You might be wondering what are the things that block you from nailing an interview. You begin to feel upset when you can’t even nail even just one interview.

This is what we recommend: Use STAR Interview Method.

And now you begin to wonder…

What is the STAR Interview Technique?

Hold your questions for now and stick with us because we will all about STAR Interview Method including:

1. What is the STAR Interview Technique?
2. STAR Interview Method Key Concepts
3. How to Prepare for an Interview with STAR Method?
4. How to Answer Interview Questions with STAR Method?

OK. So, let’s start from the question you’ve been wondering..

What is STAR Interview Technique?

Well, STAR Interview Method is a technique adopted by job applicants in answering behavioral interview questions when he or she is being interviewed with the Human Resource Manager (HRM). This is an opportunity for the job seeker to provide specific personal examples or evidence that he or she has the skills and experiences required to excel in the job they are applying for. You can utilize this framework to tell your success stories that happened in the past.

Also read: Tips on Using the STAR Technique to Answer Job Interview Questions

STAR Interview Method Key Concepts

STAR is an abbreviation of four key concepts. Each concept is a step in which a candidate can take to answer behavioral interview questions. Let’s jump right to the concepts in the acronym:

Situation: First, you begin from the situation. Explain the situation at which you performed work or faced a challenge at work. For instance, you might have worked on a collective project or you might have had an encounter with a workmate. However, these contexts might be similar to work experience or some other related event. Try as much as possible not to be generic but be specific about the circumstances you faced that time.

Task: Then, you continue with the task you had in the condition. Stress further to explain your role in this situation. It might have happened in the past that you assisted your team in completing the project even when you are extremely busy or resolve a fight with a coworker.

Action: Go on to describing the specific actions you took to do your task. Explain further on steps you took in the completion of a task or your attempt to complete this task tried to complete this task. Lay emphasis more on what you personally did and coworker, group, or boss did.

Result: In conclusion, close it with the result. Describe the outcomes gotten from the step taken. You can stress a bit about what you did or the knowledge acquired.

You can explain the competencies you’ve listed down in your resume by using the STAR method. These are the list of skills that can be investigated during an interview:

• Communicative
• Teamwork
• Initiative
• Leadership
• Problem-solving skills
• Analytical thinking
• Stress resistance
• Time management
• Negotiation skills
• Planning
• Result orientation
• Process orientation

You might also wonder about what are the questions that can be answered using the STAR method. Well, the interviewer may ask you questions like these:

• Narrate to me about a time when you were supposed to conclude a job within a short period of time.
• Have you ever exceeded a deadline?
• What do you do when you found yourself in a situation whereby a team member neglects their part of the task?

Also read: 19 Examples of STAR Interview Questions Plus How to Answer Them Using STAR Method

How to Prepare for an Interview with STAR Method

Since nobody will inform you in advance about the kind of interview method that will be adopted by your interviewer, it is however very important for you to prepare numerous scripts for the jobs that you are applying for.

First and foremost, prepare a list of the skills and experiences required for the task and match your qualification to those listed in the posting. Perhaps, you can find a list of requirements needed in the job vacancy offer.

Subsequently, put into consideration some specific instances of how you exhibited the skills. Name the situation, task, action, and result for each instance.

Ensure you update your curriculum vitae and cover letter then print copies of the updated one and go with it to your interview. 

You might need to look out for general questions of the behavioral interview and make attempt to answer them utilizing the STAR approach.

Irrespective of the examples you selected, ensure they are very similar to the task you are being interviewed on.

Also read: How to Use STAR Method Technique for Interview Questions

How to Answer Interview Questions with STAR Method

Interviews may be scary. You might get anxious in every interview especially if you are being interviewed for the job that has been in your mind lately. Here are some tips from us to remind you about the STAR method you can use to ace your job interview:

• Remind yourself of the situations in which you exhibited the right behavior. You can explain planning, your leadership and teamwork experience, customer service, training, and work projects. 
• Get ready for a short-lived explanation of each situation. Be ready to talk more on each description upon request.
• Ensure each of your stories has a logical start and ending (remind yourself of the STAR concept).
• Always ensure that the results you explain characterize you in a positive way (even when the result seems to be negative).
• Be truthful. Make sure you do not elaborate on the story and do not also remain quiet about the details.  If the story is not true, the interviewer will surely know this.
• Be very precise. Try not to generalize or explain numerous situations of the same kind at the same time.
• Provide them with illustrations from different parts of your life.

Also read: STAR Interview Mindmap

To Sum It Up

Interviews most likely will make you nervous. Going on a lot of interviews may help reduce anxiety since you get used to the environment and challenges in being interviewed. But that’s not enough. You need to apply some strategies in order to ace your interview so that you can get the job you’ve been dreaming of.

One of the strategies you can use is: STAR Interview Method which stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result. This way, you can tell your stories to the interviewer better which add more values of your story thus make the interviewer impressed to you.

So, that’s our tips on how to nail your job interviews. But, before nailing interviews, you have to make sure that your resume is great in order to get those interview invitations. Check out How to Write the Best Resume in 2020 and How to Make Cover Letter if you need further details about the steps before the interview.

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