What is the STAR interview method?
The STAR method is a commonly used approach to answering behavioural questions, which explore how you’ve handled specific work situations. STAR is an acronym for four key elements:
S - Situation
T - Task
A - Action
R - Results
Think of the STAR method as a formula you can apply to many interview questions. Hiring managers are trained in this technique, and they’ll be listening out for all four components in your answers.
Breaking down the STAR framework
Let’s look a bit more closely at the four STAR elements and how you can put them into practice.
Situation—Make sure you have a specific example in mind. Describe the situation you were in, giving essential background information about the event, project or challenge. This should be a brief overview, establishing the relevant details like time, place and circumstances.
Task—Talk about the goal or challenge you faced. What was your role, and what were your responsibilities? What were the project deliverables?
Action—Tell the interviewer what you did to complete the task or overcome the challenge. Use “I” not “we” to highlight your personal skills. Action verbs like “managed,” “created” or “developed” are also an effective way to emphasize your role.
Results—This is where you share the outcome of your actions. Highlight your accomplishments and talk about what you learned. Wherever possible, quantify your results using specific statistics. For example, you might say, “Customer orders increased by 20 per cent.”
STAR method interview examples
Now we’ll consider a couple of the questions above and how you might address them using the STAR method.
Question 1: “Can you tell me about a time when you had to work with a difficult team member to achieve a goal?”
Situation: In a project at [company name], I was working with a cross-functional team to develop a new software feature. We had a senior developer on the team who had a different way of working and wasn't comfortable with how we were managing the project.
Task: We were under pressure to deliver this feature quickly, and the tension with the senior developer was starting to impact our timeline. I could see we needed to address this before it became a bigger problem.
Action: I decided to reach out and set up a one-on-one chat with the developer. During our conversation, I really focused on understanding the individual’s perspective and what was troublesome about our approach. By listening, we were able to find some middle ground. Together, we worked out a way to adjust our project approach that worked for everyone.
Results: This made a real difference to the project. Not only did we deliver the feature on time, but the developer became one of our strongest team members. The whole team's energy improved, and our stakeholders were really happy with what we delivered.
Question 2: “Can you describe a situation where you faced a significant obstacle or setback and tell me how you overcame it?”
Situation: Let me tell you about a challenging situation I handled at [company name], where I was working as a marketing coordinator. We were gearing up for a major product launch, and we had just six weeks to get everything ready.
Task: I was in charge of keeping the project on track and making sure we had all our campaign materials ready to go. About two weeks in, we hit a major snag—our creative agency told us they couldn't deliver the design work in time. This could have derailed the whole launch.
Action: Rather than panic, I quickly came up with a plan B. I reached out to a freelance designer I knew could handle this kind of work. I managed to get them on board quickly, negotiated the contract and worked closely with them to make sure we got exactly what we needed.
Results: In the end, we launched right on schedule, and the campaign was actually a big success—we saw our sales jump by 25 per cent in that first quarter.
