Behavioral Interviewing is a style of interviewing that more and more organizations are using in their hiring process. The basic premise is that the most accurate predictor of future performance is past performance in a similar situation. It focuses on experiences, behaviors, knowledge, skills and abilities that are job related.
The STAR method simply provides a logical approach to answering questions by providing a guided approach to using one of your past successes in responding to the question.
What is STAR
STAR = Situation or Task – Action – Results
| Situation | Describe the situation that you were in. 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. |
| Task | Let them know what task needed to be done to improve the situation. |
| Actions 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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