STAR Method for Competency-based Interviews

If you want to find a job, you first need to write a job application that gets you noticed - but just because you've got an interview doesn't mean you'll get the job, even if you're better qualified than all the other candidates.

To win, you need to convince the interviewer you can do the job. Just saying "I can do it!" isn't convincing - but if you use a competency-based method to answer questions, you can build confidence that you've got the experience and skills to do the job.

An old-fashioned interviewer might ask, "How do you deal with angry customers?" to which you might reply, "If a customer was angry, I would keep calm, and if I couldn't resolve it straight away, I would promise to get back to them quickly."

That tells the interviewer what you would do in theory - but he still doesn't know what you would really do, under pressure in a real-life situation.

By contrast, the questions in a STAR interview are designed to get concrete evidence of what you've done in the past, not what you say you can do. That proves to the interviewer that you can actually deliver!

In the above example, the STAR question would be:

"Tell me about a time when you had to deal with an angry customer."

This is the kind of answer the interviewer is looking for:

"I remember a customer last year, he was threatening to go to one of our competitors because his delivery hadn't arrived. I said I could understand why he was upset, then I repeated his complaint back to him, to make sure I had all the details. I promised to get back to him within the hour. He didn't want to hang up, so I gave him my name and direct line. Actually I didn't manage to fix the problem within the time, but I rang him back anyway to let him know what was happening. We were able to get the delivery out next day. He thanked me, and he has not only stayed a customer but has increased his business with us."

As you can see, this answer describes a real SITUATION or TASK, explains the ACTION the person took, and then gives the RESULT (S.T.A.R.). I'm sure you'll agree it sounds far more convincing than the general answer.

Can you see how you could use this method to demonstrate your skills and experience? Even if the interviewer only asks a general question about angry customers, you could still offer a STAR reply. Most candidates would only give the general answer, so you'll look great by comparison - and voila, you've got the job!

Before the interview, look at the kind of abilities and experience your interviewer will be looking for. Note down some situations at work where you have demonstrated those skills. Then try putting them into the competency-based format.

Make sure you have all three sections: a Situation or Task, an Action that you took, and a Result. Make sure the result was due to your action, not due to someone else - palming your problem off on your Supervisor to make the decision isn't a good Action!

The more you use the STAR method, the easier it will become, and your interview performance will soar!