So you've made it through to the interview stage of a job interview – and you're thinking about how you can prepare for the big day. Here's a guide to how the STAR method can help you to give clear and effective answers to competency-based interview questions. And we'll explain what competency-based interview questions are too!
Preparation is key to a good interview, and while some employers are now sharing interview questions with candidates in advance, in most cases you'll have to think on your feet and come up with answers live during the interview. But you can use the job ad or job description that you have to determine which skills the interviewer might want to talk about during your interview.
Competency-based interview questions
Competency-based interview questions are ones that ask you to give examples of how you've used certain skills or demonstrated certain behaviours in the past. They often start with a phrase like 'Tell me about a time...' or 'Give me an example of when...'
They're sometimes known as structured, behavioural or situational interview questions. But whatever you call them, these questions are designed to draw out examples from your experience as a way of assessing your potential future performance. By asking each candidate the same competency-based questions, the interview can compare the answers across the candidates and evaluate each candidate's fit for the role.
Here are some examples of competency-based interview questions:
Tell me about a time when you've shown good teamwork skills.
Give me an example of when you had to solve a problem at work. How did you get it sorted?
Can you tell me about a time when you’ve had to juggle multiple priorities?
Each of these questions focuses on a specific skill – the first one is about teamwork, the second is about problem-solving, and the last one is about multi-tasking.
Identifying the skills
The first step you can take to prepare for these questions is to write a list of the skills that the employer has included in the job ad or job description. Some may be listed as 'essential' while others may be listed as 'desirable'.
Write them all down.
Thinking of your examples
The STAR method involves providing specific, real-life examples that illustrate the skill you've been asked about. So once you've got your list of skills from the job ad or job description, start thinking about times where you've demonstrated each skill in a professional situation – this might be from employment, internships or work experience, or through volunteering.
You can also use examples from your studies, but work-based examples generally provide more compelling evidence for employers – so opt for those if you can.
Applying the STAR method
Now you've got a list of skills and examples where you used them, it's time to use the STAR method. Here's what the STAR acronym means:
Situation: the situation you had to deal with
Task: the task you were given to do
Action: the action you took
Result: what happened as a result of your action and what you learnt
The next step is to make some notes for each of the examples you've come up with, using the STAR structure.
An example of a STAR method answer
Here's a worked example of how to use the STAR method.
Question: Tell me about a time when you've shown good teamwork skills.
Situation: In my role as a committee member of the university's literature society, I worked in a team of four to plan and deliver a series of author talks.
Task: My task was to approach the agents for some of the authors we wanted to host, and liaise with them to set up the details. But we all had a number of agents to approach, so it was important that we all knew what each other were doing and worked in a coordinated way, so we didn't end up with clashes on bookings.
Action: I set up a Google Sheet which we could all access, and we used it to add info on who we'd approached and what the current status was for each approach. I also suggested we use a simple Whatsapp group where we could post an update when there was news to share in between our weekly in-person meetings.
Result: Using the Google Sheet and the Whatsapp group meant everyone had a good overview of how things were progressing. It meant there was less catching up to do in our weekly meetings, and we could focus on looking ahead and planning the next steps instead. This was a more efficient, productive and enjoyable way to spend our time together in-person.
Tips for success with the STAR method
Each of your STAR examples needs to give enough information to illustrate the skill, but still stay succinct and to the point.
Don't over-rehearse your STAR examples. The aim here is to have the examples fresh in your mind and ready for you to call on if needed, but it shouldn't sound like you've learnt them as a script – the interview should still feel conversational.
The employer might ask follow-up questions to the examples you give – this is a great opportunity to give more detail and sustain a natural two-way conversation.
You can also apply the STAR method to other parts of the job application process – it can be a helpful approach to use on your CV and in cover letters.