What is the STAR Interview Method?
Today’s job market is stronger than ever, and candidates have endless opportunities at their fingertips. But that doesn't mean it’s easy to land your dream job. Recent research has shown that remote and hybrid jobs receive seven times the applicants as in-person positions.
Therefore, standing out during the interview is key to landing a more flexible, higher-paying, or otherwise better-fitting job.
Candidates should thoroughly prepare before an interview by researching the company and learning about the open position. Most interviewers will ask you about yourself and have at least a few behavioral questions, that is, questions about how you’ve acted or would act in specific scenarios.
According to SHRM, behavioral questions aim to determine a candidate's experience level and potential to handle similar situations in the new organization. Employers expect a well-articulated short story about how you’ve handled certain cases.
Behavioral questions generally start with prompts like:
Tell me about a time…
Share an example of a time…
Describe a time when…
Have you ever…
But job interviews are nerve-wracking. It’s easy to get overwhelmed during an interview and forget everything you’ve prepared.
When you’re answering interview questions with a story, you want to ensure that the story is well structured and the takeaway is clear. Your goal should be to give your interviewer all the context they need to understand what happened while still answering the question clearly and concisely.
Therefore, candidates should familiarize themselves with the STAR method. The STAR method is a technique to concisely answer certain job interview questions using specific, real-life examples. It is a simple way to provide a good answer, even when feeling nervous.
STAR stands for:
- Situation: Set the scene by briefly describing the problem, challenge, or event you faced.
- Task: Explain what your responsibilities were in that situation. What role did you play?
- Action: Describe the steps you took to overcome or address the challenge.
- Result: Share what you achieved through your efforts.
Situation
You must first set the stage for the story by sharing context around the situation or challenge. It’s generally best to describe relevant work experiences, but academic projects or volunteer work are also suitable if you're a recent graduate.
Because interviewers are more concerned with the actions you took and the results you achieved rather than the actual situation, it’s important to share just the right amount of relevant detail by identifying the few most important pieces of information necessary.
Indeed.com gives a short and to-the-point situation example:
“In my last role as lead designer, there was a point when my team was short-staffed and facing a significant backlog of work. The account managers were setting unrealistic deadlines, causing stress for my team and affecting morale.”
Task
Your task explanation should be one to two sentences at most. Describe your responsibility or role in the situation or challenge. In other words, discuss the goal or task set out for you.
Similar to the situation, consider just one or two points that best illustrate the task you needed to complete.
“As a team leader, it was my role not only to ensure my team met our deadlines but also to communicate bandwidth to other departments and keep my team motivated.”
Action
The action part of your answer requires the most in-depth description because this is what broadly indicates if you are fit for a role. You must identify and discuss a few of the most vital steps you took to find success.
Although companies primarily focus on teamwork, it’s important to highlight what you did in the situation. Remember that the employer intends to hire you for the role rather than your team, so you should use the word “I” to highlight your particular contributions.
“I designed a new promotional packet to go out to the local community businesses. I also included a rating sheet to collect feedback on our events and organized internal round table discussions to raise awareness of the issue within our company.”
Result
The result portion of the STAR method should bring all the pieces together. What was the outcome you reached through your actions? Although you should spend less time discussing the results than your actions, decide on the most impressive results and go in-depth about these.
You should also explain the effects of your efforts. Discuss what you learned, how you grew, and why you’re a more vital employee because of the overall experience.
“We utilized some of the wonderful ideas we received from the community, made our internal systems more efficient and visible, and raised attendance by 18% the first year.”
“I took these learnings, continued to apply this structure, and as a result, we shortened our average project timeline by two days in the next quarter. I also learned how important it is to communicate clearly across teams.”
