What is STAR method?
A way to answer "tell me about a time when" interview questions in four parts: Situation, Task, Action and Result.
The STAR method is a simple structure for behavioral interview questions, the ones that start with “Tell me about a time when…” It keeps answers clear and stops them from wandering.
The four parts
- Situation: where you were and what was going on. One or two sentences.
- Task: what you needed to do, or the problem to solve.
- Action: what you did. This is the heart of the answer, so say “I”, not “we”.
- Result: what happened, with a number if you have one.
An example
“Our onboarding emails had a 40% drop-off (S). I was asked to fix it before a big launch (T). I interviewed five customers, cut the sequence from seven emails to three and rewrote the first one (A). Drop-off fell to 25% in a month (R).”
Practice beats reading
STAR answers sound easy on paper and wobbly out loud. Write your best stories on our free interview prep sheet, then say them aloud. Hunter’s mock interviews include a Behavioral (STAR) type with a scorecard at the end. See Practice a mock interview.
Questions people ask
How long should a STAR answer be?
About one to two minutes out loud. Keep the situation short and spend most of the time on what you did and what happened.
Still scratching your head?
Send us a note and a real person will get back to you.