Competency based Interview

Hi, I have a competency based telephone interview for a position at the FSA next week and was wondering if anyone has had a competency based interview before (I understand they're common with IB's and in the finance sector).

Would you be able to give me an idea of the kind of questions they will ask. They told me that they will ask me questions in the following areas.

Communication
Teamwork
Decision Making
Delivering outcomes

Thanks

RD

Reply 1

SamTheMan

17

Red Dragon

Hi, I have a competency based telephone interview for a position at the FSA next week and was wondering if anyone has had a competency based interview before (I understand they're common with IB's and in the finance sector).

Would you be able to give me an idea of the kind of questions they will ask. They told me that they will ask me questions in the following areas.

Communication
Teamwork
Decision Making
Delivering outcomes

Thanks

RD

Good luck because they're a load of rubbish. You're supposed to answer honestly but unless your answers aren't almost fully prepared, they won't be impressed.

Questions like:
Describe a situation where you made an important decision.

Describe a situation where you faced a difficulty.

Describe a situation where you confronted someone in a team.

Describe a situation where you helped someone.

I got feedback after my last one and they said they didn't like my answer about helping someone: I went on about how I'd been giving personal tuition to young kids from poor areas for a year. There wasn't that much to say, just how I enjoyed helping them.

I was told by the woman that she heard a great reply: How this guy wanted to buy a puppy for his sister so he went to an animal shelter but when he got there, he was so shocked at the sight of the conditions in which the animals were living that he decided to do something about it. So he decided to raise money in his neighbourhood, organised all kinds of events and raised 50 000 pounds.

The moral of the story? Just ********. It's all a load of crap. The likelihood that that guy was telling the truth is 1 in 1000.

Make sure you prepare EVERY question and at the questions where you have nothing interesting to say, just lie.

Reply 2

Montana

1

Oh dear about the dog story.

Reply 3

SamTheMan

17

Montana

Oh dear about the dog story.

I was so pissed off after hearing that.

Reply 4

mangomaz

14

I cant believe the woman believed that! Ok it may have been true but..highly doubtful. I mean of all the cards to pull, the 'I saved cute little puppies' one?

Reply 5

President_Ben

15

From my experience of their head of graduate recruiting (Viv Man), getting away with a story about saving puppies strikes me as sly (and scummy).

Reply 6

Red Dragon

OP

1

thanks for the help!

found some resources on the internet if anyone else wants help with these sort of interviews.

http://www.quintcareers.com/sample_behavioral.html

http://www.careerfair.com/Tips/behavioralinter.asp

http://www.alexanderlloyd.co.uk/can...edinterview.htm

http://content.legal.monster.co.uk/1341_en-GB_pf.asp

Reply 7

Drogue

19

SamTheMan

Good luck because they're a load of rubbish. You're supposed to answer honestly but unless your answers aren't almost fully prepared, they won't be impressed.
Really? I just tend to take a few moments to think of an example and then chat about it, and it seems to work ok. I can't stand the idea of prepared answers, whatever type of interview it's for. I'd much rather be able to react to what they say and think about it at the time :smile:

I've got a telephone interview with the FSA tomorrow morning too. I wish they'd do them themselves though, rather than relying on some behavioural analyists or some such to do them for them. I'd like to be able to ask questions about the position and such, as I'd expect from an interview. Oh well, their choice.

Reply 8

President_Ben

15

The FSA graduate recruitment team is only 3 people. If they didn't oursource or get more people in, nothing would ever happen...

Good luck on the interview - I'm sure all the cold calls you have done for ICX will come in handy for telephone manner :wink:

Reply 9

SamTheMan

17

Drogue

Really? I just tend to take a few moments to think of an example and then chat about it, and it seems to work ok. I can't stand the idea of prepared answers, whatever type of interview it's for. I'd much rather be able to react to what they say and think about it at the time :smile:

I've got a telephone interview with the FSA tomorrow morning too. I wish they'd do them themselves though, rather than relying on some behavioural analyists or some such to do them for them. I'd like to be able to ask questions about the position and such, as I'd expect from an interview. Oh well, their choice.

It depends on the level expected. You can't expect to have a structured reply in just a few moments and it's certainly not "chatting". I got feedback at my last one and was explained the different steps in structuring your reply. In their grading system, each step has its grade.

If it's a true competency-based interview and not just an ordinary chit-chat personality test then some of the questions are made to get you stuck. Unless you can think up answers in a split second and have the most amazing experiences including work experience, then it's going to be tough!

I never used to prepare tests like that because I'm not much of an organiser but then I had a few nasty CBTs and considering that out of 100 people (including some people who are very quick and impressive talkers) I know who went through the test, only one girl succeeded as I'd given her the questions. I know nothing about this FSA test so maybe it isn't that formal and strict. Maybe you can get through with a load of ********ting.

Reply 10

Drogue

19

President_Ben

The FSA graduate recruitment team is only 3 people. If they didn't oursource or get more people in, nothing would ever happen...

Good luck on the interview - I'm sure all the cold calls you have done for ICX will come in handy for telephone manner :wink:

That's rather scary you know I was in ICX last year... but I never cold call - hate the idea. Dare I ask who you are? Much more fun doing the events/running committee side of things :smile:

--------------

SamTheMan

It depends on the level expected. You can't expect to have a structured reply in just a few moments and it's certainly not "chatting". I got feedback at my last one and was explained the different steps in structuring your reply. In their grading system, each step has its grade.

If it's a true competency-based interview and not just an ordinary chit-chat personality test then some of the questions are made to get you stuck. Unless you can think up answers in a split second and have the most amazing experiences including work experience, then it's going to be tough!

I never used to prepare tests like that because I'm not much of an organiser but then I had a few nasty CBTs and considering that out of 100 people (including some people who are very quick and impressive talkers) I know who went through the test, only one girl succeeded as I'd given her the questions. I know nothing about this FSA test so maybe it isn't that formal and strict. Maybe you can get through with a load of ********ting.

Hmmm... the Barclays Leaders Programme one was quite structured (very similar questions to the ones you've got above). But it's quite easy to think of examples of times you've communicated a difficult message, had to motivate a team, used leadership skills to achieve a goal, etc. Prepared answers always strike me as being prepared, and I'd rather think generally about what's best as an example and use it :smile:

Reply 11

President_Ben

15

Drogue

Hmmm... the Barclays Leaders Programme one was quite structured (very similar questions to the ones you've got above). But it's quite easy to think of examples of times you've communicated a difficult message, had to motivate a team, used leadership skills to achieve a goal, etc. Prepared answers always strike me as being prepared, and I'd rather think generally about what's best as an example and use it :smile:

Yeah, you can just have your Fast track at hand :smile:

I did OGX at UCL last year - all should become clear with that bit of info... (can pop up the annual report to find out if you're still stuck)

Reply 12

Drogue

19

Lol! I wondered a few times if you were you but always dismissed it. How's it going? You're Fabian comment at on the annual review boat party seems to have been well used :wink: