Using the STAR Interview Approach
The STAR interview method is a technique that helps candidates prepare for interview questions that determine whether they will be able to handle specific situations associated with a job.
STAR stands for:
situation, task, action and result. This method allows you to have a concise response that addresses the key points to prevent rambling and potentially losing your audience.
How does the STAR Approach work?
The STAR method helps you create an easy-to-follow story with a clear conflict and resolution. Here’s what each part of the technique means:
- Situation: Set the stage for the story by sharing context around the situation or challenge you faced. Share any relevant details.
- For example, “In my last role as lead designer, my team was short-staffed and facing a significant backlog of work. The account managers were setting unrealistic deadlines, which was causing stress for my team and affecting morale.”
- Task: Describe your responsibility or role in the situation or what you were trying to accomplish.
- For example, “As a team leader, it was my role not only to ensure my team met our deadlines but also to communicate bandwidth to other departments and keep my team motivated.”
- Action: Explain how you handled the situation or overcame the challenge. If the action was carried out by a team, focus on your efforts.
- For example, “I set up a formal creative request process including project timeline estimates to set better expectations. I scheduled weekly meetings with account managers to discuss my team’s bandwidth and share progress updates.”
- Result: What was the outcome you reached through your actions? If possible, quantify your success or provide concrete examples of the effects of your efforts.
- For example, “By providing more transparency into my team’s processes and setting better expectations with the account managers, we were able to re-prioritize the design team’s to-do list and complete everything in our backlog. The following quarter, we shortened our average project timeline by two days.”
How to use the STAR Approach to prepare for an interview
While you won’t know the interview questions ahead of time, most behavioral and/or situational interviews will focus on various work-related challenges that demonstrate critical thinking and problem solving, and situations that showcase leadership skills, conflict resolution and performance under pressure.
To prepare for your interview, review the job description and required skills and consider what sorts of challenges might arise or what obstacles you may have to navigate in the position. Then, make a list of the various situations you’ve handled in your professional history that would display the sorts of strengths you’ll need to succeed in the role.
If you’re new to the workforce and don’t have a lengthy professional history to draw from, consider examples from internships, volunteer work or group projects you completed in your coursework. In some cases, employers may ask you to share a non-work-related example, so consider challenges or obstacles you’ve overcome in your personal life, too.
No matter what stories you decide to share, make sure you define a situation, task, action and result, and showcase skills and abilities most relevant to the job.