worried about?

However, people do not always have that level of confidence and courage so they post anon. Personally if you have a username that is not your real name than it would be hard to identify you from your postings.

I do not believe that GM's post was aggressive, rude or derogatory in any way - he asked a question....

Finally, the comment that people don't come on here to post because they are afraid of deletions or sarcasm I would refute that strongly. Just recently we had a member who posted a lot of controversial rubbish. I went off and found out that he was not who he said he was and was actually in Australia, I gave him a ribbing and it seems like his mum took his laptop off him because he has not posted since.....
Sometimes people do post in the wrong place, or don't think before posting and they will get stick over it. However if you think this is a bit fierce then I have some bad news for you - life at sea is going to be really tough for you .... Kraken, I believe your posts were the ones out of order here, but that is only my opinion. However I will not sit in judgement on you or treat you any differently because of it unless you do something personal to me or stupid in the forums.

Just because you post in the wrong place and someone points it out it is not the end of the world. We do not all sit in the pub and talk about it - there are more important things to do in life. Anon, you should perhaps not be so worried, or panicky. This job relies on cool and calm thinking - which you will learn with time. If people don't join, or do not stay, or browse only then that is fine. This is a free forum and a free world. I certainly never worry about it. One day I will leave and never look back, but that is just life and the changing of the seasons!

Mountain bashed back to molehill?

Ian