{"id":4443,"date":"2022-09-01T12:00:57","date_gmt":"2022-09-01T11:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.alison.com\/?p=4443"},"modified":"2022-08-31T14:03:17","modified_gmt":"2022-08-31T13:03:17","slug":"the-star-interview-method-for-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alison.com\/blog\/the-star-interview-method-for-success","title":{"rendered":"The STAR Interview Method for Success"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Interviews. The dreaded 45-minutes Q&amp;A that stands between you and moving up the ladder or successfully making that career switch. They are often stressful, can stir up anxiety, and sometimes make you question if you have what it takes to do the job. The truth is you do. And once you\u2019ve learned the winning technique to impress in your interview,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/alison.com\/course\/job-offer-formula-how-to-land-your-ideal-job?utm_source=alison-blog&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=blog-course-marketing\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the job<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> will be yours. So, whether you have an interview lined up or need to simply brush up on your<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/alison.com\/course\/a-complete-job-interview-skills-guide?utm_source=alison-blog&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=blog-course-marketing\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">interview skills<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the STAR interview method is the answer you\u2019ve been looking for.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>What is the STAR Interview Method?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The STAR method is an acronym (<\/span><strong>S<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ituation, <\/span><strong>T<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ask, <\/span><strong>A<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ction, <\/span><strong>R<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">esult) used to answer open-ended behavioural questions in interviews. It\u2019s a four-step system that guides you in how you should think and structure the questions posed to you in an interview. The letters stand for:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Situation:<\/strong> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fully describe a situation you found yourself in. Or explain the task you were required to accomplish.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Task:<\/strong> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Explain your specific tasks, responsibilities, and the goals you were working toward in the above-mentioned situation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Action:<\/strong> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Outline the different steps and actions you took to resolve the situation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Result:<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Narrate what the result and outcome of the situation was.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This method allows you to answer questions in a structured and compelling way. When you do this well, you put yourself in a positive light and indicate that you can handle pressure \u2013 in real-life work situations and in an interview.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>When Should You Use the STAR Method?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Knowing the STAR method is important going into the interview. However, knowing when to use it is more important. Not every question you will be asked will need you to answer using this format. It\u2019s important to be able to identify behavioural questions so that you can give the right answer at the right time. These behavioural questions are easy to spot, and you\u2019ll recognise them when you hear questions leading with the:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Have you ever\u2026<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Can you describe a time when\u2026?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Please share an example of a situation when\u2026<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tell us about a time when\u2026<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Give me an example of\u2026<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We have all come across these kinds of questions in an interview. And if you aren\u2019t fully prepared and caught off guard, a messy response won\u2019t reflect the skills and achievements you showcased in your resume. By using the STAR method, you prepare yourself for the inevitable questions with answers that will impress the interviewer.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Sample STAR Interview Question and Answer<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Okay, so now you have a pretty good idea of the STAR method and will be able to recognise the behavioural question when asked. The question then becomes, how exactly do I answer it? Let\u2019s go through one example together below:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Interview Question: Can you give us an example of when you had a tight deadline and had a task to complete?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Step 1: Situation<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recently, the company decided to redirect its marketing strategy by focusing on email marketing and thus wanted to aggressively increase our email marketing list.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your objective is to set the scene, provide perspective and provide the foundation of the rest of your answer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Step 2: Task<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In my role as a Communications Officer, my team was tasked with increasing our email subscription list by 30% by the end of the next quarter. Here, my goal was to create email content that would be compelling, interesting, and result in sign-ups and boost subscriptions.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Answer this part of the question with some specifics about your role in the scenarios presented and the objectives you had.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><i>Step 3: Action<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I did this by introducing a few strategies to lure our customers and visitors to subscribe. I focused on three key aspects to achieve this. I actioned incentives to email subscriptions, upgraded and repurposed content that we had and worked with the team to host monthly webinars with industry leaders on interesting topics that needed email addresses to sign up and thus be added to our email mailing list.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Clearly describe your input, contribution, and the part you played in meeting the objectives. Expand on what steps you took, what measures you sought and more detail on the monthly plan to achieve these action items.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Step 4: Result<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a result, my strategies helped us increase our email subscriber mailing list by 25% within the four-month period. While we didn\u2019t fully meet the 30% target, the growth showed value and to that end, monthly webinars have been introduced and our subscriber list is increasing.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Don\u2019t be afraid of mentioning the challenges, but always be sure to highlight the high notes, successes, and lessons learned from this. This indicates that you take ownership and are willing to learn and improve.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>STAR Method Interview Tips for Success<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You do not want to sound robotic, but your answers should flow. This requires some preparation on your part. As Benjamin Franklin said, \u201cBy failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Review job description:<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> This highlights the key skills they are looking for and thus allows you to recall stories that will align with these and emphasize your<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/alison.com\/course\/soft-skills-for-professionals?utm_source=alison-blog&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=blog-course-marketing\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">skills<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Choose your stories:<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Have several stories that will be useful to answer the range of possible behavioural questions that will come up. Choose stories that are relevant and meet the STAR targets.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Jot down key points:<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Nerves are a common feeling in interviews. With nerves, comes forgetfulness. Note down key points of each story and make sure they follow the STAR. If you have figures to support your story, even better.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Practice:<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0Yes, practice does make perfect. Or it will get you relatively close. This will help you \u201cfeel the flow\u201d of the story,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/alison.com\/course\/how-to-speak-effectively?utm_source=alison-blog&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=blog-course-marketing\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">speak effectively<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, feel more natural and boost your confidence.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In behaviourial psychology, the best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By using the STAR interview method in your answers, you demonstrate your ability to handle various situations. And achieve results. When you do this, you show them you have the skills, experience, knowledge, and success record to handle any similar future occurrences.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Interviews. The dreaded 45-minutes Q&amp;A that stands between you and moving up the ladder or successfully making that career switch. They are often stressful, can stir up anxiety, and sometimes make you question if you have what it takes to do the job. The truth is you do. And once you\u2019ve learned the winning technique [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":4444,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alison-in-action","match-height"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/alison.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Blog-header_STAR-interview.png","featured_category":"Alison in Action","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alison.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alison.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alison.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alison.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alison.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4443"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/alison.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4448,"href":"https:\/\/alison.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4443\/revisions\/4448"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alison.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alison.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alison.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alison.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}