When hiring or promoting employees, employers often consider a person's competencies. Competencies combine the hard and soft skills, knowledge and traits a person uses to complete daily tasks. If you're applying for a job, preparing for a performance review or seeking a promotion, you might want to learn about competencies and how to highlight them for your future or current employer. In this article, we discuss what competencies are, how they differ from skills, types of competencies, how and when employers assess competencies and how to answer competency questions in an interview.
What are competencies?
Competencies are the combination of a person's knowledge, skills, abilities and behaviors. Together, they represent a person's ability to do their job. An organization may have a list of necessary competencies for all employees or individual roles.
How are competencies and skills different?
Skills are one of several attributes making up competencies. Skills refer to a person's ability to do specific workplace tasks. A person learns skills through education, training or experience. For example, operating a piece of technical equipment or understanding a coding language are skills.Related:Technical Skills: Definitions and Examples
What are the types of competencies?
You can organize competencies in a variety of ways, including by these common types:
Behavioral
Behavioral competencies describe a person's personality traits. These soft skills include matters of personal conduct, such as time management. Other types of behavioral competencies include teamwork, responsibility and compassion.Related:Soft Skills: Definitions and Examples
Technical
Technical, or functional, competencies refer to industry- or position-specific knowledge. These are the skills necessary to perform one's job effectively. For example, technical competencies might include familiarity with applicable labor or health and safety laws, specific subject knowledge and product specification knowledge.
Leadership
Leadership competencies are a collection of personal traits and soft skills. They're specific to the attributes of effective workplace leadership. Examples of leadership competencies include decision-making, communication, adaptability and problem-solving.Related:20 Qualities of a Great Leader (With Tips)
When do employers evaluate competencies?
Employers might evaluate competencies at multiple points throughout an employee's career with their organization. For example, employers often include a skills and attributes list when posting job advertisements. This list of competencies helps employers screen for their ideal candidates. Employers might also test for appropriate competencies when reviewing resumes, during job interviews or as a part of prehiring examinations.Once a person works for an organization, their employer may continue to evaluate their competencies. For example, supervisors and managers might observe employee performance or keep quantitative records. They might reference this information during routine performance evaluations. An employer might also assess an employee's competencies when deciding whether to offer a promotion. For example, a person can have the appropriate competencies for their role but must demonstrate additional leadership competencies before promotion to a managerial position.Related:6 Tips To Prepare for a Performance Evaluation
How do employers evaluate competencies?
Employers can evaluate competencies formally and informally. For example, an employee can informally show they have the necessary technical competencies by successfully completing their tasks at work every day. More formal assessments, such as performance reviews or promotion assessments, might take many forms. For example, an employer could host designated training days, have one-on-one discussions with their employees and ask technical questions or ask their employees to complete simulations and hands-on tests.
How do I answer competency questions in an interview?
Here are three sample competency interview questions, with tips and example responses:
1. Can you talk about how you handled staff scheduling in your previous role?
With this question, the employer assesses technical competencies, such as anticipating staffing needs, creating an employee schedule and conveying the schedule to staff. They can also assess soft skills like communication and conflict resolution. When answering a technical skill question, think of a scenario that shows your mastery of the skills involved.Example:“I managed a staff of six people, four with significant caregiving commitments. I prepared each schedule two months in advance. I considered our historical sales trends to determine how many employees we needed each day. Although I required staff to submit vacation requests before I made the schedule, they were free to swap days off among themselves. I had an open-door policy for anyone to let me know if their personal situation had changed, and I informally checked with each employee monthly about their scheduling needs. This strategy minimized scheduling complaints and helped us avoid over- or understaffing.”
2. What are your main areas for improvement in your role, and what have you done to work on them?
An employer might ask you about your weaknesses at work and strategies for improvement to assess your competencies of self-reflection and learning. When answering this question, think of a scenario where you identified an area for growth and successfully improved. If possible, think of a time when you helped others improve, too.Example:“I noticed I felt the least confident when customers asked me about our selection of vinyl records, especially if they had technical questions. Several of my coworkers felt the same way, so I arranged for the sales team to have a few question-and-answer sessions with a local musician. Last month, we received five pieces of positive feedback in our comment box about the knowledgeable staff in the records section.”
3. Tell me about a time you addressed a staff member's underperformance
This question can help an employer assess leadership competency. For example, managing an underperforming employee could require leadership skills such as communication, conflict resolution and decision-making. When answering this question, think of a situation with a positive outcome for the organization.Example:“One of our staff members was chronically late. Although I reminded him of our expectations, the situation didn't improve. We had a meeting, and I asked him about his daily responsibilities and his biggest goals and frustrations at work. I found out he had an underused skill set. He felt that his work wasn't challenging and had little advancement opportunity. I had him spend one day a week in a department better fitting his abilities, and his performance was excellent. When I transferred him to that department full time, his lateness issues disappeared.”
