Ace Your Next Interview with the STAR Method!

By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. - Benjamin Franklin

Welcome to this week's edition of our newsletter, we're diving into the STAR Interview Technique—a proven strategy to ace behavioral interviews by providing structured and impactful responses.

Read on to discover the key components of the STAR method, tips for perfecting your answers, and common myths to avoid!

I was working in corporate, in Telco. I was heading into my first interview and was only 12 months into the company. I had never experienced the STAR technique before.

Personal branding was something I already had a concept of, without the title of PB. I was acutely aware that by touching on my uniqueness, charisma, and passion, which are really aligned with my core values, I always stood out. I knew I had an informal and conversational communication style and that people felt immediately comfortable with me. Storytelling has always been an innate skill of mine, so I could lean into these things very naturally.

My cover letter was always my secret weapon. It was how I stood out and snagged the interview. Of course, I totally bombed the interview! But guess what? The manager advised that they liked me so much I almost got the job anyway! They recommended I go and get a bit more polished and learn more about STAR so I could learn the formula and answer in the way they were looking for.

What Did I Learn?

Practice Makes Perfect: The only way I was ever going to really nail this technique, like any presentation, was to commit to it and practice, PRACTICE, and more practice! Write it out, say it out loud, video it, watch the video and repeat.

Have 3-5 Examples at Your Fingertips: Don't practice answering questions. This is a key piece of information. Have 3-5 great and robust examples that you can speak about, with ease, in the STAR format and ones that you can easily change up especially for curve ball questions. Simple and authentic responses using 'I' and not 'we' statements.

Employ an Expert: I realised I needed to practice with someone else, pretending they were interviewing me so I could get used to a poker face or lack of engagement from them. Plus getting real time feedback is invaluable to tweak responses on the spot.

Let's Talk About STAR

What exactly is this technique and why use it?

DDI invented the STAR method as one of the simplest and most effective ways to communicate in an interview or when providing feedback. It's based on three simple components:

• ST: Situation/Task - Explain the situation or task so others understand the context.
• A: Action - Give details about what you or another person did to handle the situation.
• R: Result - Describe what was achieved by the action and why it was effective.

STAR is an acronym for a format that helps guide discussions around feedback. It's also valuable for gathering information from interviewees during the selection process.

Example Questions

Tell me about a time when you had to complete a project under a tight deadline.

What I'm looking for: A specific situation, your role in meeting the deadline, the actions you took to manage the time constraints, and the outcome of your efforts.

Describe a situation where you had to work with a difficult team member.

What I'm looking for: The context of the situation, your role and the challenges faced, the steps you took to handle the team dynamics, and the result of your actions.

Can you give an example of a time when you went above and beyond your job responsibilities?

What I'm looking for: A specific instance, what you were originally responsible for, the additional actions you took, and the positive impact or results of those actions."

My Proven STAR Formula

What exactly is this technique and why use it.

Use this method when practicing and time yourself. Once you have written your responses out, make sure you match these to what's on your resume as the interviewer(s) will have it in front of them.

• Situation/Task (1-2 minutes): The situation needs to match a company on your resume, e.g., 'When I was working as a Senior Software Engineer at Google, Project xx I was working on had an extremely tight deadline.'
• Action (3 minutes): Using 'I' statements and not 'we' and don't make anything up YOU didn't do. Walk through your steps in a logical manner, e.g., 'First up I planned out xx and thought about what issues could occur.'
• Result (1 minute): Close it out with a positive result, e.g., 'The project launched out just 3 days out from the deadline and (insert quantifiable number results) and overall it was considered a success by the company because xxx and they felt xxx. What I learned here was xxx and now I do things like xxx.' TOTAL TALK TIME: 5 minutes

IMPORTANT: The only time you would use a non-positive response in the RESULT is if you wanted to show what you learned from this and what you now do differently in a new role, project, etc.

Tips for Using STAR

• Be Concise: Keep your responses focused and relevant to the question. Avoid going into unnecessary detail that doesn't add value to your answer.
• Use Real Examples: Use real-life experiences from your past jobs, internships, volunteer work, or academic projects. Authentic examples resonate more with interviewers.
• Highlight Your Skills: Tailor your examples to showcase the skills and qualities the employer is looking for. Align your actions and results with the job description.
• Practice: Rehearse your STAR responses to common behavioral interview questions. This will help you feel more confident and articulate during the actual interview.

Body Language Matters

How you engage with the interviewer is as important as your response. When interviewing candidates, in addition to the content of their answers, interviewers also pay attention to non-verbal cues such as body language, eye contact, and intonation. These elements can provide insight into a candidate's confidence, engagement, and communication skills.

Myth Busting STAR

STAR Guarantees Job Success

Not True: While the STAR method can help you provide clear and structured answers during an interview, it does not guarantee that you will get the job. Many factors contribute to hiring decisions, including your overall fit for the role, your technical skills, cultural fit, and other candidates' qualifications.

Only Applicable for Behavioral Questions

Not True: Some believe that the STAR method can only be used for behavioral questions. While it is specifically designed for such questions, elements of the STAR framework can also be useful for other types of questions, though it might not be as structured or necessary.

REMEMBER - STAR isn't rocket science. Keep it simple, honest and authentic. Don't make anything up.

Hi I'm Kirsty Norton and I am a refreshingly unconventional and relentless tech career coach.

If you'd like to read more of my articles then dive in here: https://www.hustlewithease.co/blog

Or if you are looking for some cool career resources, this is for you: https://www.hustlewithease.co/tech-career-growth-resources

Thinking about working with a coach, then let's talk: https://hustlewithease.as.me/schedule.php

Have a great rest of your week!