Competency based interview questions: examples and how to answer them

A competency-based interview, also called a structured, behavioural or situational interview, tests one skill per question. Prospects explains that the interviewer works from a list of questions and marks your answers against criteria set in advance. The idea is simple: how you handled a situation before is the best guide to how you'll handle it in the job.

They start with ‘Tell me about a time when…’, ‘Give me an example of…’ or ‘Describe a situation where…’. Prospects notes that large graduate recruiters favour them, often at assessment centres, and every candidate gets the same questions so answers can be compared.

Two cousins often turn up in the same interview. A situational question asks what you would do (‘How would you handle a customer who…?’): answer with your reasoning and, if you can, a real case where you did it. A strengths-based question asks what you enjoy and do well; our guide to strengths and weaknesses covers those.

The skills tested come from the job description. Prospects lists the ones employers look for most often: teamwork, communication, leadership, problem solving, adaptability, resilience, organisation, decisiveness, conflict resolution and commercial awareness. Here are typical questions for each.

Other competency based interview questions you may hear: ‘What has been your biggest achievement to date?’, ‘Tell me about a time you showed integrity’, ‘Describe a time you made a mistake’, ‘Give an example of when you went beyond what was asked’, ‘Tell me about a time you persuaded someone to change their mind’.

The National Careers Service recommends the STAR method to answer these questions fully, and to keep each example short and to the point:

• Situation: where you were and what was happening, in one or two sentences.
• Task: what you had to do, or the problem you faced.
• Action: what you did yourself, step by step, and why. This is about half your answer.
• Result: what happened, with a number if you have one, and what you learned.

Prospects adds a second R, for Reflection: what you'd do differently next time. It's worth a sentence, especially when the result wasn't perfect. Aim for about two minutes per answer: long enough for the detail, short enough for the panel to follow.

Half of the guides on competency based interview questions are written for recruiters, and they agree on what a strong answer sounds like. Knowing it helps you prepare:

• A real, specific example: one occasion, not ‘I usually…’. Prospects lists hypothetical answers among the common mistakes.
• Your contribution: ‘we’ is fine for the context, ‘I’ for the actions.
• A result: what changed, ideally measured (time saved, complaints down, a target met).
• Honesty: invented or embellished examples are easy to spot under follow-up questions.
• Reflection: what you learned, especially if things didn't go to plan.

Expect follow-up questions, or ‘probes’: ‘What was the hardest part?’, ‘What would you do differently?’, ‘How did the others react?’. They are normal, not a sign that your answer was weak. The National Careers Service advises being ready for them.

1. List the competencies. Take them from the job description or the person specification (essential and desirable criteria). In the public sector, the advert often names them.
2. Find one example for each. Use work, a placement, university, volunteering, caring or sport. The National Careers Service says examples from home or volunteering work too.
3. Write each one in STAR form, in a few lines, with the result and a number if you have one.
4. Build a bank of five to eight examples, as Prospects suggests. One strong example can cover two competencies (a project you led can show leadership and problem solving), but change the emphasis to fit the question, and don't use the same story all interview.
5. Say them out loud, timed. Written notes always sound shorter than spoken answers.

• NHS: many trusts combine competency questions with values-based recruitment, which NHS Employers describes as finding people whose values match the organisation's. Prepare examples that show both a skill and a value, such as compassion or respect and dignity.
• Civil Service: since 2019, the Civil Service has assessed nine behaviours instead of the old competency framework, as part of Success Profiles. The questions work the same way, and the advert lists the behaviours. In July 2026, Civil Service World reported plans to replace Success Profiles with ‘a new model that emphasises skills and expertise’; until new guidance is published, follow the advert. Our guide to Civil Service behaviours has examples for each one.
• Graduate schemes: competency questions often come at the assessment centre, alongside a group exercise and a presentation. Prospects suggests booking a mock interview with your university careers service.

• Rambling: a long Situation and a rushed Action. Keep the context to two sentences.
• No result: the story stops at what you did. Always say what happened next.
• The wrong example: a story that doesn't show the skill asked for. Check the question again before you start.

Our guide on how to prepare for an interview covers the rest of the preparation, from the invitation to the day itself, and you can finish with good questions to ask at the end of an interview.

Saying a STAR answer out loud is the only way to know whether it runs to two minutes or five. A mock interview built from the advert you're applying for also shows you which competencies you have no example for yet.