Result: The following year, we implemented those recommendations and ended up with 40 students attending the rally: the highest number of any student chapter across the state.

You have to recall a relevant experience and explain what happened in a way that shows youre well-suited for the job, without taking up too much time.

Fortunately, theres a trick to answering behavioral interview questions: the STAR technique.

With the STAR technique, your answer gives the interviewer all the information they need to evaluate your past behavior and examine what it means for how you would perform on the job.

The STAR acronym stands for: Situation: The context for a past experience, often a problem or challenge that you faced.

Task: Your responsibility in the situation and what was required of you.

Why the STAR technique works When an interviewer asks you a behavioral question, its because they know that how you responded to a challenge in the past can be the best indicator of future actions.

They dont just want to know how you would act in a hypothetical situation you may encounter; they want to know how you have acted in the past when confronted with a comparable situation.

In order to fully understand what past experience means for your future performance, an interviewer needs the information contained in a STAR response: an understanding of the situation, your role in it, the actions you took, and the result of your actions.

Thats a lot of information to pack into a brief interview response.

The STAR technique helps you to concisely answer behavioral interview questions and keeps you focused on the important parts of the story while minimizing the chances that youll give a rambling answer.

What the STAR technique looks like in action Reflect on the behavioral interview questions youve been asked in past interviews.

What would it have looked like to answer those questions with the STAR technique Below, we model the STAR response for some common behavioral interview questions.

Tell me about a time when you had to lead a diverse group of people.

Situation: When I ran volunteer trainings at Organization X, our volunteer base was incredibly diverse.

Our volunteers included high-school students, mid-career professionals, and retirees; people who had used our services in the past and people who had the privilege of not needing those services; and people from different ethnic and religious backgrounds.

Task: My task was to create an environment in which every volunteers differences and identities were appreciated while simultaneously creating a sense of community.

Action: To do this, I started each training by asking people to reflect on what personal experiences or values drew them to volunteer.

Then each person would share their reflections with a partner, and finally, wed all share our collective experiences and values with the group.

Additionally, our volunteer retention rate increased by 15 after I started using this method, which suggests that people stayed connected.

Task: As the organizing chair, it was my responsibility to recruit students to attend the rally, so I had to explain to the organizations statewide staff why we fell short of our goal.

Action: Before the call with Organization Y to explain what had happened, I debriefed the recruitment strategy with my fellow chapter leaders so we could identify what worked, what didnt work, and what we could have done better.

On the call, I shared our assessment and was honest about what I could have done better as the organizing chair, as well as what I would do differently going forward.

Star Technique Answers