STAR Method
When preparing for an interview, one of the most effective ways to answer questions is using the STAR method. The acronym STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result, a 4-step process that will help you convey your ideas clearly, efficiently and sequentially. As a consequence, it is one of the most popular systems among recruiters because it presents them with a holistic overview of your experience and skills through concrete examples. Regardless of the situation, mastering this method will allow you to express your ideas in a meaningful and organised way.
1. Situation
Although the questions in an interview will address common situations of the role you’re applying for, don’t worry if you cannot immediately relate them to your professional experience or background. The most important thing is to relax and to draw an example from your personal or academic life.
In this first stage, you’ll have to explain the situation by setting a clear context: Where were you working and what were your responsibilities? How many people were on your team? Who was the client? What was important for your role?
Example:
Interviewer: Tell me about a time when you made a mistake at work.
Candidate: In my previous role as management consultant, I was in charge of analysing, forecasting and presenting the financial needs for our clients’ acquisition or expansion projects. I worked in a team of 5 people, counting my boss, myself and three colleagues that I supervised. Accurate data in every report and presentation were crucial since businesses rely on it to make multimillion-dollar decisions.
2. Task:
After you’ve identified the context, focus on explaining the task or purpose of this particular example. What were you planning to achieve? Who else was involved? What happened?
Example:
Candidate: Once, we were working on a client’s expansion plans. I supervised my colleagues who compiled the data and ran multiple models for our analysis while I checked the information and worked on the graphs. When everything was ready, we scheduled a meeting to share our findings with the client. At the moment of the presentation, a board member pointed out that something seemed a bit off with our projections and asked whether we had considered the latest data set that he had sent me a couple of days ago.
3. Action:
Explain what you decided to do and how you acted. What were the challenges you faced? Did you have to negotiate? Who was involved and who was impacted? What skills did you use to achieve this task?
Example:
Candidate: So, I owned my mistake straight away. I apologised to our client and said that I hadn’t, but I would complete the data, run the models and present the results later that week. We were amidst many other projects and the team was overwhelmed with work. I wanted to solve everything by myself, but I knew we were going to do everything faster as a team. So, I prompted a meeting with everyone. I apologised for not realising about the email I got and I suggested to organise our collective projects by relevance and urgency. For a week we shared responsibilities across the team. My leadership and communication skills were particularly crucial to handle the situation.
4. Result:
End your answer by describing your achievements or improvements. What did you accomplish in the end? What did you learn?
Candidate: In the end, we managed to get the report done and double-checked on time without forsaking any major tasks. The client was happy with it and everybody seemed to move on. After this, I decided to thank the team for their good work and effort and we brainstormed a list of steps that could help us avoid this type of mistakes in the future. We agreed on organising mock presentations to expose any mistakes before the actual meeting with our clients. The most important lesson, for me, was realising how transparency and good communication are crucial. Realising that everyone makes mistakes, but that we need to move on, was something valuable that I also like to keep in mind.
In conclusion, the most important part about the STAR method is that it allows you to give meaningful answers. Don’t stress out if you’re applying for your first job, changing careers or don’t have a particular skill, there are many ways to prove that you are the one for the job regardless of your background and life experience.
The best advice is to practice, to brainstorm in advance many different situations that can analysed and told from many different perspectives. That way you can work on a particular set of robust answers that will make you feel and seem confident during the interview.
