Mastering the STAR Technique for Behavioural Interviews
What is STAR Technique?
The STAR technique is the structured manner of responding the behavioural- based interview questions by discussing specific situation, task, action and result of the situation. For example, describe a situation that you are in, what you have done to complete it, the actions you have taken and the consequences of that situation.
Or Simply Put:
STAR interview method is a behavioural interview technique. STAR interviews rely heavily on storytelling techniques. For example, when a hiring manager asks a question, you must accurately describe the situation and explain your actions, actions taken, and the outcome of the situation.
What Does STAR Stands for?
Situation:
Disclose details of the specific event.
Task:
Explaining your responsibilities in that situation
Action:
Describes how you accomplished the task
Result:
Outline the impact of your actions
How to use the STAR Framework?
Question: “Tell me about a time where you were faced with multiple competing deadlines. What did you do and how did it turn out?
Situation: what was the situation the candidate was in?
E.g., “Tell me about a time…”
Task: what was the task the candidate needed to accomplish?
e.g. “Where you were faced with multiple competing deadlines.”
Action: what were the actions the candidate took to accomplish this task?
E.g., “What did you do and…”
Results: what were the results of these actions?
E.G., “How Did It Turn Out?”
Make sure when you go for an interview you use STAR method. In an interview make sure that you are to the point and say it without hesitation and also not providing too much information. Oftentimes students have to be prompted to include their results, so try to include that without being asked. Also, eliminate any examples that do not paint you in a positive light. However, keep in mind that some examples that have a negative result (such as “lost the game”) can highlight your strengths in the face of adversity.
What are the Mistakes while Answering STAR Question?
- Not answering the question at all: If an interviewer asks you a question and you cannot think of the situation from the past to apply on it. Instead of keeping quiet and not answering it, you can simply say “if I had encountered a situation like that, this is how I would have dealt with it.”
- Not being prepared: This means the candidate has come unprepared and starts speaking of a story which leads to confusion for the interviewer.
- Being too prepared: This means that the candidate has come prepared with his stories and he can say it properly when asked by the interviewer.
- Telling a story that is anything but success: Whenever the candidate goes for an interview, he/ she should talk about his/her success stories. Because telling a story which has no positive outcome may lead to not getting hired in that organisation.
- Telling the story that has nothing to do with the question asked: Make sure when you answer the questions they are related to the question and not going out of line.
Five things that help in better outcome of STAR
- Be Prepared: The candidate should go prepared for the interview and that can be done when he/ she knows about the job they have applied for and through the key words they can build the STAR
- Be Specific: The candidate should answer to the point and not going out of the way.
- Be quantitative: The candidates should have the actual facts and figures, as the hiring manager can ask.
- Be Concise: The candidate should keep his/her story short and sweet.
- Be honest: The candidate should be honest while telling about the situation.
When to use STAR Method?
While there is literally an unlimited amount of possible behavioural questions a hiring manager can ask you, but there are specific categories they all fall into:
- Team Work
- Problem Solving/ Planning
- Initiative / Leadership
- Interpersonal Skills
- Pressure Or Stress
While going in for your interview, the candidate should make sure that he/she should take a good look at the job he/ she is applying for and use key words from job description to prepare your STAR answers. By picking out what skills the company is specifically looking for or are required for the job, it will help you target your success stories.
Once you have identified those skills, go through your own personal history and background and find success stories that align with those skills.
In fact, we wanted to let you know that we have created an amazing free checklist for behavioural questions that covers all the critical info you need when dealing with these tricky types of job interview questions!
Most Common Questions asked in interview for STAR
Tell me about a time when you were faced with a challenging situation. How did you solve it?
Do you usually set goals at work? If yes, could you give me an example of a goal you had and how you achieved it?
Give me an example of a time you made a mistake at work.
Have you ever faced conflict with a co-worker? How did you resolve the situation?
Tell me about a time when you handled a high pressure situation effectively. .
Was there a time when you had to be very strategic in order to meet a goal?
Give me an example of a situation when you showed initiative and took charge of a situation.
Tell me about a time when you went above and beyond your duties for a job or task.
Did you ever have to correct one of your superiors when they were wrong? How did you approach that situation?
Have you ever had to work under a tight deadline?
How do you deal with co-workers that don’t cooperate or can’t contribute enough?
Tell me about a time when a client was asking for the impossible. How did you explain and communicate this to them?
Conclusion:
- The STAR acronym stands for: Situation, Task, Action, and Result.
- Behavioural interview questions ask you to give an example of how you’ve handled a specific situation at work. They help the interviewer predict how you might react to similar scenarios in the future.
- The STAR method is a structure that you can follow in order to answer behavioural questions in a concise way.