Job interviews can be nerve-wracking, especially when faced with behavioral questions. I spent 7 years as a Recruiter at Google (I still work there!), hired hundreds of candidates and interviewed thousands. The STAR method is an approach I coached all my candidates on using, and have used my-self in interview preparation.
The STAR method can help you craft compelling responses that showcase your skills and land you the job.
So, what is the STAR method?
It’s a simple yet powerful framework for structuring your answers to behavioral interview questions. STAR stands for:
Situation: Briefly describe the context of a specific challenge or experience you faced.
Task: Explain the task at hand, what was your specific role or responsibility in that situation.
Action: Detail the specific steps you took to address the challenge. Highlight your key actions and decisions.
- Reminder to make sure you’re highlighting what YOU did, not only speaking about what action others on the team took. Interviewers want to hear what your specific role & impact were in the situation.
Result: Quantify the outcomes of your actions. How did your efforts benefit the team or project, what was the impact?
Bonus – I’ve also heard of STARL, which is adding the “L” to represent Learnings. What did you learn from the experience? What would you do differently if faced with the situation again?
Why use the STAR method for interview preparation?
Clarity and Structure: STAR provides a clear and concise structure for your response, ensuring you stay focused and hit all the key points.
Storytelling Power: By weaving a narrative around your experience, you engage the interviewer and make your answer more memorable.
Highlights Skills and Achievements: STAR allows you to effectively showcase your relevant skills and accomplishments, providing concrete evidence of your capabilities.
Two of the biggest areas of feedback I heard over the years from interviewer’s passing on candidates were 1) The candidate’s responses were long-winded and didn’t directly answer the interview question and 2) The candidate was unable to clearly articulate their role & impact in the situation presented, even with follow-up questions. The STAR method can help you avoid these pitfalls.
Optimizing Your STAR Performance
1. Pick the Right Situation: Choose an experience that directly relates to the skills and qualities mentioned in the job description.
Key Prep Tip: Prepare a few STAR examples tailored to different types of behavioral questions you might encounter. This is what will really help you feel, and actually be, prepared. I recommend mapping out the different skill sets needed for the role, then come up with a work example for each of them. For example, if I believe that ‘influencing with data’ was a key competency for the role I was interviewing for, I’d make sure to have an example of where I accomplished just that.
Here are a few examples of what I mean by attributes that I’d want to prepare STAR examples with:
- Influencing without authority
- Cross-functional collaboration
- Effective decision making
- Managing a change/landing a change
- Story-telling with data
Note: You don’t have to have a different example prepared for each attribute, there’s not need to prepare 10+ different stories. For example, you may have a time where you used data to tell a story to senior leaders and ultimately influenced them to make a certain decision. That story would cover two attributes, and you could use it for whichever attribute your interviewer asks about. I recommend candidates come up with 5 unique work experiences that they can flex across the different skill sets that are needed for the role.
Make sure you know which example you will use for what attribute. Before my own interviews I made sure to review my notes so I knew in advance if I got a question about synthesizing data I’d use XX example, if I got one about cross-functional collaboration I’d use XX example. This is what can help cut down on your nerves. You can go into the interview knowing you have multiple, thoroughly prepared responses, for a variety of topics and you can flex each of them in a way to cover the question at hand.
2. Focus on Impact: Emphasize the positive outcomes of your actions and quantify them whenever possible using numbers or data.
3. Be Specific: Avoid generic statements and provide specific details about your actions and the situation.
Again, this is where I heard the most feedback from interviewers. Candidate’s speaking in vague statements, not really getting into the meat of their own role and what they personally drove. You need to be specific.
4. Practice Makes Perfect: Rehearse your STAR responses beforehand to ensure you feel confident and articulate during the interview.
Key Prep Tip: Practice out loud. Always. What you rehearse in your mind is different from real life. You don’t even need to rehearse in front of a mirror, just out loud. If you want to take it a step further, do it with a friend or record your-self. What you may believe is a well-structured STAR response could end up being long-winded and confusing. Additionally, practicing your responses out loud will help capture them to memory without the over reliance on notes.
You want to be prepared and have examples, but you should not be scripted. With many interviews being virtual now, it gives you the opportunity to have more notes in front of you. Do not read your examples off of a paper word for word. The interviewer will absolutely be able to tell and it will come off disingenuous. Practice & prepare, but do not recite a scripted story from your memory without adjusting it for the question at hand. You want to be prepared and nail the question, without losing points for sounding fake.
Remember, effective interview preparation is key to success. By mastering the STAR method, you can transform your interview responses from disorganized statements to powerful narratives that showcase your value and articulate the impact you can have. You’ll be well-equipped to tackle any interview with confidence.