What is the STAR method of answering interview questions?

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Let’s face it.? Nobody loves interviewing (except maybe me, but only from my side of the table).? What I also love to do is to teach people how to interview better. Today I will focus on STAR method of answering interview questions.

STAR is an acronym that stands for:

S - Situation

T - Task

A - Action

R - Result

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You’ll want to use this format when coming up with interview answers.? The questions will typically ask you to describe a specific time or thing you did, and what happened.? These questions can be related to events, skills, or competencies.

Some examples of these questions?

• Tell me about a project where you collaborated with others.? What was the project, what was your role?
• Give me an example of when you had to overcome strong resistance from a customer?
• Tell me about a time when you had to change your approach to something because the original one wasn’t working?

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Notice that these questions are asking for one time.?

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Some of these things might happen all the time, but the interviewer is looking for you to drill down to one time.

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Let’s break down a question with the answer:

Tell me about a project where you collaborated with others.? What was the project, what was your role?

S- I was working on a project with 5 other people.? I was the project leader

T – In this project we were responsible for designing XXYY and presenting it in a Z time frame

A – As the Project Leader, I managed the timeline, delegated some of the activities and participated in all discussions

R – We completed the project on time and within the budget allotted

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This is a very simple answer, but you get the idea – one project, one role, what they did, and the results.

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When you’re preparing for an interview, you can find lists of questions, typically called “Behavioral Based Interview” or "STAR interview" questions online, and prepare answers in advance.? I highly recommend practicing those answers until you feel comfortable telling them as a story you would tell a friend.? Professional yet conversational. ?You can also make a list of your accomplishments and break them down into the components of STAR in advance, so when questions from your resume come up, you’ll have an answer ready.

Example:

I see on your resume you were able to close a deal with a customer that nobody else had been able to close – can you tell me how you accomplished that?

S- Company X had been a target for my company for several years, but nobody had been able to get past a particular gatekeeper.

T – I needed to figure out how to get past this gatekeeper to get to the decision maker to make any progress towards a sale.

A – instead of approaching this person as the gatekeeper, I approached them as the decision maker.? I created a relationship with them.? I gained their trust and respect.?

R – 3 months later I was able to get an hour with the decision maker, who had already heard great things about me and I was able to generate new business and an ongoing relationship with the company.

Again, another specific example of one situation.

Try not to talk in generalities with these types of questions, such as "that happens all the time", unless you're following it up with something like, "but let me tell you about the last time, or one specific time when this happened."

Another challenging interview question can be when you have to describe something negative.

Take the question:

Tell me about a time when you felt like you failed?? That’s a tough question, right?? We don’t like to talk about failing, especially in an interview, but there is a trick to answering this type of question.

S – I was a consultant working on a project as the Project manager for a client.? We had a very tight deadline and it was a very detailed and challenging project

T – my role in the project was to keep things moving, make sure things were moving along on time and the budget was being adhered to.

A – I had daily update calls with the team, kept a RAIL document for everyone to keep track of their parts of the project and keep everyone on task

R – despite my best efforts, we did not meet the agreed upon timeline due to several team members not completing their work on time.? I felt like had failed as the leader and as teammate. What I learned from this experience was that I needed to work on my communication and influence skills in order to be more effective in a Project Management role.? I have taken a class and have been listening to podcasts to help myself in that regard.

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See the last part of that R statement – What I learned, and what I’ve done to improve…

That part of the answer shows insight, self-awareness and the ability to admit mistakes.? Some people have told me in an interview that they can’t think of a time they failed.? Perhaps that’s true but I do think at some point in everyone’s career, something may not have gone according to plan.? I encourage you to think about that and have an answer prepared for a question like this.

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I hope this article helps – if it did, share it with a friend.? If you have any questions, feel free to message me.? I’d love to hear from you.