Have you got an interview coming up? Everyone knows preparation is key, but a lot of us don’t know where to start. The STAR method may help you overcome interview nerves by equipping you with a technique to answer even the most difficult questions.
In this guide, we outline the STAR interview technique and method, including example questions and advice on preparing for an interview.
What is the STAR interview technique?
STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result. It is a technique which can be used to answer questions at a job interview. Have you ever struggled to come up with concise examples which demonstrate your experience? Or maybe you find it hard to balance the fine line between sharing accomplishments and sounding overconfident.
The STAR method can help you to answer questions in a way that gives you a chance to share concrete examples of your skills and experience. Put simply, it’s a framework that helps interviewees tell meaningful stories about their previous work experiences.
Why behavioural interviews are used
The STAR method is perfect for answering behavioural or competency-based questions. These are often used in interviews to gather examples of how you’ve responded to particular situations in the past. It’s a good indication of your ability to do the job you’re applying for.
The start of the question is often the tell-tale sign it’s assessing your competency. They tend to open in the following ways:
- Describe a…
- Tell us about a time…
- Have you ever…
- Do you have an example of…
Some examples of full behavioural questions include:
- Describe a time when you worked well under pressure
- Share an example of a situation where you had to solve a problem
- What would you do if you had to escalate a team performance issue?
- Have you ever had a conflict at work?
If you’ve ever been in an interview and your brain has gone blank when you needed to think of an example, you’re not alone. The open-ended nature of competency questions can be a stomach-dropping moment. So many of us have grasped at straws and stumbled our way through with a response that only partially responds to the question.
Instead, by preparing for an interview with the STAR method, you’ll have a structured response to rely on for an impressive amount of detail. When asked how you would react or respond to certain situations, you’ll be giving real-world examples as evidence of your experience.
When to use STAR technique
The most obvious time to use the STAR technique is during an interview. But you can also use the method in written form as part of your:
- CV
- Cover letter
- Application form
These are all opportunities for you to provide examples of relevant skills, knowledge, and experience.
How to use the STAR interview method
The four parts of STAR structure your response to a question. By using all four, you know you’ll be giving a comprehensive answer. Ideally, you’ll be providing interviewers with a digestible but compelling narrative of what you did. It shouldn’t be too long (aim for around one or two sentences for each part), but does need to cover the following:
1. Situation
First things first, you need to provide context to your example. Describe the situation when it took place and what was involved. This is your opportunity to set the scene. Try and be specific where possible, including names and dates, to add credibility to your story.
2. Task
As a result of this situation, what needed to happen? Build on the background you’ve just given and explain how it related to you, including tasks that needed to be completed to resolve the challenge. Remember that you’re telling this story for a reason. It’s relevant to the interview because you were involved in the solution of a challenge. It’s useful to address how important it was to overcome and why, as well as any constraints you came across. The goal is for the interviewer to understand what your role was.
3. Action
Next up, you’ll want to provide details about the actions taken to reach the goal. Avoid being too vague, saying things like ‘I worked hard’ because you want to really showcase your contribution and that requires detail. For example, who did you work with and why? Did you use a particular tool or piece of software? What was planned and for when?
Don’t be tempted to take all the credit. Acknowledge where you used the support of other people while outlining the steps you took to ensure a successful outcome.
This is the stage to really tailor your answer to the skills the interviewer wants to see. Reflect on what they’ve asked and whether your actions demonstrate a clear example of those skills. For example, if they’ve asked for a time when you’ve worked under pressure, consider adding details about deadlines and expectations, and whether they were met or if you had to come up with a compromise.
4. Result
In summary, the STAR method ends by sharing the result of your action. What was the outcome? There should be a clear resolution – a happy ending to the challenge you outlined in the ‘situation’ portion. Where possible, make that ending quantifiable. It adds further legitimacy to your claims. For example, the amount of money saved or gained, or the impact on time or number of people. This is your time to shine and outline what impact you had.
Examples of STAR interview questions and answers
Your response to any question will obviously depend on what job you’re going for and your previous experience. Don’t be tempted to lie in an interview as you’ll be missing the details interviewers are looking for and you’ll quickly be caught out if you can’t actually perform the skills necessary for the job.
Nonetheless, examples are helpful while you’re doing your preparation. Here are some classic competency-based questions and how the STAR method can be used to form an answer – we’ll work through the first example step by step:
Question 1
Can you share an example of a time you’ve shown initiative during your career?
1. Situation: When I was a PR coordinator, I supported my line manager on all client campaigns. We prepared all the work together, but she always presented pitches and results. Unfortunately, she had an accident and was unable to work just a fortnight before a major pitch.
2. Task: We still needed to finalise the details of our pitch and polish the presentation. It needed forecasted figures added and for internal approval to be signed off. I volunteered to step up and lead the management of the pitch, including the presentation to the client.
3. Action: I called an emergency meeting to coordinate the efforts of the creative, media and finance teams. We worked out our priorities, forecasts and identified everyone’s tasks over the upcoming weeks, including who would do what for the presentation. I was going to lead so I scheduled mock presentations to prepare. I made sure I would have the final concepts and forecasts two days before the pitch.
4. Result: By preparing with plenty of time, I felt confident going into my first pitch without my manager. The client appreciated our attention to detail and the pitch was warmly received. They adopted the campaign, and I got a promotion a couple of months later.
And here’s what the STAR method might look like in full:
Question 2
Describe a time you had a conflict at work and how you overcame it.
Answer: When I was working as part of a sales team, we had feedback from another department on our performance. They weren’t happy. I was responsible for my own performance and wanted to keep the morale of the whole team high, so set up a meeting to discuss. Together we acknowledged there had been some miscommunication and that the other department would benefit from receiving regular updates from sales. We set up emails to go out weekly to report on sales figures to the whole company. As a result, we received much greater recognition and buy-in from the whole team as a result.
Question 3
Tell us about an instance where you achieved a goal that you initially thought was out of reach.
Answer: As a social media assistant in a previous role, the company decided to focus heavily on Twitter. They wanted to increase followers and engagement. My target was to increase followers by 50% and engagement by 25%. I began by researching what our competitors were sharing on social media and how well-engaged their community was. I identified numerous opportunities to create new content and began working with the marketing team to schedule this. Within six months, we had a calendar of content for the blog, tied in with relevant events, and with scheduled slots for Twitter updates. We increased engagement by 30% and were 90% towards our target of an extra 500 followers.
Question 4
What do you do when you’ve had to deal with a dissatisfied client?
Answer: As the front of house at a restaurant, there were times clients were unhappy with their food. I remember one particular customer who had been served their meal but without the side of chips, they’d ordered. Another member of the team had noticed them talking at their table, but they hadn’t mentioned it to us. I wanted to be proactive and turn a potentially bad situation into something positive. I acknowledged we had missed items from their original order and when clearing the table asked if they would like a free dessert, confirming that the missing items would also be off the bill. They had desserts and ended up leaving us a positive review online later that week, mentioning me by name.
Another example STAR interview questions
Fancy practising some of your own? Try these competency-based examples:
- Share a time when you felt like you failed
- Explain a situation when you had to make a split-second decision
- Describe an example of when you set a goal and did (or didn’t) achieve it
- Have you ever had to deal with immense pressure in the workplace?
- Share an example of when you’ve had to deliver bad news
- Tell us about a time you had to deal with conflicting priorities
- Share a time when you felt confident
How to prepare with the STAR method
You can use STAR before you even have an interview. But once you have an interview lined up, that’s the best time to work on the finer details of your potential answers. Here’s a great way of preparing:
Identify skills required in the job description
Whenever you’re applying for a job or preparing for an interview, go back to the job description. It should outline everything the employer is looking for. It gives you a summary of everything you should be demonstrating, so read it carefully and draw out all the potential skills you need to show – either as part of your application, qualifications, portfolio, interview or any other relevant time.
If you want to start preparing using the STAR method but haven’t been offered an interview yet, just look through the job descriptions and the required or preferred skills and personal qualities.
Create your own list of examples
You may already have started preparing a list of examples using the STAR method. Whether you have or not, start to think of specific examples of occasions when you displayed certain skills. For each example, make sure you know the situation, task, action, and result.
Common skills employers may be looking for include:
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- Problem-solving
- Teamwork
- Service delivery
- Decisiveness
- Leadership
- Analytical ability
- Initiative
- Persuasion
- Creativity
- Accuracy
Match your examples to the job’s required skills
This is the important bit. You need to be critical of yourself about which examples match up to what the employer is looking for. These are the examples you need to practice with to prepare for your interview to demonstrate you possess the skills and experiences required to excel in the job. On the day of the interview, you want to be confident you have examples that are as closely related to the job requirements as possible. By preparing a few examples, you won’t be reusing the same situation to answer different questions.
Other STAR interview method tips
The STAR technique is a simple yet powerful way of explaining how you’ve handled specific work situations and challenges in the past. We’ve gone through step-by-step instructions for structuring your stories, provided examples to work through on your own, and shown you how to prepare before your next interview. To maximise your chances of success, here are some final top tips:
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Keep it relevant
When preparing for an interview, you’ve got a tricky task. You don’t know what they’ll ask, but you do need to prepare. It’s important to brainstorm examples of challenges, successes, and lessons learned from your current or previous jobs but keep it relevant to what you’ve been asked. You don’t need to use every example in your interview – pick the ones that answer the question best.
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Remember it’s OK to mention mistakes and adversity
Interviewers ask competency questions to discover how you respond to difficult situations – it’s unrealistic that you haven’t faced any challenges throughout your career. The question itself may ask about challenges. It’s how you react to them which will appeal (or not) to an interviewer.
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Keep your tone conversational
The STAR method is a structured system, but you don’t want your interviewer to feel like they’re talking to a robot. Remember the four parts you need to mention but keep it conversational and natural. You may be asked questions before you manage to wrap up, but always return to provide a result to your example. You just don’t need to follow it so strictly that it affects the flow of the interview.
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Test your connection
A lot of interviews are conducted virtually nowadays. If that’s the case for your interview, make sure you’re prepared. You’ll need somewhere quiet and free of distractions or interruptions for the call, and it’s sensible to test your internet connection. Over the last few years, while working from home, people have come to an understanding of the reality that some interruptions or lapses in connection are unavoidable but prepare wherever possible.
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Ask for time if you need it
Struggling to remember your STAR structure or come up with a response? Don’t be afraid to ask for a moment. They might feel horrible for you, but brief pauses are absolutely fine and show that you’re considering a thoughtful response. You can also buy time with things like ‘That’s a good question’ or ‘I’m glad you’ve asked about that’.
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Practice, practice, and practice some more
The STAR technique can feel a little overwhelming at first, but with practice, it’ll feel a lot more natural. You can practice with someone else as a sort of mock interview or run through your answers on your own. Whatever you do, just make sure you go over a few examples. By talking through your answers, you’ll figure out how best to answer in a natural, comfortable way.