Interview Questions Library / Competency-Based Interview Questions (and the BEI Method)
Updated: August 2026 · By Álvaro Arrescurrenaga · CEO of Voicit- 25 questions
- Scoring rubric 1–5
- Updated August 2026
A competency-based interview asks every candidate the same questions about the same four to six competencies, each question demanding a real past situation, and scores the answers against written behavioral indicators. The behavioral event interview (BEI) is the most rigorous way to run it: you probe one incident in depth — what happened, what they thought, what they did, what resulted — instead of collecting rehearsed summaries. This page gives you the questions, the probing method and the scoring scale.
Competency-based interviews fail in two predictable ways: the competencies are never defined beyond a word («leadership»), and the questions get a prepared story with no follow-up. The 30 questions below are grouped by competency and paired with the probes from the behavioral event interview (BEI) method, which was built to get past prepared stories. Each question says what a strong answer contains and what should worry you; the scoring section turns each competency into observable indicators so two interviewers rate the same evidence the same way.
Competency-based, behavioral, BEI: what is the difference?
The three terms overlap and are often used interchangeably. The differences matter for how you run the interview and how you score it.
| Approach | What it is | Use it when |
| Competency-based interview | A structured interview built around the competencies the role needs, same questions for every candidate, scored against indicators | Any role where you want comparable, defensible decisions — this is the frame for everything below |
| Behavioral questions | «Tell me about a time…» questions that ask for past behavior as evidence of a competency | The question format inside a competency-based interview |
| Behavioral event interview (BEI) | A probing technique (McClelland, 1970s): take one real incident and reconstruct it in detail — situation, thoughts, actions, results — with follow-ups until the evidence is concrete | Senior roles, small candidate pools, or whenever prepared answers are the risk |
| Situational questions | «What would you do if…» — hypotheticals that test reasoning, not experience | Junior candidates and skills they have not used yet |
Before you ask: define each competency as behaviors
A competency you cannot describe as observable behavior cannot be interviewed for. For each competency the role needs, write three or four indicators of what it looks like when done well, and one or two of what it looks like when missing. That list is your scoring key; the questions below only produce the evidence.
| Competency | Positive indicators (what a 4-5 looks like) | Negative indicators (what a 1-2 looks like) |
| Problem solving | Frames the problem before acting; names what was ruled out; decides with incomplete data and revisits | Jumps to a solution; the problem is always someone else’s; no method |
| Communication | Adapts the message to the listener; checks understanding; delivers bad news early and plainly | Talks at people; misunderstandings are the other person’s fault |
| Teamwork | Handles conflict directly; shares credit specifically; manages dependencies actively | Wins arguments; the team is described as a burden |
| Leadership | Gives hard feedback that changes something; decides under ambiguity; develops people | Leadership as philosophy; every decision turned out well |
| Adaptability | Re-plans fast; can name what they gave up; changed something because of feedback | Every change was done to them; nothing has changed in years |
| Accountability | Warns early; owns the miss in the first person; follows through without reminders | External causes for every miss; «we» for failures and «I» for wins |
The BEI probing method: how to get past the prepared story
Ask for one specific incident, then walk it in four passes. Most of the evidence comes from the second and third pass, which is exactly where a standard behavioral interview stops.
| Pass | What you ask | What you are listening for |
| 1. Situation | «Pick one specific time this happened. When was it, who was involved, what was at stake?» | A real, dated, bounded event — not a habit or a composite |
| 2. Thinking | «What were you thinking at that point? What options did you see?» | The reasoning behind the action; the alternatives considered |
| 3. Actions | «What did you do first? Then what? What did you say, exactly?» | First-person verbs, sequence, actual words used |
| 4. Result | «How did it end? How do you know? What would you do differently?» | A verifiable outcome, and honest hindsight |
Problem solving questions
Communication questions
Teamwork and collaboration questions
Leadership questions
Adaptability and accountability questions
How to score: the 1-5 scale with behavioral indicators
Score each competency separately, against the indicators you wrote before the interview, with the evidence next to the number. The scale below is the one we use across every guide in the library; the indicators table above is what makes a 4 mean the same thing to every interviewer.
| Score | What it means | Typical evidence |
| 1 | No example | Talks about the competency in the abstract |
| 2 | Generic example | A situation, but their own actions are vague or match a negative indicator |
| 3 | Solid example | A real incident, their actions, an outcome; matches at least one positive indicator |
| 4 | Strong example | Above, plus the thinking behind it and a trade-off; matches most positive indicators |
| 5 | Exceptional | Above, plus lasting impact; the BEI probes found more evidence, not less |
Common mistakes in competency-based interviews
Defining competencies as single words; asking one question per competency with no probe; accepting a habit («I usually…») instead of an incident; letting the candidate pick a different competency to answer; scoring the overall impression instead of each competency; and changing the questions between candidates. The last one quietly destroys comparability, which was the whole point.
Stop writing up interviews by hand. Voicit records the interview, transcribes it and fills your scorecard against the competencies you defined — so you can listen instead of typing.
Frequently asked questions
What are competency-based interview questions?
Questions designed to produce evidence of a specific competency from the candidate’s past behavior: «tell me about a time you had to deliver bad news to a client» for communication, for example. In a competency-based interview every candidate gets the same questions on the same four to six competencies, and the answers are scored against written behavioral indicators.
What is a behavioral event interview (BEI)?
A probing technique developed by David McClelland in the 1970s. Instead of collecting summaries, the interviewer takes one real incident and reconstructs it in detail — the situation, what the candidate was thinking, what they did step by step, and what resulted — with follow-up questions until the evidence is concrete. It is the most reliable way to get past prepared answers.
How many competencies should a competency-based interview cover?
Four to six. Each needs two questions with probes to produce enough evidence to score, and that already fills an hour. More competencies means shallower evidence on each; if the role genuinely needs more, split them across interviewers.
How do you score competency-based interview answers?
Write behavioral indicators for each competency before the interview (what a strong and a weak answer look like), score each competency separately on a 1-5 scale against those indicators, and write the evidence next to the score. Score alone, before the debrief, and compare evidence rather than impressions.
What is the difference between competency-based and behavioral interviews?
In practice, very little: behavioral questions are the question format, and a competency-based interview is the structure around them (defined competencies, same questions for everyone, indicators for scoring). The behavioral event interview adds the probing method. You can run a competency-based interview badly by asking behavioral questions without probes or indicators.
Keep reading
Voicit records interviews and meetings, transcribes them and writes the report against the template each team defines. These question sets come from working with recruitment consultancies and in-house talent teams across Europe.