10 Example Competency Based Interview Questions

What is a competency based interview?

Competency based interview questions uncover the story behind the CV, revealing how employees truly think and act during real-life experiences. They provide you with a clearer sense of how well a candidate will fit into your team.

To truly uncover a candidate’s strengths and potential for success, go beyond generic questions like “Are you a good team player?". Ask targeted competency-based questions and use thoughtful follow-ups and the STAR interview technique to reveal meaningful insights into their experience, problem-solving skills and fit for the role.

What are competency based interview questions?

To build a well-rounded picture of your candidate, mix and match these three question types:

• Behavioural competency based interview questions ask candidates to reflect on their past experiences, with the idea being that how someone behaved before is a good indication of how they’ll behave in this role.

Example: “Can you describe a time when you had to overcome a significant challenge at work?”

• Situational competency based interview questions ask how candidates would handle hypothetical scenarios related to the role.

Example: “How would you prioritise your tasks if you were assigned multiple projects with tight deadlines?”

• Technical competency based interview questions focus on the technical requirements of the role, assessing the candidate’s knowledge and capabilities.

Example: “Can you walk me through how you would troubleshoot a system outage affecting multiple users?”

Top 10 example competency based interview questions to ask

Here are 10 competency based interview questions that go beyond the usual interview script. Each question is designed to uncover a specific skill and includes some tips on what to listen out for in your candidates answer.

Communication skills

1. “Tell me about a time you had to explain something complex to someone without your technical background.”
This will help you assess how well a candidate can adjust their communication style to ensure they can explain themselves effectively and in turn, help others. You’re looking for someone who can simplify their language without being patronising, and who knows how to make their ideas land with different audiences.

2. “Describe a situation where you had to persuade others to see things your way.”
Persuasion isn’t just about being convincing; it’s about understanding others’ perspectives and building trust. A strong answer will show how they navigated resistance and ultimately brought people on board to their ideas without pushing too hard.

Innovation & problem solving

3. “What’s a skill you’ve really improved in over recent years and how has this changed the way you work?”
This question reveals how reflective and proactive someone is. You’re not just looking for what they learned, you want to know why they chose to improve that area of expertise, how they did it and what impact it had in their role.

4. “Can you share an idea or business solution you brought to your team that made a real impact?”
You’re looking for initiative here, not just creativity. Has your candidate got the ability to spot an opportunity and act on it? The best answers will show how they got buy-in, implemented the idea, and measured its success.

Teamwork

5. “Describe a time when you had to collaborate with someone whose working style was very different from yours.”
This question gets to the heart of how someone handles friction in the workplace. You want to hear how they adapted, found common ground and made the relationship work, not just how they tolerated it.

6. “Tell me about a time you supported a colleague through a difficult period.”
This isn’t about being a hero. It’s about your candidate showcasing empathy, awareness and just generally knowing when to step in. Look for someone who noticed the need, offered help appropriately and kept the team moving forward.

Motivation

7. “What motivates you in your day-to-day work, and how do you channel this motivation into output?”
This helps you understand what drives the candidate and whether that energy fits your team. Are they motivated by autonomy, collaboration, learning, or impact? And do they know how to turn that into results?

8. “Describe a time when you went above and beyond without being asked.”
Initiative is easy to talk about but is harder to prove. This question asks for a real-life example. You’re looking for someone who saw a need and acted on it. It’s also important to then identify what the results of these actions were.

Versatility

9. “Tell me about a time you had to quickly adapt to a major change at work.”
Change within a business is a constant. And you want to find someone who can respond well when things shift unexpectedly. Do they stay calm? Do they help others through it? Do they learn from the experience?

10. “Describe a situation where you had to juggle multiple responsibilities. How did you manage it?”
Being able to multitask is a great skill, but being able to prioritise, set boundaries and stay focused on the task at hand is essential. You want to identify whether your candidate is someone who can manage pressure without letting quality slip.

When asking competency based interview questions, focus on whether the candidate’s response feels authentic and confidently delivered, indicating genuine experience. Look for clear ownership of their role in the outcome, supported by any concrete results or data. Strong answers should include honest reflections on challenges and demonstrate alignment with your team’s values and working style.

Follow-up questions matter more than you think

The first answer a candidate gives is rarely the full story. Follow-up questions help you move past rehearsed responses and into the real substance of someone’s work experience.

Here are a few ways to dig deeper in your competency based questions:

• “What was the biggest challenge in that situation?”
  This helps uncover emotional intelligence and problem-solving under pressure.
• “How did your actions impact the team or business?”
  You’ll learn whether they think beyond their own role.
• “If you were in that situation again, what would you do differently?”
  A great way to assess reflection, growth, and humility.

Using the STAR technique to structure answers

Strong answers to competency based interview questions often follow the STAR format. It’s not just a helpful tool for candidates; it’s a decoding guide for interviewers too.

• Situation: What was happening?
• Task: What needed to be done?
• Action: What did they do?
• Result: What changed because of it?

The STAR format helps you identify whether they can tell a clear story, take ownership of their actions and reflect on outcomes.

You can even prompt STAR mid-interview if you’re not getting the detailed answers you’re looking for:

“That’s a great example. Can you walk me through what the situation was, what you needed to do, and what happened as a result?