The four letter secret to winning the job.
Demonstrating that you are the best candidate for the job can be difficult to articulate, especially when you’re in the middle of a high pressure job interview. That’s why it’s so important to have tools and strategies that make it easier to navigate prickly job interview questions.
“So what’s the secret then?”, I imagine you’re asking. The secret is STAR. This is a tool that can be used to answer so many of the questions that will be put to you during the interview process like “Can you name a time you have dealt with conflict?” or “Can you describe your management style?”.
STAR stands for situation, task, action and response. These four steps help you to breakdown and articulate how you’ve dealt with challenging situations in the past, the actions you took and the result they created.
Let’s break it down further.
Situation = Set the scene for the interviewer. What happened? Where did it occur and who was involved?
Task = What had to be dealt with and what was trying to be achieved?
Action = In order to create a positive outcome what individual action did you take? It is important that you centre your own answer around your own actions, not just the groups activities – the focus is on your input.
Result = What was the direct result of your actions? Can you put a number to the impact of your actions? Was the outcome as you had hoped?
A great way to start is to create a STAR example for each of the following questions that are regularly asked in job interviews.
- Can you demonstrate a time you used your strengths in the workplace?
- How do you like to lead teams and what positive outcomes have you created in the past?
- Tell us about a time that you managed a complex problem in the workplace?
- Can you share a time that you had to resolve conflict with a co-worker?
We have created a link to a worksheet that you can use to write your own STAR examples. You are a valuable resource to companies and we want to help you to clearly and confidently articulate how.
Lastly remember, practice, practice and breathe. Being great in job interviews is not a natural skill and is only learnt through having prepared so that you can feel confident and less anxious on the day.