USING THE START METHOD FOR INTERVIEWS
In parts one and two of our Interview Prep series, you learned how to use the job description as your key for interview prep and dove into the importance of practicing your answers outloud. Now that you have the basics down, let’s jump into how to craft the perfect interview answer.
You’ve likely heard of using the STAR method for interview answers. If you haven’t, let’s break it down. STAR stands for: Situation, Task, Action, and Result. When you are giving an example in your interview answers, this method helps you create a succinct answer.
Situation: Give the important details of the situation at hand. Be careful not to overload too much of your example with frivolous details. Remember you are the star of the show when you are in an interview.
Task: What did you need to do to succeed in the situation?
Action: What did you actually do to excel in that situation? This is where you’ll want to be specific and give more detail than in the previous steps.
Result: What impact did you have? You’ll also want to give specifics and detail here.
When I’m interviewing, I take STAR to the next level by adding a T at the end. The T stands for “Tie it Back.” You want to tie your answer back to the job and company you are applying for. How does this example of the work that you’ve done, the skills you’ve gained, and the experience you hold tie back to this specific job you are applying for? You can’t let the interviewer assume that your experience fits the job. You need to make it crystal clear to stand out.
Here’s what my START method can look like. We’ll go back to the example from Part 1 of our Interview Prep series.
Job description line: Respond to active candidates and source passive candidates to build a robust pipeline
Situation: During my time working at X Company, I served as chair of the hiring committee for two years.
Task: I was responsible for advertising the job postings and communication with interested candidates via LinkedIn, Indeed, and ZipRecruiter. The goal was to create a robust pipeline of qualified candidates to apply for open positions across the company.
Action: I led my committee in outreach to potential candidates by delegating the work and creating leads for each of the websites. One person was the lead for LinkedIn, Indeed, and ZipRecruiter. As a team, we developed a goal of completing outreach about open positions to 15 potential candidates per day. I set expectations that at the end of every week, the leads would provide an update on the results of their recruitment efforts.
Result: As a result, we collaborated effectively as a committee and increased the outreach efforts to potential candidates by 10%. Our open positions are filled with qualified candidates.
Tie it Back: In this role, I would bring my ability to lead a team and delegate to support the company’s mission. I’ve seen the success of delegation and how empowering your direct reports can create increased employee engagement and results. The effort of our committee working together helped create a robust talent pipeline.
You’ll see that this examples walk through each of the steps of START. When you break down your interview answers using this method, you can clearly tell a story that shows the impact of your work and directly ties it back to the job you are applying for.
Interviewing is hard. To me, it is the most challenging part of applying for a job. With practice and using the job description as your key, you can develop the communication skills necessary to tell your career journey and how you’d make an impact in this next role.
For now, we are going to wrap up our Interview Preparation series! Thanks for coming along as I walked you through how I like to prepare for interviews. I hope these tips help you along your way.
