Preparing for an interview in advance is crucial for success. The STAR technique can help you prepare for competency-based questions and help you answer questions in a structured and well-balanced way.
What is the STAR technique?
STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result. It is a technique which can be used to answer questions at a job interview. This technique can be used to avoid situations where you don’t know what to say or how to answer the question properly. You also want to be able to effectively communicate your skills and experience when answering to give you the best chance of being hired.
These four parts of the STAR interview technique will help you to structure your answer.
S is for Situation
Make sure you begin your answer by providing a situation or context to your answer. This will give your answer more credibility and will help the interviewer follow your answer. You can set the scene by providing dates and names of places or previous jobs/situations you’ve been in that relate to the question.
T is for Task
From the situation that you just described; what tasks needed to be completed to solve the problem? Remember you’re relating this to the question the employer just asked, so make sure you’re answering the question in a relevant way. This will show the employer that you understood the crux of the problem and how to overcome it. It would also be important to mention why it was important to overcome this problem for the wider needs of the business.
A is for Action
You’ll then want to address the actions you took to overcome the problem. Make sure you outline to the potential employer what role you played in overcoming the problem. Don’t be too vague with your answer either, make sure you go into detail about the tasks you had to do. This gives you an opportunity to really showcase your skills and your strengths and how you used them in a business setting when a problem or situation arose.
R is for Result
At the end of your answer, you will want to outline to the potential employer the result of your actions. Did your problem-solving skills help the business? At this stage of your answer, you should clearly outline the result and hopefully a happy outcome to the problem. How did you benefit the business? Did you save them money or time, did you help clients? This is the perfect time to showcase to the potential employer the positive impact you had on the business.
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