Build an Example Bank for Competency Interviews

Why every candidate needs an example bank

Most candidates do not have an interview problem. They have a retrieval problem.

They have done the work. They have handled pressure, made decisions, solved problems, worked with difficult people, delivered results, adapted, led, influenced and recovered from mistakes. But when interview day comes, they cannot quickly pull forward the right example, at the right level, in the right shape.

That is where an Example Bank helps.

An Example Bank is a simple but valuable tool: a working document where you review your career history and write down the strongest examples that demonstrate the skills, behaviours and judgment that interviewers are likely to examine.

It takes work to build in the first instance. But once you have it, you stop starting from scratch every time you apply for a new role.

Why this matters in competency-based interviews

Competency-based interviews are built on a familiar principle: interviewers ask about past behaviour because past behaviour in relevant situations can help indicate future performance. In structured interviews, past-behaviour questions are one of the question types that have been shown to predict later job performance.

That is why vague claims are rarely enough. Telling a panel that you are "good with stakeholders" or "strong under pressure" is weak on its own. Interviewers usually need evidence. They need to hear what happened, what you did, and what followed.

Research in this area also points in a similar practical direction. Better past-behaviour storytelling improves the quality of interview narratives, and storytelling in response to past-behaviour questions has been linked to interview performance. So while it is too simplistic to say that examples always beat statements in every context, a clear, specific example usually gives the panel more to assess than a broad assertion.

If you want to tighten the structure of your examples, read Master Competency Based Interviews, which explains the SAR/RSA approach in more detail.

What an Example Bank actually is

Your Example Bank is not a script and it is not a polished interview answer sheet.

It is a private working document. Think of it as your evidence file.

For each example, you write down a short summary of a real situation from your career that shows a skill or quality that employers value. Over time, you build up a bank of examples that you can adapt for different interviews, application forms and promotion processes.

Good examples can come from:

full-time roles

stretch assignments

projects

acting-up periods

volunteering

academic work, if you are early in your career

The key point is this: if the example demonstrates the competency at the right level, it is useful.

What headings should you use?

You do not need to guess wildly. Across most professional roles, the same broad competency areas appear again and again, even if employers use different language.

A practical Example Bank will usually include examples under headings such as:

working with others

communication and influence

judgment and decision-making

planning and organising

delivery and results

problem-solving

leadership

stakeholder management

adaptability

initiative and ownership

resilience under pressure

technical or specialist expertise

Not every role will assess all of these equally. A senior management role may lean more heavily on leadership, strategic thinking and influence. A specialist role may probe technical judgment in much more detail. But the principle stays the same: there have been moments in your career when you demonstrated the competencies required. Your task is to find them, name them and record them.

Start broad, then tailor

In the first instance, build your Example Bank around common professional competencies.

Then tailor it to a specific role.

If you have a job description, person specification or candidate booklet, use it. Read the language carefully. What are they really trying to assess? Which behaviours keep appearing? Which verbs recur?

You can also use AI sensibly at this stage. Paste the job spec into a large language model and ask it to break down the competencies, behaviours and likely interview themes being examined. That can be a useful shortcut for spotting patterns and grouping the role requirements into likely competency areas.

Do not treat the AI output as perfect. Treat it as a first pass. Use your own judgment and then refine your Example Bank accordingly.

For specialist roles, the same principle still applies

For highly specialised or technical jobs, the competency areas may be narrower or more granular.

You may see distinctions such as:

technical analysis

risk assessment

regulatory judgment

clinical decision-making

systems thinking

policy development

commercial awareness

quality assurance

That does not change the method. It simply means you need more precision.

There will still be real situations in which you demonstrated those capabilities. The job is to identify those moments and record them in a usable way.

How to record each example

Your examples should broadly follow a SAR model:

Situation: What was happening?

Action: What did you do?

Result: What happened as a result?

Keep it short. You are not writing your memoir.

For each example, note:

the competency or competencies it demonstrates

your role at the time

the context or challenge

the action you personally took

the outcome, impact or lesson

The action section matters most. That is usually where marks are won or lost in interview.

If you need a fuller guide on this structure, read Master Competency Based Interviews.

What a rough Example Bank entry might look like

Competency: Judgment and decision-making

Situation: A project had drifted off timeline because key decisions had not been taken and different stakeholders were working to different assumptions.

Action: I reviewed the dependencies, identified the blocked decisions, clarified the available options, and brought a recommendation to the relevant decision-makers. I then reset responsibilities and follow-up points.

Result: The project moved forward with a clearer delivery plan, and the immediate delay was contained.

This is enough for your own bank. It does not need to be elegant. It needs to be usable.

Why building the bank is hard

This exercise is difficult for most people.

Not because they lack examples, but because reflection is hard work. People tend to forget what they have done, collapse several examples into one blurry memory, or minimise their own contribution. Others choose examples that were important to them personally but do not actually show the competency clearly enough.

That is normal.

The first build is the hard part. You have to go back through roles, projects, crises, achievements, frustrations, changes, decisions and mistakes, and pull out the moments that say something useful about how you work.

But once you do that work, you create a resource that serves you again and again.

Why this helps beyond one interview

A good Example Bank helps with much more than interview preparation.

It can help you:

complete application forms

prepare promotion examples

write stronger CV bullet points

identify gaps in your profile

speak more clearly about your strengths

prepare for performance reviews

It also helps confidence. Not empty confidence. Evidence-based confidence.

When you can look at your own Example Bank and see a body of proof, you stop relying on vague feelings about whether you are "good enough".

A practical rule

Aim for at least two or three examples under each broad competency heading.

Some examples will overlap across several headings. That is fine. One strong example might cover communication, judgment, delivery and stakeholder management at the same time.

The point is not to create a perfectly neat filing system. The point is to make sure you have enough range that you are not forcing the same tired example into every question.

Final thought

Most candidates wait until they have an interview to start thinking seriously about examples. That is too late.

Build your Example Bank before you need it.

Review your career history. Reflect properly. Write down the situations that show how you think, act, decide, influence and deliver.

It is demanding work at the start. But it gives you something very useful: a store of real evidence, ready to be used when the opportunity comes.

Frequently asked questions