Competency-based interviews are fast becoming the most common interview process manufacturing hiring managers use to screen candidates.
Why? Because they are a great way to identify individuals with the skills and abilities to deliver consistently in the role they are applying for.
What is a Competency-Based Interview?
Competency-based interviews are a style of interviewing often used to evaluate a candidate’s critical competencies.
Functional and skill experience is one thing, and the competencies an individual’s uses to deliver their skills within their role is critical.
In the manufacturing sector classic competencies, you can expect to be questioned about are:
- Leadership
- Teamworking
- Communication
- Attention to detail
- Problem–solving
Depending on the specifics of the role you are applying for, you might also need to demonstrate other competencies such as; critical thinking, reliability, and flexibility, especially around taking on board new skills.
The interviewer will ask you a question which will allow you to share an example of how you used a competency before.
Ideally, draw from your current or past roles as this is what the interviewer is looking for. In preparation for the interview, think about your current role and how you have demonstrated the competencies we have highlighted.
In this post, we have shared several examples which will help.
Leadership- Tell Me About a Time You Had To Lead Your Team Through A Challenging Project?
Here at Sigma recruitment, we help to hire managers to create job descriptions every day of the week, and it’s common that most roles ask for candidates to demonstrate their leadership capability.
Hiring managers want to ensure that people they recruit can lead a team or department and critically that projects are delivered on time and budget without delays and upsets because people on a team can’t agree on a way forward.
If you have examples where you have lead projects, this is the place to share them. Also be prepared to be questioned about your leadership style, such as:
- Can you tell me about a time when you demonstrated leadership skills?
- How do you monitor the performance of the people that you have to lead?
- Are you able to delegate responsibilities efficiently?
- How would you describe your leadership style?
- What can you do to motivate a team?
- What values are most important to you as a leader?
Teamworking-Give me an example of when you were part of a team. who had to work together to deliver a project
Here your interviewer is looking for your thought process and your understanding of team dynamics and working together. Use a recent example. It’s fine to discuss project goals and metrics, how you communicated with team members, project conclusions, and any other relevant facts.
Many manufacturing organisation thrive or fail because of how employees work together as a team, so this will be a crucial area in which to demonstrate your experience.
Problem Solving-Tell Us About a Time Where You Creatively Solved a Problem?
Your interviewer will be looking to find out how you have reacted in real–life scenarios. This question seeks to find how good you are at thinking on your feet, and for many hiring managers, this is a highly desirable skill.
A problem at any point in the supply chain can cause huge repercussions, and managers are looking for people who don’t shy away from being the problem solver in the team.
Communication Skills- Describe a Time When You Used Your Communication Skills to Help Improve a Situation
Workplace morale and company culture is a big issue in most organisations today. Employers are actively seeking to build teams who don’t just have the right skill set, but who work well as a team – and this involves effective communication.
If you can prove that you are the kind of employee who has excellent interpersonal skills, this will be a good mark in the interviewer’s book.
You don’t have to have made excellent speeches or prove you talk to every single one of your colleagues every day without fail but use a time when you know that your communication skills helped solve a problem.
Did you notice something your colleagues didn’t and brought it to your manager’s attention? Have you kept good relations with a supplier thanks to regular emails?
Attention to Detail-Talk About a Time You Made a Big Decision on Your Own, and How You Went About It
Employers are generally looking for people whom they know will be able to get on with the job with minimal supervision and are good at detail and process to ensure the job gets done.
Attention to detail is all about having the ability to translate the big-picture vision into the small detail often required in a manufacturing process.
You might even be asked the following questions.
- Are you a big–picture person or a detail-oriented person? Can you give an example that demonstrates this?
- How do you keep track of all the tasks you need to complete for a project?
- How do you ensure quality when you’re under a time constraint?
These are some of the main questions that we are aware of that keep cropping up in competency-based interviews. Be prepared for these questions, and it will stand you in good stead for your upcoming interview.
If you are looking for your next manufacturing interview, then send us your CV, browse our jobs page or get in touch with us today.
How Sigma Recruitment Can Help
We are a South Wales Recruitment Specialist based in Cardiff, Wales.
We offer a full range of permanent recruitment solutions to many of South Wales’ and the South Wests’ leading manufacturing, technical, automotive and life science organisations. This includes companies in Cardiff, Swansea, Newport, Ebbw Vale, Port Talbot, Bridgend and the surrounding areas in South Wales.
Sigma Recruitment has one of the largest and most comprehensive recruitment candidate databases in the area. To get in touch with our team, call us now on 02920 450 100. Alternatively, contact us here.
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