How to Answer Competency Questions in Interviews
The first step is to understand when you are being asked a competency question and what competency it is testing.
Typical examples include:
”Tell me about a time you had to manage competing obligations”. This question is asking you to demonstrate time management or organisational skills, for example.
”Tell me about a time you had to work in a team to overcome a challenge”. This question is testing your ability to work as part of a team. It is also offering an opportunity for you to demonstrate your ability to think laterally.
As you can see, these questions usually test one or two competencies that the firm is looking for in its applicants.
To prepare for these questions, you should begin by looking at the firm’s recruitment page, where you will usually find their assessment framework and information on the key skills the recruitment team are looking for. If you cannot find a firm-specific competency framework, below is a list of general competencies you are likely to be tested on in applications, vacation schemes and interviews:
Organisational skills
Teamwork
Attention to detail
Time management
Leadership
Forward-thinking
Self-motivation
Commercial awareness
Communication
Lateral thinking
So, there two main ways that you can structure your answers to competency questions. These include:
STAR (situation, task, action, result)
CAR (context, action, result)
STAR
Situation: here you should aim to outline the situation you were in. That is, explain what you were doing, what your role was, where you were doing it and when etc.
Task: here, you should outline what you had to do, perhaps to overcome a challenge you faced in the relevant situation.
Action: here, you should clearly state what you did to complete the task. It is crucial not to undersell yourself. To help with this, focus on using an active voice. For example, “I did X and Y to overcome Z”, rather than, “my team did X and Y”.
Result: here, you should explain the outcome of your actions. It is important to quantify the impact you had. For example, if you are a tutor, did you use innovative methods to teach students new topics? If so, aim to show how much this helped—did your student’s grades improve by 20%? Over what time period? Using metrics like these will help the reader appreciate the work you did and therefore, why you are a good candidate for a training contract.
Bonus tip: add an extra ‘R’ — ’Reflect’. Here, you can talk about what you did well, what you would do differently next time, and why that would lead to an even better result. This is not to say that you did not do a good job. Rather, it is an opportunity to show self-awareness. As a trainee, you will need to constantly learn from the tasks you are assigned in order to continuously improve. Therefore, an ability to reflect on your own work shows that you would contribute positively to the firm you are applying to.
An example answer (lateral thinking):
”During my second year at university, I was part of the [insert society] committee. The committee was in need of new sponsors for upcoming events - Situation.
I was tasked with reaching out to different firms, legal newsletters, and learning platforms to persuade them to sponsor the committee’s events - Task.
To do this, I took an innovative approach to winning new sponsors. Instead of the traditional approach, involving cold emails and calls, I filmed and edited bespoke short video pitches, outlining why sponsoring our events would be mutually beneficial for each potential sponsor - Action.
As a result, existing sponsors extended their partnership with the [insert society] and we gained five new sponsors, leading to an 80% increase in funding compared to the same period last year - Result.
I really enjoyed taking on the responsibility of winning new sponsors and I am glad I was successful in doing so. However, I believe that I could have improved my strategy by arranging face-to-face meetings with potential sponsors to help build a rapport. This would develop a more personal relationship between the [insert society] and potential sponsors and ultimately, lead to more funding - Reflect.”
CAR
The difference between the STAR and CAR approach is relatively small. It lies in taking the ‘situation’ and ‘task’ part of STAR and merging into one category - ‘context’.
In an example asking about a time you had to adapt to overcome a challenge, it might look like this:
”As a teenager, I worked at a small high street wine shop, managing and organising the stockroom. During a busy period, the shop’s sommelier was unwell and could not come to work for over a week. This meant that I had to move to the shop floor, serve customers myself and advise them on which wines to purchase.”
Here, ‘Action’ functions work the same way as in the STAR method. Following on from the above example, it could look something like this:
“I reached out to the shop’s sommelier to arrange a 1:1 call, so that I could learn about the shop’s most popular wines. I then put together a short study card covering what I had learned. I used this to refresh my memory when necessary and make good recommendations to customers in real time.”
Finally, ‘Result’. As before, this section should tell the reader about the impact of your actions, quantifying the outcome of your work where possible.
“As a result of taking the initiative to learn about different wines, I was able to adapt to my temporary role on the shop floor. Moreover, we were able to maintain our sales targets of [insert amount] for that week whilst delivering a consistent client service, leading to five repeat customers that week.”
Which method should you use?
There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’. Some candidates prefer separating their experiences into more defined categories by using the STAR method. On the other hand, some students like to use the CAR method because merging the ‘situation’ and ‘task’ sections can be easier.
It is also possible that you might prefer one method when writing applications and another during interviews. To find out which method suits you best, practice writing out your responses as well as filming yourself answering competency questions. Assess which method helps you to understand your experiences and get them across in a compelling way. In doing so, you will be prepared to deconstruct your experiences and deliver structured answers that will translate well in your applications and interviews.
What experiences should I talk about?
Candidates often think that law firms only want candidates to talk about their legal work experience. This is not the case. Drawing from a variety of different experiences (including legal experience, if you have any) shows that you are a well-rounded candidate. Do not be afraid to talk about working in a shoe store, being a waiter/waitress or how it was being part of a band, for example. The key is to demonstrate transferrable skills - it does not matter where they come from.
Finally, before your interviews, it will be worth going through the relevant firm’s competency framework and thinking about how you have demonstrated the relevant skills in your experiences. For example, you might use your bartending experience when talking about your communication skills, or your role as captain of a football team to demonstrate teamwork skills. Either way, once you are able to break down your experiences into either the STAR or CAR structures you will be in good stead to answer competency questions with confidence.