The STAR interview technique of responding to job interview questions provides a framework that you can use when crafting your response to interview questions.
What is the star method for answer interview questions?
The acronym STAR stands for:-
S-Situation
T- Task
A- Action
R- Result
S: job seekers should clearly explain the situation or the task that requires completion.
T: the candidate should explain the task that was completed in response to the situation.
A: refers to action. This response should provide the details in a step by step fashion of the tasks completed to remedy the situation.
R: is the result that occurred directly due to the actions taken.
Why is the Star Interview Technique Important?
The Star interview technique is important since it provides job seekers with a framework to answer interview questions in a clear and succinct manner.
Job interviewers love to gain deeper insight into the candidate that they are hiring. Hence, behavioural interviews are common.
Behavioural questions are asked to get a deeper understanding of how the interviewee thinks and how he or she will react in various settings.
In an interview setting, your achievements must be supported by clear facts. Your future employer needs to have real life examples of where or how you have demonstrated a required skill in the past.
If you are a recent graduate, you can use examples from university life to support behavioural questions.
Star Interview Questions
Below are some examples of interview questions where the STAR method will be useful for a management position and a customer service assistant.
Star Interview Questions for Management Position
- Describe a situation where you disagreed with your manager. Explain how you dealt with it?
- Tell me about a project that you managed successfully end to end.
- Give me an example of a task/project that you attempted and fail.
- Tell me about a time when you had to fire a colleague.
- Explain how you deal with difficult co-workers
Star Interview Questions for Customer Service Assistant
- Tell me about a time when you had to deal with an irate customer.
- Give me an example of a time when a customer reported you to your manager.
- Explain how you deal with a difficult co-worker who you needed to support the achievement of your work goals/objectives.
- Give me an example of a time when you have significant overage/shortage at the end of the day in your cash balance.
- Describe a situation where you worked during a major customer service crisis.
Star Interview Examples
Star Interview Example for Management
Example: Tell me about a project that you have managed end to end.
Situation
As Sales Manager of XYZ Ltd, I was asked to reduce the number of after sales complaints coming into the call centre over a 3 month period.
Task
I met with the supervisor of the quality assurance team and agreed four actionable steps.
- Refresher training of all call centre agents to ensure knowledge of the product.
- Refresher training for all field sales agents
- Increase the sample of calls monitored by quality assurance agents to gain deeper understanding of the nature of complaints
- Improve the recruiting and onboarding process of new agents
Action
Over the period the following actions were executed:
- The onboarding of new agents was increased from 3 days to 5 days.
- New agents were given an assessment at the end of the training. 80% pass mark was required by each agent.
- 100 field agents and call centre agents were trained. An assessment was administered after the training. 80% pass mark was also required. Agents who failed the test were given 3 days to pass to review the course content.
- The sample calls monitored by the quality assurance agents was increased to 20% outbound calls.
- Short 5 minutes morning trainings were implemented to improve knowledge gaps.
Result
At the end of 3 months, incoming queries into the call centre reduced from 110 per month to 20 per month.
Star Interview Example for Customer Service
Example: Tell me about a time when you had to deal with an irate customer.
Situation
John Brown, a VIP customer was billed incorrectly for the second consecutive month. In month 1, the charges were reversed. The customer was assured that the issue was resolved. However, the incorrect billing has re-occurred and the customer is considering moving to the competitor.
Task
I met with the billing team to discuss the issue to get to the root of the problem.
Action
I visited the customer at his office with revised billing records. Apologised profusely for the error and inconvenience.
Result
Customer remained as a VIP customer of the company. Billing was corrected moving forward for the customer.
There are other articles on the blog with tips for excelling at job interviews. Feel free to click on the links below to explore:-
9 Effective Internal Job Interview Tips
How To Ace An Internal Job Interview
How To Ace A Skype Job Interview
A Comprehensive Guide to Informational Interviewing
7 Red Flags That You Should Look For In A Job Interview
35 Important Things To Do Before, During And After A Job Interview
21 Top Tips and Tricks For Successful Job Interview
11 Essential Questions To Ask A Job Interviewer
10 Job Interview Pitfalls That Job Seekers Must Avoid
5 Practical Factors You Should Consider When Travelling For Job Interview
How To Pass a Written Job Interview
A Comforting Prayer to Say Before A Job Interview
A Fervent Prayer For A Job Interview
How To Write A Persuasive Elevator Pitch
17 Free Career Aptitude and Personality Tests
Final Thoughts
The star interview technique is a very useful tool to help you prepare for job interviews.
Prior to attending an interview, I suggest you use examples such as the questions listed above and reflect on your previous job experience.
Prepare answers based on your past experience and how these may be relevant to the role.
By preparing effectively using the STAR interview technique, you should be ready to ace your next job interview.
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