What competency-based interview questions do graduate recruiters ask?

Direct answer: A competency-based interview is a structured interview in which every question targets one skill the job needs, and every candidate is compared against the same pre-set criteria. Prospects (Swain, 2025a) notes that these interviews are also called structured, behavioural or situational interviews.

The idea underneath is simple. The LSE Human Resources guide for its own hiring managers puts it this way: "Competency-based selection methods are based on the assumption that past behaviour is the best predictor for future behaviour. It is not enough for a candidate to just say what they can offer; they need to provide evidence" (LSE Human Resources, 2019, p. 4). That sentence explains most of what follows. A claim such as "I am a strong communicator" earns nothing, while a short account of a real event in which you communicated well earns marks.

Swain (2025a) contrasts this with an unstructured interview, where the panel asks open questions such as "why did you apply for the job?" to form an overall impression. In a competency interview the panel holds a list of questions, writes down what you say, and marks it. Prospects adds that large graduate recruiters particularly favour the format, and often use it inside an assessment centre.

Direct answer: The same ten or so skills recur across graduate schemes: adaptability, commercial awareness, communication, conflict resolution, decision-making, leadership, organisation, problem solving, resilience and teamwork. The job description for each role tells you which of these a particular employer weights most heavily, so read it first.

Swain (2025a) lists adaptability, commercial awareness, communication, conflict resolution, decisiveness, independence, flexibility, leadership, problem solving, organisation, resilience and teamwork as the competencies employers regularly seek. The Prospects page on assessment centres gives an overlapping list that adds analytical thinking, creativity, negotiation, persuasion, planning and time management (Swain, 2025b).

The table below groups the common competencies with a typical question and what a panel is usually listening for. The questions are adapted from the Prospects list and the LSE guide; the third column is a summary of the published criteria, not a mark scheme from any one employer.

Direct answer: Each answer is scored against criteria written before the interview, usually on a numbered scale, and the panel compares scores across candidates. Swain (2025a) says your answers "will be compared against pre-determined criteria and marked accordingly", which is why vague or hypothetical answers score low.

Employers do not publish their scoring sheets, but the published guidance shows what they reward. Swain (2025a) names four common mistakes: rambling, giving hypothetical answers such as "I would usually...", describing a task without showing the result, and hiding your own contribution behind the team's. Each of these leaves the assessor with nothing to write in the evidence box.

The LSE guide also shows the balance a panel plans for. It recommends that competency questions "could make up for around 70% of your interview questions with the remaining 30% covering the technical skills specific to the role" (LSE Human Resources, 2019, p. 5). That figure is guidance for LSE's own professional staff, not a rule for every employer, but it signals that competency questions usually form most of a structured interview.

On length, Swain (2025a) says a standard interview of around 45 to 60 minutes typically includes between three and six competency questions, and suggests having five to eight examples ready that you can adapt.

Direct answer: The UK Civil Service no longer uses the word "competency". It recruits through Success Profiles, and the behaviour element lists nine Civil Service Behaviours. Each job advert names the few behaviours that role will test, and the examples expected change with the grade.

The Cabinet Office (2025b) defines the nine behaviours as seeing the big picture, changing and improving, making effective decisions, leadership, communicating and influencing, working together, developing self and others, managing a quality service, and delivering at pace. It says you "will not be asked to demonstrate all Civil Service Behaviours for one role", so the job description is the first thing to read.

Three details matter for students. First, the Cabinet Office (2025b) says your examples can come from work, work experience, volunteering or a hobby, so a university society or a group project counts. Second, behaviours are assessed in several ways, including the application form, interviews, assessment centres and situational judgement tests. Third, the guidance itself suggests the STAR method and adds that "there is no expectation that you need to demonstrate every part of each example to be successful" (Cabinet Office, 2025b). Success Profiles also include strengths, ability, experience and technical elements, and not every element applies to every role (Cabinet Office, 2025a).

Direct answer: Read the job description, list the competencies it names, and match each one to a real experience from study, work or volunteering. Write each example down once, with your actions and the result, then practise saying it aloud rather than reciting it.

Swain (2025a) recommends drawing on "a variety of experiences from your studies, previous employment or any work experience", and warns against embellishing, because "any lies or invented examples can be easily checked". The same page allows one strong example to serve more than one question, as long as you shift the emphasis to the competency being asked about and do not lean on that example for the whole interview.

For international students, the richest examples often come from coursework rather than jobs. A group assignment with a member who stopped contributing, a dissertation whose data collection fell through, or a presentation you redesigned for a non-specialist audience can each answer a teamwork, resilience or communication question. The key is to describe what you did and what changed, with a number if one exists. Swain (2025a) suggests a structure called STARR, which adds a final reflection on what you learned.

Direct answer: The most reliable free PDFs come from universities and public bodies rather than recruitment sites. The LSE guide to competency-based interviews is one example, and the Civil Service behaviour examples on gov.uk can be printed or saved as a document.

LSE Human Resources (2019) publishes a 19-page guide that includes a behaviour framework by staff band and sample questions. Because it was written for hiring managers, it shows the interview from the panel's side, which is useful when you are trying to guess what a question is really testing. Your own university careers service is the other place to look, since many publish question lists and offer mock interviews.

If you want to rehearse explaining a piece of coursework clearly before an interview, a one-to-one session with a MAAS subject tutor can help you talk through the academic side of your example; the experience and the answer stay your own. If you are applying for doctoral posts rather than graduate jobs, see questions to ask at a PhD interview, and for post-study work rights in the UK, our guide to the UK Graduate Route visa.