What is a competency model?

A competency model is a tool that helps employees and employers understand what behaviors are important for success in a particular role. Competency models help teams focus on the most relevant qualities when interviewing candidates and hiring new employees.

Why is a Competency Model Framework Important?

A competency model is a document that describes the skills, attributes and behaviors required to perform a job effectively. It is often used by organizations to identify the essential qualities needed in employees to achieve business goals.

Competency models usually consists of seven to ten separate characteristics, which are intended to represent the ideal candidate for a specific role. They can be used in the recruitment processes and can also help with succession planning and talent management initiatives by identifying high-potential employees as well as those who could benefit from additional training or development opportunities.

How Does It Work?

Competency models need to be heavily calibrated with respect to specific roles within an organization; otherwise, they won’t serve their intended purpose very well.

For example: if you’re trying to determine whether someone will make an effective salesperson at your company, you may want them to possess certain personality traits such as assertiveness and confidence (among others).

But these same qualities might not necessarily translate into success when applied toward other positions within your firm (such as customer service representative). Understanding what traits are most important at any given time allows teams more appropriately select talent without wasting time interviewing candidates who aren’t right for any particular role within their team.

Why Use a Competency Model?

A competency model can help you with a variety of HR processes, including:

• Preparedness - Interviewees can sniff out a disorganized process when they see one, even if people are good at hiding it. After all, you’ve sourced smart candidates, right? But when interviewers already know what questions they will ask in what order, the process becomes much smoother—for them and the interviewee.
• Easier decision-making - Structured interviews collect the most relevant data you need to select the best candidate.
• **Speed and consistency **- Often, interviewers are scrambling to think of questions right before the interview. Premade interview templates save interviewers time. Plus, running through a clear process enables your team to get faster and better at interviewing, ultimately enhancing your recruitment branding.
• Less bias - The interview process will become less about how much interviewers like the person, and more about how candidates respond to the same scripted questions. This also makes the results easier to compare between candidates.
• Scalability - When you’re undergoing rapid growth, it’s easy to let things slip. But if you have a structured process for each role, hiring for many positions at a time becomes much more organized.
• Better hires - Research shows that structured interviews are more predictive of job performance than unstructured interviews across all functions and levels.
• **Performance management. ** Competencies have been shown time again as being one of the best predictors of future performance. They can also help you chart out clear career paths in each department in your organization.
• Happier candidates overall - Candidates feel like more thought went into a structured interview, and they appreciate being judged fairly. Even rejected candidates have a better experience一at Google, rejected candidates who had a structured interview were 35% happier than those who did not have a structured interview.

Who Can Use One?

A competency model can be used by any organization, regardless of size or industry. It’s also a good tool for any role and department within your business — from HR to finance to marketing.

A competency model is a valuable tool for any organization looking to improve its hiring process. It allows you to assess candidates based on their skills and abilities rather than just their experience or education level. By using this method, you will be able to find the candidates that best fit your business instead of just going with whoever looks good on paper.