Using the STAR Interview Method to land an it job

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This acronym can help you share your experience and skills in a more interesting and engaging way.

During your job search, interviewers will ask you to tell a story. They will start with prompts such as "describe a time," "imagine a situation," or "when did you..."

The STAR method:

• Describing a situation you experienced
• Talking about a task you completed
• Explaining the action taken
• Discussing results

The STAR method is a way to organize your thoughts and relay an anecdote that efficiently and effectively shows your interviewer how you behave in certain situations.

What is the STAR interview Method?

According to Theresa Adams, senior HR knowledge advisor at the Society for Human Resource Management, an association for human-resources professionals, behavioral questions are those that call for a STAR answer.

Competency-based questions aim to discover how a person performed in certain situations, while situational questions ask candidates how they would approach a hypothetical situation.

"This provides candidates with a means of communicating a response in an organized fashion with a focus on behaviors and results."

STAR questions help you focus on your accomplishments and results in a concise and focused manner, which is essential in an interview setting. "The benefits of using behavioral interviewing techniques are clear," Adams said. "Not only does it give the interviewer valuable insights into the candidate, but it can also be used to verify information provided by references."

The STAR technique is a great way to show off your skills in an interview - so be sure to use it!

Negative STAR example:

Question:

Describe a time when a project failed.

Situation:

We onboarded a client that had been with the company in the past but left because they were unhappy with the customer service they received. The client has decided to give us a second chance.

Task:

Onboard and welcome this boomerang client, making sure they feel like they made the right decision in returning.

Action:

Prior to meeting the client, my team including sales and customer service met to determine exactly what occurred during the initial meeting, and then created a plan of action to rectify those situations. For example, the client had previously received check-in communication from customer service every two weeks; we decided to inquire if one week would work better. We also decided that the account manager would, time permitting, fly out to see the client every three months, and also offered the client a three-month free trial of a recently introduced product.

Result:

The client seemed pleased with our efforts, but still left our company after a few months. In retrospect, we may have tried too hard to keep them as a client, or it may have just been meant to be. In any case, I, my team, and the other teams learned a lot about each other and about client retention methods, so all things considered it was a good experience.

It is beneficial to have a few stories about your past work experience that you can share with your interviewer in order to grab their attention and showcase your personality. If you can share stories that make you stand out from other candidates, it is more likely that you will receive a call back with a job offer.

This is the STAR method broken down:

Situation:

It's the first component in the answer to "tell me about a time or instance or situation when you..." Your role here is to set up the situation, and for example, let's turn to James Durago, director of people operations at Molecula, an Austin, Texas-based software company. Durago used the STAR technique when he was interviewing for his job at Molecula.

He was asked when he had to quickly grow a team, and he replied with how he did it.

Task:

Durago's task was to find and interview thousands of candidates with the goal of hiring hundreds. When interviewers are looking for answers to STAR questions, they're really looking to see how much detail you can provide, how well you take personal responsibility, and how consistent your information is, said Adams of SHRM. If you try to blame or shame someone else in your story—like a client, colleague, or other party—it raises a red flag. So does giving a story that's light on detail or full of inconsistencies.

Action:

Durago's team needed to grow five-fold, so he talked to others to get a perspective on why, figured out constraints to hiring, formulated a plan, executed the plan, and iterated as needed.

At any point in STAR, an interviewer might jump in with follow-up questions. For instance, Durago said, if a candidate explains that they took a certain action, the followup question might be what other courses of action they considered, and why they moved forward with a particular plan.

Result:

Our team rose to the challenge and exceeded expectations!

Revealing the result is only the first step, it's also important to share what you learned from the experience and how you would handle it differently in the future. Showing your future potential is just as important as demonstrating your past accomplishments. The STAR format is an effective way to turn your accomplishments into a strong story.

Leadership opportunity - STAR Example

Question:

I'm interested in hearing about a time when you were unexpectedly put into an unfamiliar role.

Situation:

I had been with my company for approximately six months when my manager was forced to take substantial Family and Medical Leave Act leave to care for his parents. I was asked if I would step in as the acting manager during his time away.

Task:

Keep the team on track and handle my own work.

Action:

Before he left, my manager, his manager and I met to go over the day-to-day aspects of managing our team as well as prioritize projects. Because I was cognizant that I’d have to get my own work done and manage the team, I got permission to place two long-term projects on hold until my manager returned. I then met with my team to devise a weekly plan for meeting deadlines and we set up a weekly 15-minute team meeting, in lieu of formal one-on-ones, to keep us on track. To keep my own work on track, I created a day-by-day plan and stuck to it.

Result:

My manager's time away ran smoothly. I felt proud that I had asked for, and gotten, certain dispensations during hisabsence; I feel it showed that I understood priorities, for instance handling my own work and keeping the team'sday-to-day work on track, and didn't try to be a superhero. My manager returned and was happy how things had gone during his absence, and six months later, I received a promotion.