How to Win Behavioral Interview Questions Using the STAR Method
By Career Tips

Winning interview questions depends on the approach you are using. Among the methods is the STAR method. The STAR method is used by job candidates to demonstrate how they meet the skills and qualities listed in a job description. Interviewers use the STAR method to predict how a candidate will perform in a given job. It describes a real situation, how things used to be before, the task, the goal, actions, the action items that help you achieve the goal and results, and the outcome of your actions. 

Examples of Behavioural Interview Questions (The How Questions)

  • Share an example of a time when you faced a difficult problem at work. How did you solve this problem?
  • Have you ever had to make an unpopular decision? How did you handle it?
  • Describe a time when you were under a lot of pressure at work. How did you react?
  • Tell me about a mistake you’ve made. How did you handle it?
  • Share an example of a time you had to make a difficult decision. What did you do?
  • Explain a situation where you used data or logic to make a recommendation.
  • Tell me about a time when you disagreed with your boss. How did you resolve it?
  • Describe a time when you had to deliver bad news. How did you do it?

Situation (S): Set the ground for your story. Spend a significant amount of time describing how things used to be during an internship, volunteer work or a project. For example, low sales volume, low participation of citizens in community activities etc. Describe what was the cause.

Task (T): Clarify your role or responsibility for the situation. Describe what you were supposed to do to improve the situation. The ideal goal is to increase sales volume by 25%. 

Action (A): Describe the actions you took in response to the situation. Tell in detail about small action steps that can help you achieve the goal. For example, created a sales database, and conducted targeted cold-calling reachouts, and regular follow-ups.

Be careful that you don’t describe what the team or group did when talking about a project, but what you did. Use the word “I,” not “we” when describing actions.

Result (R): Describe the outcome of your actions. Tell the outcome of what you were doing, and do not forget the challenges you faced and potential lessons you learned throughout your journey. Don’t be shy about telling the outcome of your behaviour. For example, increased the student performance in Mathematics from 30% to 70% students in six months.       

Other Relevant Examples:

Situation (S): Advertising revenue was falling off for my college newspaper, The Review, and large numbers of long-term advertisers were not renewing contracts.   

Task (T): My goal was to generate new ideas, materials and incentives that would result in at least a 15% increase in advertisers from the year before.

Action (A): I designed a new promotional packet to go with the rate sheet and compared the benefits of The Review circulation with other ad media in the area. 

I also set up a special training session for the account executives with a School of Business Administration professor who discussed competitive selling strategies.

Result (R): We signed contracts with 15 former advertisers for daily ads and five for special supplements. We increased our new advertisers by 20 percent over the same period last year.

Ensure that you are specific, clear and concise. In addition, your story should align with the role you are looking for.