Part 1: Sample STAR examples, a detailed guide to writing your own STAR examples

• 

We’ve gone through the basics of the STAR technique but how do you know if your example is good enough? How do you know if you are focusing on the right things?

This post will cover 3 student examples and my tips for making your STAR examples stand out to help you nail interview questions. Each STAR example is in table format, uses dot points and states challenges and skills that were present in the situation.

In Part 1 we will look at STAR examples for a;

1. University club and society
2. Case competition
3. Part-time work

The STAR technique is great because it really helps you to clarify your thoughts and think deeply about the experiences you have had so that you have many strong examples to use in behavioural interview questions.

The below STAR examples come from real students applying for graduate programs, names of companies have been edited out.

Sample 1: University club and society

Comments 1

1. The Situation and Task sections can be very brief, you don’t need to go into too much detail about what the club is or why you have camping trips. When answering an interview question, you can start by saying, “As part of my committee role on the [insert name of club] I was responsible for organising the camping trip…”
2. Provide additional details in the Action section to ensure that you have thought about all the activities that you performed in situation. 
3. Quantify Actions and Results if possible. It is always more impressive and makes a better impact when you can state the number of percentage change of your results. Talk about achievements rather than responsibilities but make sure these are true, don’t make numbers up! For example, successfully organised the camp with 50+ people in attendance and came in $500 under budget.
4. Add more employability skills, aim to have 5-7. Your difference STAR examples will have a range of skills that you can draw upon when answering questions. For example, this STAR example shows budgeting, negotiation skills and flexibility.

Sample 2: Case competition

Comments 2

1. Would be useful to give some background into the ‘situation’ that the company faced if relevant to the question. Add a dot point to ensure the situation can be explained concisely.
2. Action sections can be summarised into “allocate tasks and complete”. What were the specific tasks? For example, research into the company, interviewing stakeholders and performing analysis of financials.
3. Quantify Actions and Results if possible and aim to have 5-7 employability skills . For example, presentation and verbal communication.
4. Overall this STAR technique needs to have a few more specific details written down so they can be easily recalled in an interview.

Sample 3: Part-time job

General comment: this STAR example needs to be broader. It focuses specifically on the problem that was faced and doesn’t go into the other requirements of the role. It is as if the STAR example has been written in response to a question like, “tell me about a time you encountered a problem and how you solved it”. Remember you are just using the table to think deeply and remember the key details of the experience which will allow you to draw on any of the different aspects of the scenario when answering a question.

Comments 3

1. The Task is the shortening of the project deadline, but it does not state what the actual task or project was. In the Task section you might see for example, assess planting periods for a farming client to ensure the protection of stone fruits.
2. Do not mention other team members by name. Not only does the interviewer not know who you are talking about but if the question is phrase negatively (e.g. when did you work in a group when someone did not pull their weight) calling someone by name might be perceived as having something personal against that person. When answering a question, it is fine to refer to your team members as follows, “we delegated the tasks, one team member research weather pattern, the other planting time period and I assessed protection strategies”.
3. Remove unnecessary detail. For example, the interviewer does not need to know you had pizza for dinner but it is sufficient detail to say “as we had to work more hours during the week to meet our deadline, we ate dinner as a group and ensured we kept the morale high by working together and sharing ideas”.
4. 5-7 employability skills . For example, leadership skills, technical skills, diligent and dependable.

In Part 2 we will look at STAR examples for;

1. Participating in a mentoring program as a mentee
2. Industry placement as part of university studies
3. Internship/vacation work