How to Answer Job Interview Questions with the STAR Method

Job interviews can bring up a lot of questions: What answers are they looking for? How truthfully should you respond? What if they ask something that totally stumps you? Luckily, the STAR method is the perfect tool to easily answer job interview questions.

Job interviews are a crucial part of the application process, so the pressure to perform can be overwhelming.

Highlighting your experiences, giving the information they want, and standing out is def challenging- but totally possible!

The STAR method of interviewing will help you nail your answers for almost every question. It’s simple to follow and easy to remember, so you’ll be able to use it no matter how nervous you are.

Let’s start by going over why use the STAR method and breaking down each of the parts, then we’ll talk about preparing to use it, the best questions for it, and examples.

Why use the STAR method to answer job interview questions?

Before we get into the details of the STAR method, let me explain the why and how.

The secret to a stand out application- from your resume to your interview- is to use your experiences to SHOW (not tell) them what makes you an excellent employee.

For your interview, this means using examples from your experiences to answer their questions. 

This is how you’ll show your skills, instead of just telling them you’re a hard worker or team player.

Think of a STAR interview like storytelling: you’re telling stories about yourself as an employee, so they understand who you are. 

The STAR interview method  guides how you tell your stories- aka your related experiences. Using this formula, your examples will be focused and get to the heart of the questions they ask.

Let’s break down the components of the STAR interview method, so you can start preparing for your next job interview!

What is the STAR method?

The STAR method stands for:

• Situation
• Task
• Action
• Response

This formula makes it easy to streamline your responses and answer job interview questions with clarity and confidence. 

Here’s how to use each section of the STAR method to answer job interview questions!

S: Situation

The first step of the STAR method  is pretty logical: describe the situation of your story.

This is a quick set up to your story: the position you were working, necessary background on the company, and any other essential details. 

If you’re explaining a problem you solved, give them the “before” picture first. 

Don’t spend too much time on this stage. You’re just giving the interviewer a clear foundation to understand the rest of your example. 

Remember to include any details that make you stand out- that’s what this is all about! YOU are the star!

T: Task

The next step of the formula is to talk about the task you were given. 

This can include an assignment, project, group leadership, problem to solve-  whatever you were tasked with.

Make sure your goals for your task are clear, especially if you ended up exceeding them! 

Focus on adding any details that make you seem impressive- seriously, don’t shy away from “bragging” about yourself!! 

Struggling to talk about yourself? Take a quick detour to watch this awesome talk about the power of self promotion!

You can also quickly describe challenges you overcame in the next steps or things you were facing as you started your task.

This part adds more detail to your set up and is another logical step. Just briefly go into what you had to do- easy!

It’s important to make your transitions between sections smooth. Your STAR interview answers are still supposed to flow like normal responses- it’s just to help guide that response!

Alright, let’s move on to the heart of your answers!

A: Action

Lights, camera, action!

Now, it’s time to describe the actions you took to complete the task. 

This is the meatiest part of your responses: emphasize all those awesome, relevant skills you used. You want to use your story to show the skills you’ve brought to the table before, so they know what you’ll bring to their future.

For this step of the STAR interview method, describe the actions you took with details that show how crucial and amazing you were.

Emphasize the key skills you used, especially any you remember from the position description, and always relate it back to the question they asked and the job you’re applying for.

Having trouble being your own hype-woman? Check out my tips on How to be Confident during Job Interviews to be your own cheerleader!

R: Results

Finally, it’s time to show off how important you were! 

The last step of the STAR method is describing your results. This can be how the project ended, the data you improved, the success of your team, or any other relevant results from your story.

Quantifying this step- aka adding numbers – is a great strategy. So, refresh your memory on any data from your accomplishments that’ll help prove your skills.

Be sure to emphasize how your use of your skills positively impacted this outcome: they need to know how important you were! This is especially useful if your story involves teamwork. 

You want to make sure how amazing YOU are is the star of your interview!

Even if there aren’t quantifiable results from your example, I’m sure there’s a resolution they’d be impressed by. Dig deep to discover how you can show the results of your experience in a way that highlights your talents.

Now that you know each part of the STAR method, let’s dive into how to prep to use it, the best STAR interview questions, and some great examples.

How do I prepare to use the STAR interview method?

Preparing to use the STAR method is, honestly, how you should prep for any job interview.

Before your interview, make a list of the top skills they want to see. You can do this on your computer, but it’s probably easier to write it out in a notebook! Split the page into 2 columns: Skills and Experiences.

To find out which skills matter most to them, review the job description, company website and social media, and staff LinkedIn profiles. Pull out the descriptive words they use the most and add them to the skills column.

Then, across from each skill, write down a story from your experiences that shows you using that skill. 

Here’s an example of what this could look like in your notebook or google doc:

If it’ll help, you can break each story down into STAR. Here’s a STAR method example using the experience for “innovative” in the picture above:

• Situation: needed to shift all events to virtual because of COVID-19
• Task: innovate new virtual programming that’s fun and engaging for college students
• Action: created a virtual game night that included Jeopardy, a scavenger hunt, and icebreakers
• Results: the event had 78 attendees, which was 20% higher than our goal, and the majority of survey respondents rated the event as their favorite this year

Once you have a list of your best, most relevant examples, practice answering common interview questions with your STAR method stories. We’ll go more into the best STAR interview questions soon.

If your interview is virtual, you can have this paper to the side during your interview. Just make sure you don’t sound scripted or robotic during your interview.

Sometimes it’s tempting to rehearse every example for every question, but you don’t want to lose your sparkle when you do. Make sure you balance between practicing answers and focusing your energy.

Check out this post for more tips on preparing for a virtual job interview!

Once you’ve finished preparing for your STAR interview, you can practice answering some questions using the STAR method, so you get used to the format.

Which are good STAR interview questions?

The best part about the STAR method of interviewing is you can use it for almost every question.

One of the most important parts of landing a new job is showing them your skills, instead of telling them about your skills. The STAR interview method is how you format the stories that show your skills. So, the best STAR method questions are ones about your skills.

Using the most common interview questions, possible STAR interview questions are:

• What is your biggest strength?
• What is your biggest weakness? (use your story to show your GROWTH in a skill they’re looking for- like a before & after of your weakness)
• Tell me about something you had to overcome in a past position
• Give an example of a time you worked on a team
• What has been your greatest professional success?
• What accomplishment are you most proud of?
• How have you handled a difficult professional situation?
• How do you deal with pressure?
• Give an example of your leadership experiences
• What do you like the most about this industry? The least?

With these STAR method questions (and others!), you should use your examples from your past to show your skills. Format those stories with the STAR method, so they’re streamlined and customized to the position.

Remember, they’ll also want YOU to ask questions at the end. Here are the 21 best questions to ask your interviewer!

You should use the STAR method for any interview question that asks about your skills or examples from your past experiences. Basically, anything that could be answered with a story!

STAR interview examples

Even though you’ll have to customize your answers to job interview questions, examples of the STAR method can be helpful to understanding it.

It’s important to remember the STAR interview method is a format for your stories. It doesn’t need to be any more complicated than that!

Here’s a STAR method example, based on the story I broke down in the prepping stage for the skill innovation:

Q: What’s an example of a time you were innovative?

A: As a recruiter for a national non-profit, COVID-19 required us to move all of our in-person events to virtual. We had 5 major events we needed to completely reformat. My assignment was to redesign our recruiting events for college students, which were 2 of the events we had planned. I decided to create a virtual game night for the students. I came up with the games, designed the slides, rehearsed the event, and incorporated feedback from my coworkers. The games I created include company themed Jeopardy, a scavenger hunt on our company’s website, and an introductory icebreaker . One of my biggest focuses was innovating ways for attendees to have both large and small group connections and creating a fun, light environment to help distract from the stress of COVID-19. My virtual game night ended up having 78 attendees, which was 20% higher than our goal, who all rated the event positively in our post-event surveys. 85% of survey respondents said it was their favorite event that year, and 90% said they were more informed about and interested in the organization. Overall, my event was a success, and my manager asked me to train other recruiters on creating their own virtual game nights.

See how that example used the star method of interviewing to show how innovative they are, rather than just stating “I was innovative in my last position because I planned events”?

Now, it’s your turn to use your list of skills and experiences to answer one of the STAR interview questions I listed above. The more you practice formatting your answers to job interview questions in the STAR method, the more natural it’ll feel.

Start by practicing a couple examples, like the one I gave above, to get a feel for it. It’ll get easier with time, I promise!

Job interviews don’t have to be intimidating- just remember you’re an interview STAR! The STAR method will guide you through using stories for your answers to job interview questions. This way, you’ll show how you’ll be a wonderful addition to their team! Just remember to describe the overall situation, task you had, action steps you took, and the results you got. Be sure to emphasize how important you were to the success of your example- you are the STAR of this interview!

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