Many organisations in both private and
public sectors make use of competency-based interviewing (CBI). This
includes the United Nations and a number of other public international
organisations.
It's worth being well prepared for CBI. Trying to recall examples from memory spontaneously in an interview ("So tell us about a project you coordinated which received positive feedback from clients") might leave you floundering if you have not thought it about it in advance - and if you don't know your CV.
The key challenge is to know yourself and your experience well enough to present good examples - or "stories" - which can concisely and clearly illustrate your professional skills, knowledge and behaviour in relation to the competencies which are valued in the job and/or the organisation. It sounds simple. But practice and preparation - including writing down your examples in note form - usually pay dividends in focusing your memory, and eventually allow you to be sharper and more flexible in the interview itself.
Remember that the competencies might be specific to the job, or part of a broader "competency framework" which represents the organisation's shared culture - its core values and practices.
If you get an interview, one of the first tasks is to find out if the organisation has such a framework, or a list of competencies relevant to the target job or section. Also find out if the organisation produces a guide for candidates, based on its framework, to help you prepare for CBI.
If there is a framework, spend some time getting to know it. Competency frameworks are a window onto how organisations think and what they value. They can help you to locate the career examples which will have the best impact in an interview. Bear in mind that questions might also be about job-specific competencies as well as the more generic competencies - teamwork, planning and organising, creativity - which tend to appear on frameworks.
For sample frameworks by the UN and other organisations, and sample CBI questions, please see my resources (left).
Tip:
For a
simple and accessible introduction to the theory and practice of
competency-based interviewing, I recommend the booklet produced by management
consultants Barclay Simpson (see left). It gives a clear and straightforward
introduction to CBI and some good sample questions and answers.
