How to Use the STAR Method to Answer Interview Questions

The situation, task, action and result (STAR) method helps interviewees answer behavioral style questions. STAR can be a guideline for more than just answering interview questions. It can also help you think on your feet and answer questions that come your way, even after an interview.

Are you looking for a way to answer tough behavioral-style questions that hiring managers may ask? The STAR method is a tool to respond to even the most seemingly unrelated behavioral questions during interviews. STAR can be used for any type of interview.

The STAR Method Defined

During behavioral style interviews, you may hear the following prompts which require the use of the STAR method: 

• “Tell me about a time when…”
• “Give me an example of…”
• “What was the most difficult situation you’ve…”
• “Tell me about a disagreement you’ve had...”

The STAR method helps answer these questions while providing your interviewer with behavioral insights, including how you think and react in different situations. 

“The STAR method helps an interviewee 'show' versus 'tell' their answer,” said career coach Stacy Valancy. “By sharing a story, they can paint a strong picture of how they might act in a similar situation in the new role. It is also helpful to end with a clear, quantifiable result (R) to really emphasize the positive impact that the interviewee had in the past.”

Answering Questions with the STAR Method

Answering behavioral questions can be tricky for anyone. You may be unsure how to response or experience anxiety that makes a response more difficult. 

Answering behavioral style questions using the STAR method can help. The STAR interview method allows you to present a clear example of times at work when you solved a complex problem and how it benefited the organization or your team. Here’s a breakdown of the STAR method from start to finish:

• Situation: Describe a situation during your past employment relating to the question.
• Task: What was your task/responsibility during this situation?
• Action: What action(s) did you take during this situation? 
• Result: What was the result, and did it successfully address the situation/problem you or your employer faced?

Find an Example Situation

Choose example situations you can easily explain and had positive resolutions when answering these questions. Choose an example that makes sense and applies to the interviewer’s question. 

Ask yourself these questions to decide whether an example is the right follow-up to a behavioral question: 

• Can the situation relate in some way to issues you may encounter in the role you’re applying for? 
• Is the situation clear and explainable in a 2-minute timeframe? 
• Does the situation have a semi-complex problem with a clear resolution? 
• Did your actions contribute to resolving the problem? 

Begin to discuss the details of the situation and any context that highlights how you resolved the problem once you have an example in mind. Stay on course with past workplace situations or challenges you faced. 

“Interviewees should use relevant examples of similar situations in the past when answering questions,” Valancy said. “Most of the time, the stories will come from other jobs, but they can use stories from internships, volunteer work, or other activities as needed. Personally, I coach my clients to use the CAR method when sharing stories – Challenge, Action, and Result – to set the scene, clearly communicate what they did, and detail the positive, impactful result in the end.”

If you’re just starting out in your career, you’ll need to discuss recent challenges from non-work-related examples. This can include problems faced during a volunteer experience or when studying abroad. 

Remember: 

• Stay positive and lively as you lay out your example. 
• Try to limit the time you spend on describing the situation and focus on the problem.
• Don’t overload your interviewer with mundane details or unrelated facts.
• Stick to sharing two of the most important facts about your experience (this will also help you save time).

Example Situation Description: “In my last role as a Data Architect at Sun Microsystems, my team was just being composed. We were ramping up hiring to meet the demands and ever-increasing workload. The Sales department was setting unrealistic goals and we were feeling the stress to perform at a higher level while being extremely short-staffed.” 

Highlight the Task

This method revolves around the process of solving a complex task, so highlight the process in your response. Describe how you fit into the problem and what steps you took to resolve the situation. Relay the facts and spend as much time here as in the previous step describing the situation you faced. 

Remember these tips when describing your task: 

• Keep your explanation simple and straightforward
• Try to describe any quantitative elements to give the interviewer an understanding of the scope of your task (e.g., five tools, 10 hours of work, or 100 customers)
• Remember to focus on how important the task was to your team or the organization 

Example Task Description: “It was my responsibility to take charge and set up a new work order system to meet the overflowing demand. I had to collect a list of five viable project management tools and choose one with the most promise to help us stay organized and produce work more efficiently.” 

Share How You Acted

Now describe what you did to resolve the situation. This part of your answer requires the most thought and time to explain the steps taken to overcome the challenge faced. 

Remember these points: 

• Clearly describe which actions you took and their significance in solving the problem you were facing. 
• Relay how long it took to complete these tasks. 
• Did you work with a team to solve the problem? Were you in a leadership role? If so, don’t forget to share these details with your interviewer. 

Example Act Description: “I led several brainstorming sessions with appropriate team members in which we evaluated the project management tools together. Each session consisted of a one-hour brainstorming section and two standups where each team member presented their picks for which software they recommended we use. After testing these out for another two weeks, I chose which two software packages I would recommend to management (to give them the ability to test out each one and compare the pricing, features, and benefits of each). Over the next week, I organized an hour-long presentation of the two project management packages which included decision-makers from upper management who would make the final decision on which tool we would use.”

Share the Result

Describe the result of your work and how it improved your organization’s efficiency or how you saved your company money. 

Don’t forget to include any cost savings or how your team benefited. For example, did your team become 10% more efficient because of new requirements for having mandatory weekly standup meetings? Did your organization save $100,000 because of the optimized work schedule and shared responsibilities you recommended in your last quarterly meeting with stakeholders? If so, share these valuable wins with your interviewer. 

When you discuss your results, try to keep in mind that: 

• Keep your overall STAR response at 2 minutes or less. 
• Share specific figures to quantify your results. 
• Share why you’re proud of your accomplishment. 

Example Result Description: “The choice we made for our new project management software led to a change in the way we do business. We were able to handle 30% more clients and our team was responsible for helping the sales teams upsell clients, which ultimately helped our organization bring in $1 million more in revenue over the last two quarters. Management was so impressed that I was promoted to a supervisory role and our team’s size was increased by 20%.” 

The STAR Interview Method in Practice

Let’s reenact an example interview scenario together.

Interviewer: “So Jack, tell me about a time you had a major challenge at work you were expected to solve.” 

You: “I’m glad you asked. When I worked with my recent employer, we faced a difficult engineering problem, and the deadline to release the new product features was coming up fast, and we had just suffered the loss of a critical team member. I was tasked to find out how to bridge the gap between the resources we had and the manpower we needed.”

Interviewer: “That sounds interesting. Tell me more.” 

You: “I had a task list that seemed to reach 30 items long. There were bugs in the system that I didn’t even know how to fix and, at the time, my supervisor wasn’t able to hire another employee due to budget setbacks. I had to move fast to make up what ground we had lost to be able to meet our delivery dates.” 

Interviewer: “How did you solve the problem?”

You: “I called a few friends of mine from college. We reviewed code and knowledge bases to get through the problems together with members on my team. We held five code challenge sessions over the next month. We evaluated some AI and machine learning tools that would help us bridge the gap in the knowledge and skills the past employee took with him. In short, we were focused on successfully getting these packages out before the release date.”

Interviewer: “Wow, that sounds exciting!”

You: “We installed a few new tools and requisitioned a few interns. We pulled a handful of all-nighters and not only met the deadline, but we increased our efficiency over time by 10%. My department head was so pleased that he said we should hold hackathons once a quarter to get our creative juices flowing. Long story short, the company ended up being sold for $2 billion and our portion of the code was the reason the software became so popular.”

Overall, keep in mind the duality of job interviews. 

“Interviewees must remember that the job interview process is a mutual selection process where both sides have the chance to discover if there is alignment,” Valancy said. “Also, job interviews are kind of like dating. You begin with basic questions to get to know each other, and then, in each round, you will go into more detail to find out if there is a good fit.”

Top takeaways

How to use the STAR method to answer interview questions

• Highlight the process of solving a complex task
• Stay positive and lively as you lay out your example
• Describe the result of your work and how it improved your organization’s efficiency

(Reporting by NPD)