A resume tells you that a candidate has the required skills and background for the open role. A cover letter confirms their interest in the position.

An interview, then, is a critical step for evaluating a candidate's critical thinking, decision-making, and interpersonal skills. Essentially, it's an opportunity to dig deeper into an interviewee's potential, and the STAR interview method is your shovel.

What is the STAR Method?

The STAR Method is an acronym that is best understood by what it stands for:

• Situation – Describe the context
• Task – Provide details on your responsibilities
• Action – Demonstrate how you responded or took charge
• Result – Explain the impact you made or the lessons you learned

The STAR Method provides you with a structured way to answer behavioral interview questions. It can be easy to ramble and be unfocused in your responses without such a strategy. This is especially true if you’re asked a question you’ve never heard of before and you’re thinking on the spot.

Now that you know what the STAR Method stands for, let HRavailable go into each component in detail.

Situation

When providing the context of your experience, try to start with a hook that draws your interviewer’s attention. Set up the stage so that you demonstrate that the experience you went through was significant, interesting, and/or challenging. Just like any good movie or book, setting the right tone from the start is crucial to keeping your interviewer engaged.

Task

After getting your interviewer hooked at the beginning, you’ll next need to describe the task at hand. Don’t exaggerate to the point where your tasks seem unbelievable, but also don’t sell yourself short. Elaborate on why you were an important part of a team or project to showcase that you have experience working in – and excelling in – challenging environments.

Action

This next step is where you get to the real meat of the story you’re telling. Think of this as the climax of a book or movie. Explain how you responded to the tasks you faced and more importantly, how and why you made your decisions. Consultants love to dive deep into the reasons behind their actions. Impress your interviewer by staying a step ahead of them!

What Is the STAR Interview Response Method?

The STAR interview response method is a way of answering behavioral interview questions. Behavioral interview questions are questions about how you have behaved in the past. Specifically, they are about how you have handled certain work situations. Employers using this technique analyze jobs and define the skills and qualities that high-level performers have exhibited in that job.

Star interview method tips

Impressing at a competency-based interview is all about the way you tell your story, so it’s particularly important to prepare for this sort of interview. Put some concrete, quantifiable details down on paper, which could fit a range of situations.

Don’t shy away from including a bit of adversity or failure. It humanises you and helps convince the listener of your sincerity. All jobs involve difficulties. The interview is trying to figure out how you’ll handle them.

To evaluate each candidate you interview fairly, you'll want to ask questions to understand how they'll perform in the role. The STAR method is a behavioral interviewing technique that can be used to gain those insights.

Interview questions using the STAR method urge candidates to tell a linear story. From this story, interviewers can identify a sense of judgment in the candidate that might not be visible in more generic skill-based interview questions.

A final word of wisdom about the STAR technique: as a structured system, it can help guide your answers and calm your nerves, but don’t follow it too rigidly – you’re not a robot. Make sure your responses flow naturally, from one point to the next.

So HRavailable suggests keeping it natural, conversational, and concise; and this acronym will be your new best friend at your next interview.

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