A bad hire rarely comes from a bad candidate pool – it comes from an interview process that never really tested for the right things. Gut feeling, small talk and generic questions leave too much room for bias, and too little evidence to justify the decision.

The Arab British Fellowship Training Academy offers this course in Competency Based Interviewing to fix exactly that. As organizations evolve, structured interview techniques have become essential for identifying candidates who fit the job and the organization's culture and values. Participants are introduced to the principles of competency-based interviewing (CBI), learn to assess competencies effectively, and build the ability to run interviews that predict future performance based on documented past behavior.

Knowledge and Benefits:

After completing the program, participants will be able to:

• Understand the principles and benefits of competency-based interviewing.
• Develop and use competency-based interview questions that assess key skills and behaviors.
• Conduct competency-based interviews effectively, ensuring consistency and fairness in evaluating candidates.
• Apply evaluation techniques to assess candidate responses against the competencies required for the role.
• Integrate competency-based interviewing into the overall recruitment strategy to improve hiring decisions.

Who Should Attend?

• Human Resources professionals looking to enhance their interviewing skills.
• Hiring managers responsible for recruitment and selection.
• Team leaders and supervisors involved in interviewing potential hires.
• Recruitment consultants aiming to improve their competency assessment techniques.

Module 1: The Case for Structured, Evidence-Based Hiring

• What competency-based interviewing (CBI) is, and how it differs from unstructured interviews.
• How CBI improves objectivity, consistency and reduces bias in hiring decisions.
• Linking documented past behavior to predicting future performance.

Module 2: The Building Blocks of CBI

• Understanding competencies and how they relate to job performance.
• Technical skills versus soft skills versus behavioral competencies.
• Defining the competencies required before writing a single question.

Module 3: Designing Interview Questions That Work

• Identifying the key competencies required for a role.
• Crafting clear, focused questions using the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) method.
• Common pitfalls – leading language, bias, vague questions – and how to avoid them.

Module 4: Running the Interview

• Setting up a structured interview environment and briefing the panel.
• Creating a comfortable atmosphere that helps candidates give real, detailed examples.
• Probing deeper, redirecting vague answers, and balancing questioning with active listening.

Module 5: Scoring and Evaluating Fairly

• Establishing clear, competency-based evaluation criteria.
• Rating responses for depth, clarity and relevance using a consistent scoring system.
• Identifying and mitigating unconscious bias during evaluation.

Module 6: From Interview to Hiring Decision

• Building a consistent interview framework across departments and roles.
• Combining CBI with complementary assessment methods, such as psychometric testing.
• Using CBI to predict future performance and reduce turnover.

Module 7: Continuous Improvement for Interviewers

• Best practices that keep interviews smooth, professional and fair.
• Learning from feedback and refining your approach over time.
• Building CBI into a long-term, organization-wide recruitment strategy.