How to Prepare for a Competency-Based Interview

Competency-based interviews — where you're asked to describe real past situations rather than hypothetical ones — catch many candidates off guard, even highly experienced ones. This article explains what interviewers are actually listening for, and introduces the STAR structure (Situation, Task, Action, Result) as a simple way to organise your answers so they land clearly and confidently. It walks through how to prepare a small bank of go-to examples covering common themes — leadership, conflict resolution, problem-solving, and handling failure — so you're never caught reaching for an answer mid-interview. It also flags the most frequent mistake candidates make: describing what a team did rather than what they personally did. Practical prompts are included to help you draft and rehearse your own STAR-format answers before your next interview.