3 Tips to Interview like a STAR
You may have heard of the “STAR” Interviewing technique. If you’re a pro, skip to the tips below to level up :)
If this STAR concept is new to you, let’s take moment to introduce it. The STAR interview format is a technique for structuring your answers to interview questions. It’s an acronym that stands for Situation, Task, Action & Result. This approach is most often talked about to answer “behavior questions” (e.g. “tell me about a time when…” or “give an example of…” which gives the interviewer a glimpse into how you’ve behaved previously (and how you’ll likely behave in the future).
So why use the STAR format?
It drives you to answer the question at hand (no wandering)
It showcases past experience (telling them what you’re likely to do in the future)
It gets you to the point ASAP (leaving plenty of time for their additional questions)
Now here’s what it looks like:
Situation: Describe the context for the work you performed. For example, it was a team project, you had a conflict with a colleague, you discovered a bug in a program that was already behind schedule, etc.
Task: Next, you explain what you were responsible for. For example, as the team lead you were responsible for…, you were overseeing quality control for a specific element of the project, etc.
Action: Then, talk about what you did. Focus on the most impactful steps you took to drive success (and create the result you’re about to talk about). For example, you created a new system, initiated a difficult conversation with empathy, reviewed new documentation, etc.
Result: Finally, tell them what happened because of your action. This is the grand finale of your answer and resolves everything you talked about above. When possible, include what you learned, or how you grew because of this experience.
Tips to Interview like a STAR
Focus on the Action. The situation & task just help set the scene. The result is the curtain call. You want to spend the bulk of your time digging into the Action because that tells the interviewer what you did & can do for them.
Answer with “I”, not “we.” They’re not interviewing your team. They’re interviewing you. When you say “we implemented a system…” or “we reduced cost by X%” that doesn’t tell them how YOU contributed. Focus on your contribution to the team.
Give examples even when they don’t ask. Those behavioral questions make it easy to know you should tap into the STAR technique. BUT! Your answer to a “How do you stay organized?” or “Are you comfortable delegating?” is even stronger when you tap into the STAR technique as well. For example “I’m a really visual person so I stay organized by…for example <insert STAR scenario>”
Try these tips and let us know how your next interview goes!
