How to master a competency-based interview in IT

Without the IT department, business would ground to a halt. That’s why there is a need for competency based interviews to ensure integrity of any new hire.

While at first glance competency based interviews may seem tricky, with preparation and practice, they can be mastered. Just as IT is now at the heart of every organisation, competency based interview questions are fast becoming the go to resource for employers looking to find the right candidate for the job. Luckily, we’ve got you covered with our top tips and guidance to help you on the path to success.

What is a IT based competency interview?

As those that keep all business systems up and running, people working in IT are critical to the success of all organisations. And, as a result, getting the right candidates on-board is an essential business function. To ensure that they find this candidate, many organisations are turning to competency based interviews in order to help understand a candidate’s competencies, knowledge and behaviour in different scenarios. This means it’s time to get thinking about relevant examples you can draw upon.

For Kirstin Schulz, Head of Assessment Consulting for Alexander Mann Solutions, this style of interview technique Is becoming increasingly important for organisations. She believes that candidates talking about examples of past behaviour is a clear indication for future performance, which therefore “helps the people who are conducting the interview to assess candidates against what matters for each particular role.”

What are interviewers looking for from IT candidates?

Competencies are different from role to role, so understanding which ones interviewers will be looking to asses can be the difference between getting to the next stage and not. Here are some key competencies for IT roles that you should find examples for in advance of your interview:

Excellent technical skills

• The IT industry relies heavily on individuals with the right technical skills. Whether they’re in cloud computing, coding or artificial intelligence, having the right skills and the ability to highlight them with your interviewers is key to securing a job in the sector.

Good understanding of a commercial environment

• Whilst it’s a hugely creative industry, not all ideas make the final cut when it comes to app, software or cloud development. Companies are looking for people with the right balance of technical skill and commercial awareness who can drive their business forward with scalable digital solutions.

Problem solving

• Over the last five years, the digital revolution has disrupted many markets to bring, cheaper, more affordable solutions to some of the everyday challenges we face. Whether its ordering food or transport home from our smartphones for a fraction of the price or connecting with friends and family in far flung locations around the globe, the seed of each idea has started with someone’s unique ability to problem solve. As a result, employers are looking for each and every individual under their roof to have problem solving abilities, no matter how large or small their contribution is likely to be.

Team Working

• As the modern adage goes ‘team work, makes the dream work’. Employers are looking for IT experts who can work collaboratively as part of a big team. As technology makes our world smaller, this may also mean working with individuals and teams from other disciplines, companies and countries too. Again, employers are looking for someone who sees the importance of the team and is open to feedback, and can support fellow team members. 

Analytical Thinking

• Technology is making analysis of data and information easier than it’s ever been. However, to even come into being, such technology has started with a programmer and/or software developer who has applied their analytical thinking skills to solve some of the most complex problems society faces.

Ability to deliver against detailed technical specifications

• IT is a very complex and technical industry to get into – it’s certainly not for the faint hearted! As a result, employees will be looking for indivuduals who can tackle and comprehend complex information in order to design, innovate and drive forward products and services that can be used by customers and internal stakeholders.

The STAR Technique

Now that you know the key IT competencies employers are looking for in an interview, it’s time to get to grips with answering competency based interview questions. Top tip: Your answer MUST be structured and inform the interviewer about what you did, how you did it and what the outcome was.

Luckily, there is a simple solution – the STAR technique – to help you prepare and structure your competency based interview answers (see the outline below for each element):

* Situation: Start by outlining the situation you were in.
* Task: Talk about the task at hand. What was required of you?
* Action: What did you do? What action/s did you take and why?
* Result: Summarise the results of your actions.

How should I prepare for a competency based interview?

Remember, having more than one example is the foundation of a good competency based interview performance. Think of the steps or decisions you made to ensure that IT systems have ran on all cylinders, how you’ve minimised any negative impacts of a major tech roll out, or where you’ve demonstrated the behaviours and competencies in the job spec.

In fact, when it comes to preparing, Schulz believes that familiarising yourself with the role and job spec is one of the best things to do. She says “wherever possible have a clear job description and get to know the personal profile inside out. If you don’t already have one, check the company website or search out the original ad.”

How to ace IT competency interview questions:

Finally, it’s time to nail IT competency interview questions. Remembering the STAR technique, we’ve outlined some typical competency based interview questions and a series of tips to help you through. We’ve split these into the technical and behavioural questions you’re likely to be asked – each tailored towards finding out more about how you fit with key competencies as detailed above.

Some behavioural questions

Question: Tell me about a time where you’ve worked as part of a bigger team? What were the challenges? How did you overcome them?

Answer: Interviewers want to know that you’re a team player – after all when things go wrong in IT, it very often takes more than just one person to get things back online. Think about a time when you’ve played a key role as part of a team and explain what you did. In particularly, think about whether you worked with people outside of your immediate team – maybe it was with a colleague in a different department; an individual in you client’s IT department or someone in a different country. Remember to use the STAR technique to give your answer detail and some narrative flow.

Question: Tell us about a time you’ve had to explain a difficult technical process or plan to your team? Were you successful? How did you go about it?

Answer: In answering this question you need to draw on a specific example where you’ve demonstrated that you can communicate clearly. However, it will help your chances if you can show how you managed to communicate using an alternative technique which meant that all members of your team regardless of their role and first language (particularly if the project saw you working with lots of international teams). Maybe you used a simple diagram or chart to help people in understanding a complicated piece of IT processing or code. Also, don’t be afraid to tell the interviewers how challenging the task was, after all they work in the industry themselves and know how challenging things can be sometimes.

Question: Tell us about a time you’ve been completely flummoxed by a problem? Did you eventually solve it? How?

Answer: As with any job, we don’t have all the answers to all of the problems we face. Think about a particularly thorny problem you’ve faced and explain clearly what your thought process was in attempting to solve it. Ideally, you should use a problem which you did eventually solve. Try to take the interviewers through all the incremental steps you went through to solve it.

For instance, did you consult other team members to get to the heart of the problem. Maybe you solved the problem yourself by consulting other experts within the industry, or used other sources of insight such as online forums to get a god steer.     

Some technical questions

Question: What’s the best piece of code you’ve ever written?

Answer: In answering this question, be sure to give your interviewers the technical insight they require. What made this piece of code the best you’ve ever written? Was it because it was a complex piece to write, or was it because it solved a particular problem that is close to yours or a client’s heart?

Be sure to highlight why you were particularly proud of what you had written. What’s more follow the STAR technique in order to talk about what the results of the code were too. Did they enable a client to do something they’ve never been able to do before? Did it enable your team to better service clients in the long run.

Question: What is a honey Pot and why is it used? Describe a time you’ve used this technique?

Answer: You’ll no doubt know that ‘honey pots’ are used to smoke out, deflect or counteract unauthorized use of information in a system. However, when faced with answering a specific technical question of this kind, you should use the opportunity to talk about your own experience of using this particular trick of the trade. It’ll not only help you demonstrate your technical ability, but inspire confidence in the interviewers that you can hit the ground running once employed.

Question: What are the most important database performance metrics and how do you monitor them?

Answer: Before you enter the interview room you should have read the job description and have a good understanding of what the role requires in terms of technical skills. In relation to the question above, try and be specific by talking about those metrics you think are most important for the role you’re going for. Again, you should ensure your answers are a detailed as possible when it comes to the technical detail, explaining why certain performance metrics are more reliable and effective in the context of a specific job role.

You should also be prepared to be challenged on your choices too. Naturally, you should be flexible in your view, but try and put forward a convincing argument for why you’ve chosen the metrics you have – naturally you should draw on you experience and insight to back up your answer.

IT has fundamentally disrupted the world we live in. In order to get yourself a piece of the action, you’ll need to not only show that you have the technical aptitude, but also demonstrate that you have the behavioural or softer skills to drive and really make a contribution to IT projects. The above guidance will give you some good guidance in securing that dream IT role.