Every hiring manager has one goal for the interview process: to find a solution to their team’s challenges by finding the right new team member. Interviews can take a number of different formats, one of which is the STAR technique, which assesses your interpersonal skills along with your experience and technical expertise.
Many of today’s employers believe in the mantra “hire the person, teach the skills.” Predicting your future behaviour by assessing your past choices helps ensure that you’re a cultural fit for the organisation and you’re worth training.
The STAR interviewing technique fits neatly into the category of behavioural interviewing by providing a neat format to answer behavioural questions. STAR is an acronym for: Situation, Task, Action, Result. So, how does it work?
You might be asked a question like “Describe a time when you needed to navigate a stressful situation.” In this case, you’ll need to give some background information to set the scene, describe the task that you needed to perform to solve the issues, dive deeper into how you went about completing the task, and finally share you win – what was the result of your efforts?
The most important thing to do is to think about the company and the challenges they’re facing. You can then frame your answer in such a way that the hiring manager will be able to understand how the skills demonstrated in your answer can help you to deliver their key objectives.
Other interview techniques you might encounter include structured interviews, in which every candidate is asked the same questions around experience and goals; unstructured interviews, which are more conversational; situational interviews in which you’ll be required to solve a problem or task; and technical interviews which serve as an “exam” and are generally found in jobs like IT or engineering.
No matter which technique your interviewer uses, ensure that your answers are relevant, to the point, and showcase both your technical and interpersonal skills.
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