competency based interviews

FishThrower · 29 Jun 2010 at 12:53

Hi,

Can someone tell me whats the best answer to the below two questions? They are negative points which you have to turn out to be positive ones. I have a job interview tomorrow and im just reading up some example questions.

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What area do you think could improve on most?

If you could change something about yourself what would it be?

Have you ever had to deal with conflict in work, how did you deal with this, what was the outcome

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Thanks!

Mr-White · 29 Jun 2010 at 12:57

What's the interview for ?

MW

FishThrower · 29 Jun 2010 at 13:02

Mr-White said:
What's the interview for ?

MW

for a IT Support job

thanks

Engram · 29 Jun 2010 at 13:03

Standard answer for the first two is...

I'm a perfectionist.

EdwardTeach · 29 Jun 2010 at 13:04

Engram said:
Standard answer for the first two is...

I'm a perfectionist.

that is the worse answer you can give.

daz.rathbone · 29 Jun 2010 at 13:08

An an engineer-type, always state that I see paperwork as my main weakness (it's commonly accepted that most IT/engineer types have this as their weakest area). State that you constantly strive to improve this area - that's all they are looking for.

Change something about yourself - something like "sometimes I use too many technical terms when explaining a technical concept to a non-tech person. I'm aware of this and actively looking to improve on my non-technical communication"

Conflict - make something up that sounds good. Honestly.

daz.rathbone · 29 Jun 2010 at 13:10

Another idea on "what to change about yourself" - maybe a twist on the above. "Sometimes I am too much of a perfectionist/too much attention to smaller details, rather than seeing the bigger picture." That works too.

FishThrower · 29 Jun 2010 at 13:15

daz.rathbone said:
An an engineer-type, always state that I see paperwork as my main weakness (it's commonly accepted that most IT/engineer types have this as their weakest area). State that you constantly strive to improve this area - that's all they are looking for.

Change something about yourself - something like "sometimes I use too many technical terms when explaining a technical concept to a non-tech person. I'm aware of this and actively looking to improve on my non-technical communication"

Conflict - make something up that sounds good. Honestly.

Thanks a lot, not reading documentation before heading into something is a great answer

LiE · 29 Jun 2010 at 13:16

FishThrower said:
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What area do you think could improve on most?
None, I am the definition of perfection.

If you could change something about yourself what would it be?
Nothing, see above.

Have you ever had to deal with conflict in work, how did you deal with this, what was the outcome

A colleague made a joke about me, so I punched him the face. He never made a joke again.

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Thanks!

Dave M · 29 Jun 2010 at 13:20

FishThrower said:
Thanks a lot, not reading documentation before heading into something is a great answer

That's not what he means, that would be a bad answer.

FishThrower · 29 Jun 2010 at 13:33

Telescopi said:
That's not what he means, that would be a bad answer.

Not really, all of the techies I have worked with always attempts to fix a problem, and then resort to the documentation when they get stuck.

If its installing a piece of software then everyone should consult the documentation first.

Any answer that you give to a negative competency based question will sound bad unless you accept it and also explain a solution to the weakness

Tefal · 29 Jun 2010 at 13:37

Why not just answer honestly?

What do you really think you could improve on most?

Dave M · 29 Jun 2010 at 13:51

FishThrower said:
Not really, all of the techies I have worked with always attempts to fix a problem, and then resort to the documentation when they get stuck.

If its installing a piece of software then everyone should consult the documentation first.

Any answer that you give to a negative competency based question will sound bad unless you accept it and also explain a solution to the weakness

I guess it depends what the job is, if you fix printers maybe.

If your an engineer or developer not reading the spec will result in weeks of wasted work as you are doing completely the wrong thing.

In that situation bad at paperwork means you're a little slack on documenting the project milestones, user documentation, basically anything *you* write, not reading a user manual.

daz.rathbone · 29 Jun 2010 at 14:04

Yes, tbh I was meaning more "paperwork" like timesheets, documentation changes, ticket updates (HEAT/Supportworks, etc). There is normally an assumption that most technical people have a weakness here, so it's easy to gloss over it and just say you constantly work to improve it.

You could possibly use something around "reading documentation prior to meetings", which costs times and a lot of people don't get do properly, but that's probably not something I would mention

I've done more CBI's than I care to remember, and generally score well out of them. Also don't be afraid to repeat an experience if it's relevant to two different questions, just put a different spin on the detail you give in the answer. Sometimes you've only ever dealt with one "confrontation" or one "incident where you've not been provided enough information to complete a task" (<-- another v.v.common question).

FishThrower · 29 Jun 2010 at 14:37

Telescopi said:
I guess it depends what the job is, if you fix printers maybe.

If your an engineer or developer not reading the spec will result in weeks of wasted work as you are doing completely the wrong thing.

In that situation bad at paperwork means you're a little slack on documenting the project milestones, user documentation, basically anything *you* write, not reading a user manual.

You have to indeed read the spec, or pre installation requirements if you are doing project work, or implementing a system. If its incidents on the other hand then its very rare for a techie to check out documention on a system they arent too familiar with, before they visit a user to fix their issue.

You couls say that paperwork (timesheets, updating documention) is a much worse answer than I originally gave, as most companies rely on timesheets to bill other departments or companies. If you forget to enter timesheets, your department will not get any money for your time.

Documentation is a funny thing, as if you work in a large team, everybody HAS to update it, otherwise it will make it worthless, and when theres out of date documention (or multiple versions), its a complete pig to work with. A lot of companies should be really anal on documentation , or not bother at all with it.

Thanks for the input Rathbone, you have been a big help

markweatherill · 29 Jun 2010 at 14:55

As a civil servant I have got through a couple of these type of interviews, but failed more times than succeeded.

My angle on the second question would be, 'My face - so that it fits.'

ordinaryjoe · 29 Jun 2010 at 16:13

FishThrower said:
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What area do you think could improve on most?

If I knew of anything I need to improve about myself, I would've improved it by now duh

If you could change something about yourself what would it be?

Everything I need to change about myself, I change. There is nothing left which I need to change about myself

Have you ever had to deal with conflict in work, how did you deal with this, what was the outcome

I don't have conflicts at work... I am professional and work hard to get along with everyone

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