The star method for answering behavioral and situational interview questions is a recipe for success that you should be familiar with employers will generally ask interview questions designed to test your level of career readiness so how do you demonstrate that you are ready for the job the star method for answering those
questions gets to the heart of what you actually did in a previous role how you did it and what you accomplished as a result you should use the star method to describe your former assignments duties and accomplishments which will help a potential employer understand how you approach tasks and resolve challenges in a variety of situations you want to be thorough in your answers and qualify and quantify your experience if possible first is the situation where you provide the context and background for your example next is the task describe the objective issue or challenge relating to the question that the interviewer asked follow by explaining the action you took to reach the objective or resolve the issue and end with the result share what happened and the impact of your actions let’s look in an example together tell me about a time when you had trouble working with a co-worker manager or group member here is a not-so-great answer where the candidate uses the star method ineffectively I had an access project to complete with other students in class one student didn’t want to contribute which was frustrating I talked to them and we worked together to come up with a solution we ultimately completed the project successfully here is a better answer using the star method in my database systems class I was assigned a three week long group access project with six other students the assignment included a written essay detailing our approach and result one student was
extremely reluctant to contribute to the essay because he wasn’t confident in his writing skills he and I collaborated and communicated to assign him tasks that he
felt more comfortable and confident completing after this the group worked together efficiently and every part of the project was successfully completed thanks to the team effort notice the differences in the answers the better answer offers qualified and detailed responses in each section and quantified where applicable to create a clear vision for the hiring manager and to show that a deadline was set and achieved the better answer proved that the candidate worked well in a team environment assisted a fellow team member and reached success on the project example provided make an impression in your interview by using the star method to help a potential
employer understand your past experience and how you will handle challenges in the workplace for more practice use our mock interview tools online or schedule a mock interview with a career educator directly through handshake.
