Part 2: Sample STAR examples, a detailed guide to writing your own STAR examples

This post will cover 3 more 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 looked at STAR examples for a;

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

In this article we will look at STAR examples for;

1. Mentoring program
2. Industry placement as part of university studies
3. Internship/vacation work

Where there any other results? Did the mentoring program and networking lead to any opportunities that you have learnt from?

Sample 4: Mentee in mentoring program

Comments 4

1. Ensure Task description is complete, for example, “To build interpersonal skills and gain insight into an accounting career”.
2. Pro-tip: after writing your first draft of your STAR examples go back and see how you can summary your dot points to make them even more memorable, this will help you during the interview. See examples below.
3. Where there any other results? Did the mentoring program and networking lead to any opportunities that you have learnt from?

• I asked my mentor to 5 coffee chats to develop career goals –> 5 sessions w/ mentor to develop career goals
• I attended networking events to share stories with new people and explore various industries –> attended 5 networking events in the Accounting and Consulting industries

Sample 5: Industry placement as part of university studies

Comments 5

1. This STAR example is well written. It covers a range of quantifiable actions.
2. Results: what tools were used? Unnecessary to say that “Everyone was happy”
3. Skills: The skills list is almost the same as those in Sample 4, try to find a range of different skills across your examples so you have a range of skills to draw upon (e.g. don’t use the same 5-7 skills for each example).

Sample 6: Internship/Vacation work

Comments 6

1. Again, this example is well written and considers challenges and skills.
2. Would recommend gone through the wording again and further summarise. For example;
   • I managed three clients’ bank confirmation letters –> Managed 3 clients’ bank confirms
   • I sent over 80 bank confirmation letters to clients’ different opening bank branches –> Sent >80 bank confirms to client bank branches
   • I used a spreadsheet to record the status of bank confirmation letters and followed up by phone calls –> Record status of letters in Excel & followed up with calls