STAR model interview: what it is and how to pass it successfully
- Alicia burmeister
Among the recruiter's working methods, there are many ways to test the potential employees. For each individual position, the interview will take place differently: some recruiters test the knowledge for a particular position, others will apply the PARLA or STAR models, and so on. However, it is difficult to surprise candidates who really want to get a job and prepare for every interview. It is for such applicants that we have collected tips that will help you successfully pass the STAR interview and get the desired job.
What is a star interview?
The STAR model is a competency interview or behavioral interview.
Recruiters call interviews based on the STAR model the most difficult, but most effective in selecting candidates. During the interview, the applicant is asked to tell real stories from their experience, and based on these stories, they are evaluated. Therefore, untrained candidates rarely pass such an interview successfully. After all, it is often very difficult to remember a story that will help emphasize your professionalism in a particular situation, in conditions of excessive excitement and stress.
The answer to the STAR model question consists of the following parts:
S – Situation-the situation that a candidate encountered. What is this situation? How did it arise and under what conditions did it occur? How important was it to work with?
T – Task-the task that the candidate was facing. Who set the task: the manager or you personally?
A – Action-your specific actions to solve the problem. What difficulties did you encounter during this work? What did you do to solve the issue? What did you feel?
R- Result – the result that was achieved. Specific examples with numbers that can demonstrate these results.
The STAR method is suitable not only for experienced candidates. After all, it is quite possible to show your competencies for a vacant position thanks to examples of stories from university or everyday life.
How do I prepare for a star interview?
When preparing for such an interview, it is important to start not from the competencies themselves, but situations. You need to build the response based on the model given above. So:
Read the vacancy and, based on the requirements, choose 4-5 stories that can show your experience and work results as a response to these requirements. It is important to analyze the situation by its importance and your role in solving it because everyday situations in which you were more of an observer will not help you get an offer in any way.
Remember as many details as possible in the selected situations. Here you need everything you did, said, behaved, felt, what other people said and did.
Decompose the situation into the S-T-A-R model (see above).
To describe the results of the situation, you can also add an item about your conclusions that were drawn from this situation, what it could teach you, and so on.
Recruitment & Selection
Example of answering a question based on the STAR model
The answer to the recruiter's question: "Tell us about the time when you showed your leadership qualities" can be something like this:
"When I worked for company N, there were massive layoffs due to quarantine and the crisis. As a result, there are still several employees in the team who were overworked. This led to their dissatisfaction, errors during operation, and reduced productivity.
I needed to get them back to their previous performance.
So I gathered the whole team and thanked them for their good work in times of crisis. Then I told all the employees to come up with some ideas to improve the efficiency of our work. We recorded all the ideas and voted for the top 5.
The team felt elated because their opinions were being listened to. Therefore, employees focused all their energy on work, and not on complaints about life. The ideas proposed at the meeting were implemented: we abandoned the time eaters and began to work more efficiently. My manager even asked me to share this technique with other managers."
Preparation is important for any interview, and even more so for the STAR interview.
It's good if the recruiter warns you about the interview format, but you should have at least one winning competency story before any interview.
About the author: Alicia Burmeister is a recruitment agent, content creator, and contributor to EssaysWritingHelp, where anyone can hire essay writer. She is also passionate about fashion and sustainability.