The BEST way to Answer Behavioural Questions? Use the STAR method.

How do you engage a potential employer? Tell a story! Stories are interesting, easy to follow, memorable, and a fantastic way to tell the employer ‘How’ you do something. So, when asked a behavioural question in an interview, structure your response into a story using the S-T-A-R format.

Situation

Start by identifying something that happened. Stick to facts and remove unnecessary information. This is a quick and clear introduction explaining the task/problem as a factual statement.

Task

What was your role? Why were you involved? What options did you need to consider? This short statement identifies your need to be involved and your decisions for action.

Action

What did you do? How did you resolve the problem? Supply step-by-step actions you took. This is where you use the most time to clearly outline how you worked through the situation.

Result

What was the outcome? Who/what benefited from your actions? Where there any changes because of your actions? Use this time to finish your story on a positive note with complete details of the result.

Draft your stories out, practice them and stick to the STAR formula. One story can answer several questions, so make note of the skills you demonstrated in each. Prepare 3-5 stories and have them ready for your next interview.

Check out the category on Interview Skills in our Virtual Resource Room at Calgary Career Hub