Quintessential Careers Press:
The Quintessential Guide to Behavioral Interviewing
Chapter 4: Strategies for Formulating Behavioral Interview Response Stories
Page 19
Let’s first look at one of the most commonly cited and basic formulas, STAR:
STAR Interviewing Response Technique for Success in Behavioral Job Interviews
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Situation or
Task |
Describe the situation that you were in or the task that you needed to accomplish. You must describe a specific event or situation, not a generalized description of what you have done in the past. Be sure to give enough detail for the interviewer to understand. This situation can be from a previous job, from a volunteer experience, or any relevant event. |
| Action you took | Describe the action you took and be sure to keep the focus on you. Even if you are discussing a group project or effort, describe what you did -- not the efforts of the team. Don't tell what you might do, tell what you did. |
| Results you achieved | What happened? How did the event end? What did you accomplish? What did you learn? |
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Example STAR story
Situation: Our company had just won a major outsourcing contract, resulting in spinning off 2,600 employees into a subsidiary within the parent organization.
Task: The company needed to develop an entire set of HR processes for this new subsidiary.
Action: I identified and developed all the processes, and then I created a resource intranet site containing powerful text and visuals illustrating the final version of all processes. I used the intranet site as the basis of a comprehensive training program for the spin-off company's HR team.
Result: The site became an ongoing reference tool to use long after the training. Having a documented process has been a valuable tool for the HR team. Corporate auditors can clearly see that we have defined and followed our processes.
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