“Tell me about a time when…”

You’ve been there before. You’re in an interview and you’ve made it past the get-to-know-you questions, the role specific questions, and now the interviewer wants a better sense of your soft skills by asking you questions that relate to the responsibilities you’d have in the position. These are the situational questions.

The interviewer will begin by outlining a specific scenario and ask if you have experience dealing with that type of situation. As an interviewee, this is your time to show them your problem solving and interpersonal skills. In some interviews, you might even get the chance to show off some of your past accomplishments. If an interview was a Big Mac (sorry to my vegan friends!), this would be the double patty—juicy, and full of protein (or in this case information) which can make them intimidating for many.

Preparing specific responses for situational questions is a critical part of getting ready for an interview. If you’ve been in an interview and found yourself getting tongue tied, distracted, and veering off the point of your story—you are not alone. Style Nine to Five is here to help you slay that dragon. Meet your new best friend: the STAR Method.

Situation

Task

Action

Result

Keep reading for more details on how these words will help you get through interview questions as smoothly as possible, and for an example on how to apply the method.

Situation: This is where you lay the groundwork for your response. What is the context around the situation you’re about to describe? A good way to make sure you’re including all the context is to think about your 5 w’s: who, what, where, when, why. Depending on the story you’re going to tell, you might not need to include all five w’s. Make sure to only include the relevant information—your interviewer doesn’t need the nitty-gritty details.

To help put the STAR method into better context, I’m going to walk you through an example of how to answer the question using a real life example:

Example Question: “Tell me about a time when something went wrong at work and what you did to solve it”

Example Situation: When I was in university, I worked part-time at a coffee shop on campus. It was a busy, fast-paced environment which I really loved.

Task: Once you’ve provided context around the situation, next you want to provide more details about the situation at hand. Tell the interviewer about the goal you were working towards. Include details about your role and the specific responsibilities you had.

Example Task: At the coffee shop, my job was as a cashier which included serving drip coffee. One morning, one of our regular customers came in to order a coffee.

Action: This is where you dive into the actions you took. This can include steps you took to achieve the goal or outline how you remedied an issue. Make sure to stay specific and talk about your personal contributions. If you were working with a team, you can mention what your team did together, but also take time to differentiate your individual actions. Did you come up with an innovative idea? Were you the first person to jump up to solve a problem? This is the time to show off your skills in action so the interviewer can start to imagine how you might use those skills in the role.

Example Action: I took her order and while she was paying, I poured her coffee. As I was passing it over the till to where she was on the other side of the counter, I knocked the cup of coffee on the top cash register. Coffee spilt all over her beautiful, expensive looking coat. I was horrified. I immediately apologized, asked if she was alright, and came around the counter with napkins to clean up her coat. I offered to pay for her to have the coat dry cleaned, with my supervisor’s permission I gave her a gift certificate to use in the future, and poured her a new coffee before slowly handing it to her once again.    

Result: You’re almost there! Time to tie up your story by describing the outcome of the situation. How did it end? If you’re describing an ongoing project, what is the current state today? This is your time to talk about what you accomplished and what key takeaways you had. Did you learn something about yourself? When you’re answering a question that might show you in a negative light, it’s important to be honest, but remember to include how you made things better and finish on a positive note. If you were telling a children’s story, this would be the moral of the story.

Example Result: The customer was incredibly understanding and told me not to worry about paying for the dry cleaning, no matter how much I insisted. It was a lesson for me in learning how to slow down. Taking an extra few moments to be careful can save you from making big mistakes, no matter what industry you’re in. Although I’m not serving coffee anymore, this is a lesson that I’ve taken with me into all my jobs that followed. It translates into re-reading emails before sending them, taking a moment to gather my thoughts before speaking, and of course, not moving so fast. Several years later, I believe it also helped me develop a stronger attention to detail overall.

Although the example above is telling a story where something has gone wrong, this method also works well to tell a story about when things went right. Use it to demonstrate how capable you are and what experience and skills you can bring to the role you’re applying to. “Have you ever managed a group of people before?” Use the STAR method to tell them about a role where you had to manage a team by giving context about the company (situation), the position you held and what your responsibilities were (task), how you managed your team and what your management style was (action), and how successful your time doing so was (result).

To really set yourself up for success, when you’re preparing for your interview, practice a few responses to some of the most common interview questions using the STAR method as an outline. This will keep you on track and ensure that you’re including all the best details to demonstrate how responsible, adaptable, and wonderful you truly are.

Of course, if the interviewer asks a question and you can’t think of an example from your past, request to take a minute to think of an appropriate story. If you think this might happen to you, come prepared with notes so you have something to refer to while you’re taking a moment. Take a deep breath and start storytelling. 

If you’re looking to improve your interview skills, why not practice with an expert? Book an Interview Prep session with Style Nine to Five’s Founder, Christie Lohr, to help sharpen your interview skills and give you the confidence you need to nail your next interview..

By: Catherine Gautreau – Catherine is a communications and fundraising professional in Vancouver, BC with a passion for storytelling, the arts, and giving back to the community.

Feature Image: Adobe Stock