Competency Based Application
You may sometimes be asked to show evidence of how you meet a technical, experience or Behaviour using 250 words. You should structure your responses in a format known as STAR which helps to create easy-to-follow stories. By using this approach, you are demonstrating your skills and explaining how you have used them in various situations.
When structuring your answers, we want you to explain how you handled a situation and worked through problems to reach a successful outcome. You should provide compelling, solid examples with details of what you did in each example.
SITUATION: The situation in which the example happened. Where were you? Who were you with? Why did this situation happen/occur? Consider just one or two main points that concisely illustrate the task that you needed to complete. You only need to provide a brief overview of the situation in 1 or 2 sentences.
TASK: Expand your answer by explaining the task you had responsibility for and why you had to complete it. Again, try and keep this as concise as you can, it only needs to be a brief overview.
ACTION: This part of your answer requires the most in-depth description as you will be marked largely on this area. Explain the specific actions you took to handle the situation or overcome the challenge. Identify some of the most useful steps you took, explaining how and why you took them. This may have been a team task but you need to focus on what you did and what you contributed to the task. Explain any barriers to delivery and how you overcame them, or whether the situation changed and you had to change your approach.
RESULT: Explain the results of the action you took. Was it a successful outcome? What was the outcome and what impact did this have? Provide a number of tangible benefits and a concrete example of the results of your efforts in this section. Add in any lessons learnt. You should spend less time on this section than on ACTION.
Helpful hints:
- Note the maximum word count
- Check for accuracy and spelling
- Keep it short, concise and relevant
- Acronyms- spell out on first use
- Tailor to the role you are applying for
- Use recent good quality examples
- Use ‘I’ not ‘We’
