Guide to completing competency questions
In the Competency Questions section, you need to describe your personal achievements to demonstrate you have the necessary skills and qualities required for the position.
You must answer all question areas in full.
The guidance below will help you complete your answers and assist you when preparing for interview.
Each competency question area describes a skill or quality. You must describe a situation, from your own experience, which you think is the best example of where you have demonstrated your ability in this area. It is essential that you describe how you demonstrated the skill or quality in question.
Write your answers carefully and structure each answer to give specific information about what you have done.
Your answers must not exceed 1 A4 page per skill / competency area. The selection board will take compliance with this limit into account when reviewing your application.
You can choose to write paragraphs and / or use bullet points to demonstrate how your personal achievements and to evidence the necessary skills and qualities relevant to the requirements of this role.
To do this, include the following:
(a) The nature of the task, problem or objective.
(b) What you actually did, how you demonstrated the skill or quality, and, where appropriate, the date you demonstrated it.
(c) The outcome, or result, of the situation and your estimate of the proportion of credit you can claim for the outcome.
Competency questions help you to present relevant evidence so decision makers can evaluate how well you fit the requirements of the role. Usually, applicants provide relevant evidence from previous work experience detailing how they accomplished a range of activities.
The team reviewing the applications use the information you provide to evaluate your application against the specific skills required for effective performance in the role.
To do this they need you to give enough detail so that they can tell what you actually did and how you did it.
The review team will not assume you demonstrate a skill at the right level just because of your current role, length of experience and/ or educational qualifications. These do not give enough evidence about how you completed relevant tasks.
For example, if a question is about your approach to decision making, you need to do more than describe your current role and list important decisions you have made.
You need to describe how you reached the decisions.
Additional guidance on completing competency questions
Use bullet points to help make the sequence of events is clear to the reader.
Most questions will ask you to describe an example of when you have demonstrated a skill/ competency.
To make the most of your examples:
- Be specific. Do this briefly but include enough detail so the reader is clear about what you actually did.This might include information about timescales, the number of people involved, and budgets.
- Use a number of examples. Base your answers on different situations, or challenges, you have faced rather than relying on just one experience. This helps the reader evaluate how you manage, or approach, different challenges and not just your behaviour in a one off situation.
- Describe clearly how you behaved, and why in a particular situation.
Taking this approach is more useful to the reader than a vague or general description of what you consider desirable qualities.
Examples of how to complete competency questions
Skill area: Communication Skills: The effective X must be able to adapt their communication style to particular situations and audiences….. able to produce clear and concise written information….
Example answer A:
I was responsible for producing important management reports and supporting presentations for a range of important and high profile clients. Through my understanding of the clients’ needs and my effective communication skills, I have ensured the reports that go to clients are relevant and focused, and are continually improved. The reports I have produced and the presentations I have made were well received by all my clients. Because of the combination of my analytical thinking and interpersonal and communication skills, my brief has been extended to lead the development of the strategic plan for the organisation.
This is not a good example because:
- It does not give sufficient details of exactly what the person did or demonstrate how they used their effective communications skills.
- It is not clear where the information required in (a), (b) and (c) above is presented.
Example answer B:
(a) The unit I was attached to was responsible for producing a management report and supporting oral presentations for several large clients, some with significant problems and issues to report. In some cases, the management report was publicly available and was subject to a great deal of scrutiny. A new style/format of management letter needed to be developed for my clients, as many of the clients were complaining that the letters were too large/long and difficult to read.
(b) I was tasked with developing a new style of management letter for the clients. I had to meet stringent quality requirements/criteria while addressing the need to reduce its size. Following consultation, mainly over the phone and face-to-face, with the majority of our clients, I realised that a summarised report format with a better visual and more interactive presentation was the answer. I developed a format for a summarised report, reducing the average length from 40 pages to just 10. I achieved this through careful editing of information and increased use of graphs. I then developed a more focused presentation to clients, included more graphical displays, and incorporated short presentations by colleagues directly involved in producing the work. During the presentations, I encouraged clients to ask questions and develop their understanding of the issues at hand.
(c) The clients, who without exception, in responding to an evaluation survey, found the new format/style better than the previous, and they all requested that the revised system should be continued, and saw the summarised management report and improved presentations as a success. 80% credit
This is a better example because:
- It describes exactly what the person did and how they communicated. That is, ‘consultation, mainly over the phone and face-to face’; ‘developed a format for a summarised report, reducing the average length from 40 pages to just 10’; ‘achieved this through careful editing of the information and increased use of graphs’ and ‘encouraged clients to ask questions’.
- The answer is set out clearly and includes (a), (b) and (c) above.
Remember to:
- Write clearly and briefly. The selection board will assess your written communication skills on what you write on your application form.
- Keep a copy of this section of the application form.
- Do not use the same example to illustrate your answer for more than two skill / competency areas.
- Prepare two or three different examples of how you demonstrate each of the skills/ competencies.
- If called to interview, the board may look for additional examples of how you demonstrate the skills / competencies required for this post.
