Competency-Based Hiring

An article in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, “Competency-Based Hiring: The Key to Recruiting and Retaining Successful Employees,” sheds light on how transitioning from a traditional job description and interviewing process to a competency-based process can potentially save employers time and money. According to Tony Peregrin, a traditional job description outlines or lists job responsibilities or duties where a competency-based description emphasizes the skills and abilities an employee of a specific position will need to be successful. There are three types of competencies that are commonly seen in competency-based job descriptions: skills, knowledge, and behavior. Competencies may also fall into the groupings of position-specific and organizational depending on what an employer is assessing.

Northwestern University has defined the competencies as follows:

• Skills - Abilities needed to execute job duties, such as software and computer proficiency, interpersonal skills, accounting skills, or specific laboratory techniques.
• Knowledge - Areas of speciality or expertise; for example, nursing, finance, employment, law, or history,
• Behavior - Characteristics an employee must display in the job; for instance, initiative, collegiality, resourcefulness, or professionalism (Northwestern, 2004).

When it comes to writing a job description, Northwestern University guidelines (2004) use categories, such as job information, scope, job summary, principal accountabilities, minimum qualifications, minimum competencies, preferred qualifications, and preferred competencies to organize the description. 

Competency-based interviewing is of the behavioral style. Behavioral interviewing involves the interviewer asking questions like “Tell me about a situation in which you had to make a decision on your own under pressure” (Peregrin, 2014). Interviewers may also use motivational interviewing to ensure understanding of questions answered by interviewees. 

The goal of this type of job description and interviewing is to hire the candidate that has the best traits (personality, skills, experiences, knowledge, attitudes, etc.) to complete the job successfully. As stated by Peregrin, “industry experts agree that competency-based recruitment is an efficient approach to talent management as it streamlines the hiring process and saves costs associated with ineffective hires, including recruiting and training another employee and the negative impact a ‘bad hire’ can have on employee morale.” 

Northwestern University. Guidelines for Writing a Competency Based Job Description. September 2, 2004. http://www.northwestern.edu/hr/compensation/Guidelines%20Competency%20based%20JD.pdf. Accessed October 18, 2014.

Peregrin, T. (2014). Competency-based hiring: The key to recruiting and retaining successful employees. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 114(9), 1330-1339.

SH