Although you need to be ready
for anything in an interview, preparing structured competency-based answers in
advance can have real benefits. Structure can help you to pick out your examples from memory and avoid those blank moments when you can’t recall what happened next.
There are many recommended models
for structuring CBI answers. You may have heard of CAR – Context / Actions /
Results. Or maybe STAR – Situation / Task / Activity / Results. In their
excellent online training, UNICEF use BACK – Background / Actions /
Consequences / Knowledge. And let’s not forget STARE – Situation / Task /
Actions / Results / Evaluate.
My own personal favourite
splits the first contextual part into two: S/C ARL – Situation – Challenge / Actions
/ Result / Learning.
The challenge gives point and
purpose to the story and tells the panel why it is significant and worth
listening to. The actions are in effect a response to a challenge, or set of
challenges.
Whatever model you follow, take
the pressure off yourself by writing down your examples in note form. You might
find the templates (download left) useful for this vital preparation.
A few handy tips for preparing
CBI examples:
*Don’t generalise, be specific.
A smart CBI example will not range over years, but cover a specific period, and
have clear challenges and outcomes.
*Be concise when describing the
situation or context. Too much background history could kill your story dead.
Aim to set the scene in two sentences.
*Choose your actions carefully,
and use “I” rather than “we”. Focus on your role, decisions and follow-through.
*When describing results, ask
yourself if you had any feedback from clients or other stakeholders. This might go down well in an interview along with tangible outcomes.
*When assessing your learning,
consider the impact on the present: what does the example say about you now,
and your ability to do the job in question? How can your learning be useful for
the organisation?
