How to tackle competency-based interviews: The STAR Method.

Some of you may understand the concept of competency-based interviews being a seasoned professional when it comes to interviewing however others may not have that much interviewing experience. One of the most common forms of selection in Northern Ireland remains the competency-based interview, where you will be asked to describe a specific time where you demonstrated a competency in your past performance.

For those that don’t know a competency is the capability to apply or use a set of related knowledge, skills, and abilities required to successfully perform "critical work functions" or tasks in a defined work setting.

Competency based questions are tough to answer however with the appropriate planning and preparation along with the use of the STAR method you will be able to ace those interview questions. Using the STAR method ensures you deliver impressive interview questions.

What is the STAR Interviewing method?

The STAR interviewing technique offers a straight forward format you can use to tackle competency (also known as behavioural) based questions – those questions that ask you to provide a specific real-life example of how you handled a certain situation in your past performance/experience.

These questions often have openings such as;

·        Tell me about a time when…

·        What do you do when…

·        Have you ever…

·        Give me an example of…

·        Describe a time when….

Thinking of a fitting example for your response is just the beginning. Then you also need to share the details in a compelling and easy-to-understand way, without endless rambling.

That’s exactly what the STAR interviewing method enables you to do. It is helpful because it provides a simple framework for helping a candidate tell a meaningful story about a previous work experience.

So, let’s breakdown the framework. STAR is an acronym that stands for,

Situation: Set the scene and give the necessary details of your example.

Task: Describe what your responsibility was in that situation. Avoid WE in the example.

Action: Explain exactly what steps YOU took to address it.

Result: Share what outcomes your actions achieved.

By using these four components to shape your response, it is much easier to share a focused answer, providing the interviewer with a digestible but compelling narrative of what a candidate did. They can follow along but also determine based on the answer how well that candidate might fit the Job.

Answering Interview Questions Using STAR:

Knowing what the acronym stands for is the first step – you need to know how to use it. Follow this step by step process to give the best STAR interview answers.

1.      Find a Suitable Example

 The STAR interview method won’t be helpful to you if you use it to structure an answer using a totally irrelevant example. That’s why the crucial starting point is to find an appropriate situation from your professional history that you can expand on.

There is no way for you to know ahead of time exactly what the interviewer will ask of you however if you request the full Job description and personal specification ahead of the interview this will provide you with a good steer. The Job description should have the competencies mapped out and so long as the company follow standard best practise procedures the competency-based questions asked will map to the JD.

It is smart to have a few stories and examples ready to go that you can tweak and adapt for different questions.

Brainstorm a few examples of success in your previous job and think through how to discuss that success using the STAR framework. Repeat that exercise for the competencies that appear on the Job description.

If you are struggling during the interview to come up with an example that fits, don’t be afraid to ask to take a minute. In my own experience as a Recruiter and Hiring Manager I have always been impressed with candidates that have asked for a moment so that they could think of a strong relevant answer. It’s OK to take a few seconds.

2.      Lay Out the Situation

With your example selected it is time to set the scene. It is tempting to include all sorts of unnecessary details, particularly when your nerves get the best of you. But if the interviewer asks you to tell them about a time you didn’t meet a client’s expectations, for example, they don’t necessarily need to know the entire history of the project. Be specific, be clear, be concise.

Your goal here is to paint a clear picture of the situation you were in and emphasise its complexities, so that the result you touch on later seems that much more profound. Keep things concise and focus on what is relevant to your story.

The STAR method is designed to be simple. Sometimes candidates provide too much detail and their answers are too long. Focus on just one or two sentences for each letter in the acronym.

For example, imagine that the interviewer said, “Tell me about a time when you achieved a goal that you initially thought was out of reach”. Your response (Situation): “In my previous digital marketing role, my company made the decision to focus primarily on email marketing and was looking to increase their list of email subscribers aggressively”

3.      Highlight the Task

You are telling this story for a reason – because you had some core involvement with it. This is the part of your answer when you make the interviewer understand exactly where you fit in and what your accountability in the situation was.

This can easily get confused with the action portion of the response. However, this piece is dedicated to giving the specifics of what your responsibilities were in that scenario, as well as any objective that was set for you, before you dive into what you actually did.

Your Response (Task): “As the email marketing manager, my target was to increase our email list by at least 50% in just one quarter”.

4.      Share How You Took Action

Now that you have given the interviewer a sense of what your role was, it is time to explain what you did. What steps did you take to reach that goal or solve that problem?

Resist the urge to give a vague or glossed over answer like, “So I worked hard on it” or “I did some research…”

This is your chance to really showcase your contribution, and it is worthy of some specifics. Make sure you give enough information about what exactly you did. Did you work with a certain team? Use a particular technology? Form a detailed plan? Those are the things the interviewer will want to know, what you did, who you did it with, and what tools, processes or methodologies you may have used.

Your Response (Action): “I started by going back through our old blog posts and adding in content upgrades that incentivized email subscriptions—which immediately gave our list a boost. Next, I worked with the rest of the marketing team to plan and host a webinar that required an email address to register, which funnelled more interested users into our list.”

5.      Dish Out the Result

This is your time to shine and make a positive impact. The final portion of your response should share your results of the action you took. Of course, the result better be positive otherwise it isn’t a situation you should be telling. Always aim for an example with a positive outcome.

Does that mean you can’t tell stories about problems of challenges, absolutely not. But even if you are talking about a time that you failed or made a mistake, make sure you end on a high note by talking about what you learned or the steps you took to improve.

It is very important to make clear how your actions had an impact. That is the most important part of the answer.

Interviewers are not only concerned with what you did, they also want to now why it mattered. So, make sure you hammer home the point about any results you achieved and quantify them when you can. Numbers are always impactful.

Your Response (Result): “As a result of those additions to our email strategy, I was able to increase our subscriber list from 25,000 subscribers to 40,000 subscribers in three months—which exceeded our goal by 20%.”

Putting it All Together

Hopefully the STAR method is now beginning to make some sense? Here is one more question-and-answer example for some added clarity.

The Interviewer Says: “Tell me about a time when you had to be very strategic in order to meet all of your top priorities”

Your Response

Situation: “In my previous sales role I was put in charge of the transfer to an entirely new CRM customer relationship management system on top of handling my daily sales calls and responsibilities.”

Task: “The goal was to have the migration to the new CRM database completed by Q3 without letting any of my own sales numbers slip below my targets”

Action: “In order to do that, I had to be very careful about how I managed all of my time. So, I blocked off an hour each day on my calendar to dedicate solely to the CRM migration. During that time, I worked on transferring the data, as well as cleaning out old contacts and updating outdated information. Doing this gave me enough time to chip away at that project, while still handling my normal tasks”

Result: “As a result, the transfer was completed two weeks ahead of deadline and I finished the quarter 10% ahead of my sales goals”

The STAR method for answering competency/behavioural questions might seem a little overwhelming at first but it will become second nature with a little practise. And make know mistake practising is something you should do.

With just a little preparation and strategy you’ll soon view competency-based interview questions as less of a burden and more of an opportunity to showcase your skills and expertise.

Written by: Liam, TechJobsNI Limited