As more and more employers and recruiters adopt behavioural based interviewing, there is no doubt at an upcoming job interview you will be asked to reflect on a past experience. The best way to tackle this is to have a few stories up your sleeve that emphasise your key skills and then use the STAR framework to answer the interview questions.
STAR Framework
The STAR interview methodology is a very common interview framework that is designed to make the job application process as objective as possible, removing any conscious or subconscious bias by the interviewer by asking each candidate the same questions. Some people do feel this type of interview can be a bit more stilted, as there can be less opportunity to build rapport. However, they are very common, especially in large organisations and the public sector, so it’s worth practicing your technique.
Questions
The questions will be driven by a competency framework that’s required for the job. The interview questions tend to start with a variation of, “Tell me about a time when…….…” This may sound simple but, in the heat of the interview, many people will give an unstructured answer, miss out key details, or talk too much and lose their train of thought.
To always ensure you are prepared for any job interview it is worth spending some time in advance listing your 5 best achievements from your career and then develop a compelling story around each one using the ‘STAR’ methodology. Ensure you always refer to “I” not “we” so the interviewers can understand what part you played in the story. This process will make your answers more credible and it is then much easier for hiring managers/recruiters to unearth the evidence in your answer and score your response higher than your competitors:
- Situation: This should be no more than one sentence, for example, “I was asked to implement a new CRM system across our Asia Pacific operation.”
- Task: A summary of what you had to do, how did you go about establishing the outputs of the task? What would success look like? What were the first steps you needed to take towards delivery.
- Action: What you actually did. What hurdles did you have to overcome? What resistance did you face? What did you have to compromise on? Always remembering to say “I” not “we”
- Results: It is very important to end your “story” with the result or outcome and it is helpful to the interviewers if you actually say “so the outcome or the result of this was………” This allows them to hear that you are ending your story and finishing your answer to the question. It also reminds you too!
Think about, what were the outcomes? Did you achieve your goal? Did you miss your goal? It is no bad thing to tell a story about how you missed a target, as long as you can demonstrate your learning and how you would deal with the same problem again in the future. Tell them what your solution would be.
It’s all about preparation and then practice, ensuring you have thoroughly read the job description so you can tell “stories” that are relevant to the job and show the interviewers how you can add value and ultimately why they should offer you the job!
Contact me on [email protected] or mobile 0419 350051 if I can help you.