Competency: Interpersonal sensitivity
What unpopular decision have you recently made? How did your subordinates respond? How did that make you feel?
No-one can retain popularity at all times. Can you tell me the last time you upset someone? What happened?
Tell about when you joined your last organisation - how did you get to know the wider team?
Competency: Selling skills
Tell me about your most difficult experience in selling something.
Tell me about an occasion where you promoted a new concept to a client.
Describe a situation where you had difficulty influencing someone to adopt your point of view.
Tell me about a time you had to sell an idea to a group of people in a formal presentation.
Tell me about your most satisfying selling experience.
Competency: Listening
What do you do to show someone else that you are paying attention to them?
Describe a time when you found your attention wandering, and you lost the thread of a conversation. What was the consequence?
Have you ever been told you are a good listener? (If yes) when? By whom?
Competency: Persuasiveness
Describe your most satisfying (or disappointing) experience in presenting to, and gaining the support of, top management for an idea or proposal.
Tell me about a time when you needed to persuade others to commit to a course of action.
Give me an example of a time when you were unable to persuade someone to your point of view.
Competency: Communication skills
Tell me about a talk or presentation which you gave recently.
Describe a situation where you had to convey complex information to someone.
What is the worst communication problem you have experienced?
What differing approaches do you employ in talking with different types of people? How do you evaluate the effectiveness of these approaches?
Give an example of when you had the choice of either writing a report or giving an oral report. Which option did you take and why? What was the impact of this decision?
Competency: Relationship building
When you last found yourself with a new group of people to work with, how did you get to know them?
Tell me about a time when you quickly developed a relationship with a new colleague or client.
What do you know about the personal interests of some of your subordinates? How did you find out?
Competency: Collaboration and teamwork
Describe a situation where there was a disagreement among members of your team.
Describe the skills and personal qualities you believe are valuable, and those you have personally contributed, to a group task or project.
Tell me about a time when you have consciously participated as a group member rather than a group leader? What did you actually do?
What have you done to build good working relationships within a team? Give an example?
Back: Competency-based interviews
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