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Nafula reached the interview stage for an INGO Country Programme Manager role. She knew the STAR method. She still did not get the job. Her answers had a Situation, a Task, an Action and a Result — but the panel could not score them.

How Competency Interviews Are Scored

In competency-based interviews, panels usually score each answer against defined behaviours — for example ‘builds trust’, ‘takes accountability’, ‘manages resources effectively’. Each panel member gives marks based on the evidence you provide. If your answer is vague, uses ‘we’ throughout, or ends without a clear result, there is simply nothing to score.

Where Nafula’s Answers Lost Marks

❌ Too Much Situation: Two minutes of background, thirty seconds of action. The panel scores the action.

❌ ‘We’ Instead of ‘I’: ‘We developed a strategy…’ The panel could not tell what Nafula personally did.

❌ No Measurable Result: ‘It went well and the donor was happy’ gives a panel nothing concrete to mark.

❌ Wrong Example for the Competency: A question about managing conflict was answered with a story about meeting a deadline.

STAR, Done Properly

⭐ Situation (10%): One or two sentences of context — where, when, scale.

⭐ Task (10%): Your specific responsibility or the challenge you faced.

⭐ Action (60%): What YOU did, step by step. Decisions, conversations, trade-offs.

⭐ Result (20%): The measurable outcome, plus what you learned or would do differently.

Nafula’s Result

We mapped the 8 competencies most often used in NGO and UN interviews and built two strong STAR stories for each. Three mock interviews later, she sat a panel for a Programme Manager role with a large humanitarian INGO and was offered the position.

5 Steps to Prepare for Your Next Competency Interview

✅ Step 1: List the competencies in the job advert. Each one is a likely question.

✅ Step 2: Prepare two STAR stories per competency from the last 5 years.

✅ Step 3: Use ‘I’ for your actions. Mention the team, but be clear about your role.

✅ Step 4: Add a number to every result — people reached, budget, time saved, percentage improved.

✅ Step 5: Keep each answer to 2–3 minutes. Practise with a timer.

READY TO TAKE ACTION?
Preparing for an NGO, UN or competency-based interview? Get your CV checked free with our CV & ATS audit this October at kethafrica@gmail.com.

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