It’s easy for a candidate to tell you they’re reliable, resilient and hardworking.
But competency-based questions can help you move beyond the adjectives and uncover the evidence behind them.
When you’re interviewing for your next appointment, try asking:
1. Tell me about a time when something you were doing became difficult or frustrating, but you had to keep going. What did you do and what was the outcome?
Listen for: How they respond to setbacks, whether they persevere when things don’t go their way and whether they take responsibility for finding a solution.
2. Tell me about a time when you had to learn something completely new. How did you approach it, and what did you do when you found it difficult?
Listen for: Curiosity, willingness to learn, how they respond to mistakes and whether they actively look for solutions rather than waiting for someone else to help.
3. Can you give me an example of a commitment you’ve made — at work, university, school, sport or elsewhere — that you’ve had to stick with even when you didn’t feel like it?
Listen for: Reliability, commitment and determination. And remember, ‘Stickability’ doesn’t have to come from years of employment history. For a student or graduate, it could come from sport, studies, volunteering, clubs or other commitments.
And here’s our favourite follow-up…
“What would you do differently if you faced the same situation again?”
This is often where you uncover something even more valuable: self-awareness, maturity and the ability to learn from experience.
Because ultimately, we’re not just looking for candidates who can tell us they’re resilient.
We’re looking for people who can show us they are.
And sometimes, that evidence comes from places you might not initially think to look.