You’ve written a stellar resume and cover letter, you’ve filled out the application, and all your hard work has landed you an interview with your dream job! For some, this is their opportunity to shine and showcase a new side of their personality. For others, it is one of the most difficult hurdles of the application process.
The STAR interview method is a good tactic for how to approach an interview question. In preparing for your interview, it is important to know your resume inside and out by recounting and choosing moments from your experiences that would be good to talk about in an interview. For many behavioral questions, it is important to paint a picture of your past experiences and show evidence that proves your success and competency. STAR stands for Situation, Task, Activity, and Result. These four steps can help you frame your experiences in compelling and persuasive ways.
STAR Method
Situation
This is the context and background for your story. Talk a little bit about the who, what, where, and why of the situation.
Task
What did YOU do? This is not what the company was in charge of or what the team was in charge of. The recruiter is hiring you, not your team or company. Therefore, it is important to introduce what you were in charge of in this story and what you did specifically.
Activity
Now you launch into the meat of your story. What actually happened and what did you do?
Result
How did all of these events conclude? What happened in the end? This is also a great opportunity to quantify your experience.
Example
Question: What is your greatest weakness?
Answer: My greatest weakness would have to be my difficulty with multi-tasking. I struggle with juggling many projects but am making efforts to prioritize and stay in open communication with my coworkers and managers.
Situation
At my past internship, we had a huge deadline to ship one of our products by the end of the summer.
Task
As one of the interns there, I was in charge of creating a presentation about the product. However, I also had many other tasks such as compiling a report on our market analysis and coordinating meetings with clients.
Activity
I found that with our deadline coming so soon, some of my other responsibilities began slipping through the cracks. Once I realized this, I talked to my manager about what projects were more important and which ones were more flexible with their due date.
Result
This open communication allowed me to prioritize projects and focus on one project at a time. With this renewed focus, I was able to create a compelling and persuasive presentation that increased funding into our product budget by 15%.