Core Competencies and Must Have Interviewing Skills

Core competencies are an essential part of any job role and will be evaluated by the interviewer using focused questioning. By reviewing the job description and identifying prominent keywords, it can give us a potential avenue for trying to determine the types of questions we might encounter during our interview. If we are able to successfully identify these, we can give ourselves a huge advantage by tailoring our answers and competency-based interview responses accordingly

The premise here then is that as we know our interviewer will be evaluating us on our competencies, we are looking to anticipate certain questions, or a certain line of questioning, the interviewer might take to assess us on. By using the job description, we can attempt to identify keywords to help us predict the competencies they will be covering

The difficulty with this is that whenever we try to predict what an interviewer will ask us it ultimately comes down to guesswork. If we guess incorrectly, it can damage our interview preparation, and we run the risk of preparing answers that are not relevant for the interview

This is all about trying to interpret our interviewer’s approach and what they will evaluate us on. This is a strategy probably best utilised when we are looking for an additional direction and structure in our preparation. There are no guidelines on how to do this, so only attempt this step if you think you have a good enough understanding of the job role to do so and are prepared to spend the extra time required. Competencies will differ between jobs roles and industries, and will ultimately come down to the preference of each individual employer. There is no way to say for sure what competencies an interviewer might be looking for, other than by using our own knowledge, the job description provided, and from there taking our best educated guess. At the most, by utilising such a strategy, we can perhaps hope to form a limited understanding of which direction to take with our interview preparation…

INTERPRETING COMPETENCIES USING THE DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES
There are upwards of 200-250 different competencies that can be used in an interview, with some being more obscure than others. The most commonplace ones have been listed below. For job descriptions with the following, these are questions that we might anticipate

Accountability & Dependability
This is a highly coveted core competency in many different lines of work. Accountably and dependability is often evaluated as a single core competency because they cover many interrelated aspects, as relates to both day to day functions performed in a role, and as such might include questions around timekeeping and attendance, which exhibits a candidates dependability, as well as questions around the personal qualities a person exhibits when performing their duties, such as taking ownership of a challenging situation or admitting their mistakes, which exhibits their accountability

Adaptability
This is very important in the modern business world because as business needs and priorities change, so to do the targets and guidelines you as an employee must adhere to. These could be changes to work rotations, or altogether more fundamental things like changes to the definition and duties performed with your job description. Being able to talk about times where you were able to adapt and meet the needs of the business is always highly advantageous where this competency is mentioned in a job description

Advocating Causes
In a place of work, the propensity employees exhibit to be vocal in support of workplace policies, initiatives, and other work projects is a big plus where an employer is concerned. This helps both to promote loyalty and unity within the workplace, leading to increased motivation levels and greater productivity overall. Where utilised as part of a commercial approach, the ability to generate support and interest in your company’s products or services can be invaluable for an employer

Ambition
Closely related to driven to succeed, ambition is highly regarded in certain roles, particularly in high pressure commerce and sales related roles. Being able to show you have the motivation to progress in a challenging role is considered an advantage as it indicates to the interviewer that you can perform enthusiastically when undertaking challenging or difficult job duties

Analytical and Reasoning ability
The ability to think analytically and make effective decisions based on a sound analysis and reasoning of information is a key ability in certain jobs. When evaluating you on this, the interviewer will look closely at the methods you use to form the basis of your analysis and reasoning. That’s why providing of details of how you arrived at your conclusions is a very important factor in the evaluation of this competency

Attention to Detail
Employers are concerned not only with candidates that can meet deadlines, but also with candidates that can produce an appropriate calibre of work to go with it. This competency is important in so many different lines of work, in everything from service-related industries, regulated industries, manufacturing, education, legal, and financial sectors to name but a few. Exhibiting attention to detail underlines a methodical approach, and as such, employers are always interested when they identify a candidate that exhibits attention to detail as it reassures them of the quality of their work

Business Acumen
Business acumen is regarded as a natural skill and awareness when it comes to business dealings in general. It covers a broad range of topics and situations, and is determined by an employer not only through your experience, knowledge, or qualifications in a specific line of work, but more so through the cunning and insight you show, otherwise referred to as ‘acumen’, you display when responding to certain questions the interviewer will use to gauge this

Business Alignment
Evaluated in many upper management positions as a core competency, the ability to take an organisation in a direction that matches that organisation’s overall plans and objectives is crucial. This means matching or aligning that organisation’s products and services to its values and to its overriding mission objectives as a whole. When found in a job description, being able to show a strong track record of applying such a methodically in prior roles is crucial, with a particular emphasis on how effective the approach you took to achieve this was

Business Strategy and Planning
The ability to plan strategically is a must in the higher levels of any large business. People in senior level positions of management must have the ability to effectively manage different areas of their business in order to optimize and sustain growth as an organization. As such, the interviewer will be looking for evidence of times where you have exhibited an aptitude for strategic planning and delivery. At this level, you will need to prove results and show verifiable statistics of how you have been able to achieve this in the past

Change Management
The ability to manage change effectively in upper leadership positions is highly sought after nowadays. It is not uncommon for an organisation to undergo numerous changes over the course of its lifetime as it continues to keep pace within its industry, or adapts itself as it enters new markets or changes to make itself more efficient and competitive. With change management, the ability to effectively implement and control change within an organization is essential. That’s why setting clear directions and outlines for staff, mitigating any negative concerns, and motivating employees, will all be looked at when evaluating this key competency

Coaching and Mentoring
Being able to demonstrate experience and a competent history of coaching others is almost always essential for roles where experience of training, coaching or mentoring others is mentioned in a job description. This can be things like examples of how you have effectively coached or mentored others, or (if you lack direct coaching and mentoring experience) ways that you have helped improve the performance of others

Communicative Abilities
This is one of the most common competencies seen on job descriptions, and as such, one of the ones most often evaluated in an interview setting. The ability to communicate well is a fundamental skill, and one used in almost every type of role. As a core competency, your communicative abilities will be assessed both on their verbal and written aptitude to evaluate their effectiveness. This competency not only focuses on the aptitude you show in the way you communicate, but more importantly, on how well you practice communication with your colleagues, customers and superiors. This not only includes listening, but the extent to which you convey information, liaise with others and keep them informed with relevant and up to date information

Compliance
This competency involves roles where meeting regulatory standards will be involved in the duties you perform. It is essential in lines of work such as auditing and data protection duties. Ensuring you have the necessary background and disposition to follow regulatory requirements will be a key requirement for the interviewer when evaluating you on this competency

Computer Literacy
Having the requisite knowledge and experience with computers or other related hardware and software has become increasingly relevant over the years. A competency more relevant in structured and semi-structured interviews, interviewers will ask questions to probe your hard skills and job specific skills where you see this competency listed in a job description

Confidence
It’s not only what you say, but how you say it, that always factors into how you are evaluated during an interview. That’s why sounding self-assured and confident can be just as important as the qualifications and experience you bring to the interview itself. Confidence can be exhibited in various ways, such as expressing ideas and opinions when talking points are brought up, as well as the tone of voice and infliction you use when answering questions and conversing with your interviewer. These are things which can make you sound more engaged in the topic at hand, and more knowledgeable about the job in general. Talking with confidence about current or prior duties you’ve performed is something that’s always noted positively. Expressing ideas and opinions throughout the discourse with your interviewer makes you sound engaged in the role, knowledgeable about the job, and confident in your own abilities overall. Where evaluated as a competency, it will normally be in roles that involve a high level of customer interaction and involve duties where you’ll be required to take a high degree of personal initiative

Conflict Management
A very important competency to have, especially where working in roles where teamwork and effective team management is prized as the key to success by an employer
What’s on an interviewer’s scorecard

Consultation
This competency is sought after in occupations where consultancy is involved in the role. Examples of experience where you have performed consulting duties in current or prior roles are normally essential to satisfy the interviewers criteria where this is evaluated as a competency

Continuous Improvement
Employers need candidates who take the initiative, not only when it comes to the duties they perform, but also when it comes to taking responsibility for their own learning and growth, especially in roles that are fast-paced or high-pressure where you may be challenged daily in your job duties. When seen in a job description, an interviewer may look for evidence that you have taken actions to identify areas where improvement is needed, and then acted on this without having to be asked

Creative Thinking
Being able to come up with new and innovative ways to market products, or coming up with creative ways to solve problems, is a highly coveted skill in many different job fields. Just like with most cognitive qualities, where creative thinking is indicated in a job description, the interviewer will be looking at the techniques you employ to derive your creativity from, (the ‘source’ of your creativity as it were), so an important part of answering this question effectively is being able to explain this to the interviewer. They will also evaluate the effectiveness of these ideas through the evidence provided through your examples, statistics or other records

Customer Focus
This is a competency that involves being able to offer high levels of customer service and demonstrating a passion for enhancing the customer experience. It involves having a great knowledge of the products and services you offer to your customer, as well as being attuned to your customers needs, and being able to problem solve when required to meet the needs and expectations of your customer

Decision-Making and Judgement
Any role where you have the authority or latitude to make important decisions independently will require you to have a strong degree of effective decision-making ability. What the interviewer will be looking for with this competency is an established history of effective decision-making in the verbal examples you give, most notably through the use of S.T.A.R structured answers. They will give particular attention to your thought processes in how you arrived at your decisions, as well as the end result that these decisions produced

Delegation
The ability to allocate tasks and workloads effectively is a trait required in many types of management roles. This ability will enable you not only to make sure your team is at its most efficient, but will also help to ensure they are properly motivated and empowered in the functions they perform

Determination
Determination is a highly important workplace quality. It is essential not only when it comes to helping us complete challenging tasks, but can also be vital in helping to drive a successful workplace forward too. It is also a personal quality that can enable us to achieve feats we may not at first have thought possible, and can help us aspire to new levels in both our personal and professional lives, and as such, is highly coveted by employers, especially in high-pressure roles that require staff to work independently under minimal supervision

Driven to Succeed
A candidate who takes responsibility for their own success, and one who displays an ambition to progress, is always looked upon favourably by an interviewer. Sometimes referred to by the term ‘self-starter’, this is a competency that is many times evaluated when applying for entry-level roles (irrespective of whether lowly paid or highly paid). It should be noted that this is always a helpful competency to emphasize in an interview regardless of whether or not it’s listed on the job description, and is most effectively expressed by things like being able to talk about your own personal development plan, and also through effective verbal examples of instances where you’ve made an effort to develop and improve in your role on your own

Enforcing Laws, Rules, and Regulations
A fundamental competency in positions of authority where ensuring the compliance of others is required. The interviewer will look at how well you communicate rules and regulations to others, the techniques you employ when enforcing them; and in particular, the use of alternatives to try and de-escalate potentially hostile situations. They will also evaluate you on how you decide a particular course of action is appropriate, as well as how you identify when you decide it’s appropriate to enforce action

Equipment Operation
The ability to operate specific types of equipment will be looked at in roles where it is necessary to do that job. This is particularly true where licenses are required, and the interviewer will look for evidence not only that you have prior experience operating those things, but also that you have the necessary licenses or qualifications to do so

External Awareness
Having an awareness of the factors outwith your own organisation is a very important competency in roles where things like company image and public relations is concerned. This will help ensure you put the right message across both within your organisation and to external members of your organisation too

Facilitating Groups
This is another key competency in lines of work where giving presentations or leading groups of people is concerned. It can be required in a wide variety of roles such as training, sales presentations, or hosting business functions to name but a few. When presenting this skillset to the interviewer, the most important thing is to convey you have the necessary experience performing this duty, which is most effectively done by talking with confidence about past experiences you’ve had when facilitating groups

Fiscal Accountability
A fundamental competency in many financial lines of work. The thing the interviewer will look for when evaluating you on this competency is how knowledgeable you are in that line of work, as well as how much experience you exhibit in performing the duties involved. Being able to give strong verbal examples of times where you have followed rules and regulations previously, insofar as you establish a pattern of performing these duties in the same manner each and every time, is the best way to convey this competency to the interviewer

Flexibility
Flexibility, when talked about as a competency, indicates an approach you take to your work, specifically when you run into adverse situations and difficulties. Having first committed to an approach to achieve an objective or handle a difficult situation, how quick are you to then change your approach when circumstances or mitigating factors dictate that a change of direction would lead to a more favourable outcome?

Future Planning 
Being able to plan effectively and guide an organisation is crucial in key upper managerial positions. Future planning, or forward planning as it is sometimes called, requires a level of trust on behalf of the employers, and as such a strong evaluation of this competency will stand you in good stead at the end of the overall assessment of your interview. Having future planning ability also leads into other core managerial competencies that will be evaluated such as an ability to manage change; an aptitude to direct and anticipate business priorities, and an aptitude for anticipating problems or issues that are likely to occur and taking steps to mitigate them before they do

Gaining Voluntary Compliance
This can be useful in many different lines of work, especially in certain legal or managerial professions. Speaking with confidence about the duties you have performed previously in this capacity is the best way to display evidence of this competency to the interviewer

Initiative
Where taking the initiative is mentioned in a job description, the interviewer will look for evidence that you’re able to identify circumstances that necessitate action or independent decision-making absent from official instruction or clear guidelines. They will also evaluate you on the effectiveness of the choices and actions you take in such circumstances

Integrity and Ethical Standards
A natural inclination to work to a high standard of integrity, exhibiting ethics in your dealings with others, is very necessary in certain roles, especially in areas when dealing with things like charitable or non-profit organisations, healthcare, law, confidential information, or other roles that require the trust of your clients. That’s why, where taking an ethical approach and acting with integrity is important, this is a competency that will often be evaluated

Interpersonal Skills
This is often important in roles where dealing with the public and with different types of people is part of your regular job duties, or in roles where a high degree of team work is prioritised

Leadership Ability
This is one of the main competencies required for supervisory or managerial positions. Being able to show you have leadership skills, and in particular, being able to prove you have prior leadership experience, makes you an asset in the eyes of any employer hiring for these types of positions. Such leadership skills and experience are usually a prerequisite for any managerial position and as such is regarded as a key competency

Listening Ability
A very basic competency. Often evaluated in roles where attention to detail and dealing with service related issues is involved in your role. While in its most basic form, listening is regarded as a quality rather than a skill, the ability to pick out key bits of information from what is said, as well as the capacity to understand when it’s important to step back and listen to someone, makes this a highly valued competency in many types of service driven industries

Mathematics
Another skill that is used in the vast majority of job roles in some shape or form, this is a competency that is usually evaluated in an assessment centre. Nevertheless, in positions where maths is integral to the role, you may be required to provide evidence of having utilised this skill in prior roles during the actual interview as well

Negotiating Ability
The ability to negotiate with other parties and organisations is essential where it’s required as part of your dedicated job duties
What’s on an interviewer’s scorecard

Oratory Skill
The effectiveness you have in relaying information through speech such as facts, opinions, policies, and beliefs, is one of the most fundamental and widely utilised competencies found within the workplace. Because of this, it can be sought after as an essential core competency in many different lines of work. The range of your vocabulary and overall effectiveness of your verbalization skills, as well as how effectively you use tone of voice and body language to match the mood of your audience and convey ideas and opinions are some of the main things that will be evaluated in this competency. As opposed to asking specific questions to evaluate this, the interviewer can assess your oratory ability as they converse with you over the course of the interview

Organization and Planning
Particularly important in managerial roles and administrative functions, organization and planning is often sought out in many interviews as a core competency. As with many similar competencies related to cognitive abilities, the interviewer will be interested in the thinking processes you use in deriving your planning structure (in ‘how’ you plan). In addition to this, they will look for evidence that you are able to organize and plan effectively, ideally this will be through examples where you’ve performed these functions in current or prior roles

People Management
Being able to deal with people and situations effectively is a key area that is often evaluated in many supervisory roles

Performance Management
Being able to get the most out of people in management roles is crucial, that’s why being able to give quantifiable statistical examples of times where you’ve set clear goals for subordinates in the past is important, as well as being able to clearly define the result that was achieved as a result of this

Persistence
Sometimes referred to as perseverance, this is a more job specific trait, normally associated with sales and high-pressure customer contact roles. Irrespective of this, persistence has been identified as another highly effective trait that resonates well with employers for the fact that it leads into many other types of important skills and competencies.
By convincing an employer that you can see things through to the end, you’ll be ensuring they’ll associate you with someone who is motivated, hard-working, and can be relied on to finish important tasks without having to be asked, and this is guaranteed to be highly beneficial when it comes time to assess how good a ‘fit’ you are for the role

Persuasive Abilities
This is a skill that can be essential in any number of different job roles. When looking at this competency, the interviewer will evaluate you on how effective the persuasion techniques you use are to bring people over to your point of view. The ability to persuade others is coveted in many areas like sales, community care, policing, and managerial lines of work to name but a few. You can demonstrate this by giving examples of times when you have listened to someone’s point of view then used what they have told you to persuade that person to come around to your own way of thinking, or of instances where you have made effective arguments based on valid points to influence people into a specific course of action

Policymaking
Policymaking is essential not only to drive workplace efficiency, to also to create a solid platform on which an organisation can build its organizations values, and take the direction of that organisation forward as a whole

Problem Solving
This is a competency that has relevance in almost any industry or job role. When listed as a requirement on a job description, the interviewer will look for you to provide evidence that proves your aptitude for problem-solving, most notably in the form the verbal examples you give. On top of this, they will try to gain insight into the thought processes you use to arrive at your decisions; and this, along with the effectiveness of the actions you describe, will all be used to form the basis of the evaluation

Professionalism
While the capacity to conduct oneself in a professional manner can sometimes be regarded as a cliché in some recruitment circles, in that, as something so intrinsic to a given role that most employers would expect this in a candidate anyway, in other roles, a strong professional bearing is a vital pre-requisite to even be considered for that position, and will be looked at as a highly important competency by that employer

Project Management
This is an important competency in roles where a significant degree of oversight is involved in the management of projects or organizational programs. This is evaluated by the experience and proficiency you have in planning out and managing organizational programs or projects. The interviewer will look at things like how well you are able to demonstrate your ability to set and meet objectives, as well as how well you can demonstrate your ability to coordinate personnel and resources, on top of your ability to respond to unforeseen circumstances or challenges that might hinder a project

Public Speaking
This is a competency sought after in a very limited number of roles like high-profile positions, or roles where you are regularly required to speak in front of audiences, normally where delivering presentations is a key part of your dedicated job duties

Reading Comprehension
The ability to read information and identify or decipher meaning from it is highly prized in some roles, especially in specialised fields such as law. That’s why qualifications and academic achievements can be highly effective in conveying evidence of this competency to the interviewer

Relationship Building
A key competency in roles where establishing one on one relationships with clients is required

Researching
Being able to research information is regarded as a key competency in some lines of work. Research is not limited by any means to scientific study, indeed, in many instances it will pertain to research for literature and data for projects and casework. The interviewer will look for evidence of this either through academic qualifications, experience of examples in current or past job duties, or through transferrable experience. The interviewer will seek to identify a clear methodology in the way you collect and analyse data, and in how efficiently you process information by separating what’s relevant from what’s not

Resilience
Having employees that can work efficiently in challenging or adverse circumstances is a must for almost every employer. That’s why resilience is a highly sought after competency that is regularly evaluated in many types of job roles

Results Focused
In challenging roles, especially where KPI’s and metrics are involved, a focus on results above all else can be vital, this holds particularly true in high-stress roles like sales. An emphasis on persistence, commitment, and how you’ve achieved goals and targets in the past is key where you see results focused mentioned in a job description

Resourcefulness
Valued as an important competency, particularly in areas like project management or in jobs that include responsibilities over finances. The interviewer will be looking for evidence that you have previously met existing targets or overcome unforeseen problems using the existing resources and infrastructure at your disposal. This is most effectively done by providing statistical references, or using verbal examples of creative ways where you worked to achieve this

Risk-Management
Modern business is all about accountability. As part of meeting its obligations, it is important organisations not only properly identify and mitigate risk to be legally compliant, but also properly manage it so they can continue to move towards their objectives

Safety Focused
This is a requirement in roles where safety is a primary function of the job. A solid understanding of the technical and legal requirements for safety in the industry you are working in is vital to satisfy this competency. The interviewer will be looking for you to have a strong understanding and appreciation of the safety requirements associated with that role, along with a past history of having performed such duties competently in previous roles

Staff Management
A competency fundamental to many supervisory and lower to mid-level management positions, staff management is a competency that evaluates your ability to successfully manage and resource the staff you have at your disposal. Included within this competency is a strong emphasis on performance management, setting goals and establishing standards, providing individual feedback, along with coaching and performance review effectiveness

Strategic Vision
Being able to plan for long-term scenarios is a staple for any organization that wants to be successful over the long term. That’s why this is a competency often evaluated for higher-level management positions

Teamwork 
The ability to work as part of a team, often referred to as being a ‘team player’, is a common trait often mentioned in different job descriptions. This ability is something that many employers place great emphasis on, and is something everyone agrees is essential for the running of an effective and productive workplace. When seen in a job description, it means the employer has felt it necessary to place a strong emphasis on this as a competency. You may get the opportunity to display your aptitude for teamworking directly if the interviewer asks you competency-based questions centered around this, or you could be evaluated more indirectly through your responses to other interview questions. Usually, the interviewer will be looking for examples where you have worked effectively as part of a team, or for instances where you have actively encouraged or facilitated teamwork within your team or department

Technical Capability
The capacity to perform complex technical tasks reliability is essential in certain roles. Positions that involve working with computer systems or software are usually evaluated under this competency. Qualifications, and a proven track record of having the requisite technical knowledge through experience of performing the duties involved competently in current or prior roles are the main things needed to satisfy the criteria for this competency

Training and Group Presenting
Training and presenting information to groups can be critical in certain roles where training others is involved in your job functions. When evaluating this competency, the interviewer will require you to give effective competency-based examples where you have performed such duties in the past, and they will use these as a means of establishing whether or not you have the necessary experience to satisfy the evaluation criteria that this competency entails

Trustworthiness
Discretion, reliability, and gaining the trust of others, are all traits highly sought after within the workplace. It follows then that there are instances where they will be evaluated as a competency too. When evaluating you on trustworthiness, your interviewer will factor in all of the above. As an inter-related and transferrable competency, openness with the interviewer helps, as does an emphasis on past personal or work-related verbal examples where you’ve exhibited this trait

Values Diversity
In certain managerial roles, or other roles where authority is involved, this is regarded as a key competency that is highly prioritised when searching for the right person for the role. They will look for someone who is open-minded, and who values inclusivity and encourages diversity within the workplace. There are several different ways you can exhibit this competency to an interviewer. You can do this directly through responses to behavioural-based interview questions, you can do this through the overall tone and nature of language you use when speaking with your interviewer, or you can also do this by providing directly related examples of times where you have promoted diversity within the workplace in current or prior roles

Writing and Literary Ability
This is a competency that is sought after in many office based, administrative, and academic arenas. The ability to communicate ideas fluently through the written word, as well as present facts and information not only competently, but eloquently, through various other mediums such as internal communiques, emails, blog posts, and paper or digital reports, is highly prized in many such roles, which is why it will often times be evaluated as a key competency. How you go about presenting yourself during the interview and how well you can articulate and verbalize yourself when responding to the interviewer’s questions, as well as any current academical qualifications you may possess, will play a large part in determining how your interviewer evaluates you on this competency