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How To Use the STAR Method To Write the Perfect Resume

The STAR method is a tried and true resume writing formula. For insight into what it means, how to do it — and why it works — check out this comprehensive guide.

2 years ago   •   6 min read

If you’ve been job seeking for a while, chances are you’ve stumbled upon people talking about the STAR method. Originally devised by recruiters as a method for answering interview questions, the STAR method has evolved to become a foolproof way of writing resume bullet points .

Let’s start with a quick overview of the STAR method before we walk you through how to use it to craft a five-star resume.

What is the STAR method of resume writing?

STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, Result .

• Situation: What was the context of your accomplishment? What was the problem that needed solving?
• Task: What were your responsibilities? What was your end goal?
• Action: How did you address the issue? What exactly did you do?
• Result: What was the outcome? How did your actions benefit the company?

How to write a resume using the STAR method

• Situation: Check the job description. What is the context of the new role? What challenges are you likely to face? Brainstorm similar accomplishments and use Targeted Resume to identify relevant skills and keywords.
• Task: Think about what you did at previous jobs that was resume-worthy.
• Action: Start with a strong action verb to describe exactly what you did.
• Result: What was the bottom line? Use metrics here to quantify your accomplishments — talk about how much revenue you earned, time or money you saved, the size of the project, or the amount of work you completed .
• Upload your resume to a free ATS resume scanner to see how your overall bullet points score.

Writing STAR method resume bullet points

The four elements of the STAR method — Situation, Task, Action, and Result — can be used in any order and across multiple bullet points. This means that if you’re having a hard time packing everything into a single bullet point, you can use one or two at a time, as long as you include all four within a single job heading.

A STAR method resume template

Let’s take a look at an accomplishment that combines Situation, Task, Action, and Result into a single bullet point:

Aligned marketing plans to the promotion of product releases, resulted in 90% of customers upgrading to the new product release.

• Situation: The company released a new product.
• Task: Promoting the new product.
• Action: Aligned marketing plans to the new product release.
• Result: 90% of customers upgraded to the new product.

Combining elements of the STAR method

Sometimes, it makes more sense to combine the Task and Action. Here’s what that could look like:

Implemented a new process for evaluating credit offers in marketing campaigns; doubled disbursements.

• Situation: Needed to evaluate credit offers in a marketing campaign.
• Task/Action: Implemented a new process for evaluating those offers.
• Result: Doubled disbursements.

Using the STAR method across multiple bullet points

It doesn’t always make sense to use all four elements of the STAR method in every single bullet point, especially if you have multiple accomplishments related to the same situation. In that case, feel free to use only some of the elements in each bullet point, as long as you cover all four within the same job heading.

Here’s an example:

Operations Improvement Project -       Drove redevelopment of internal tracking system in use by 125 employees, resulting in 20+ new features, reduction of 20% in save/load time and 15% operation time. -       Refined outsourcing strategy, resulting in increased offshore headcount from 12 to 95 employees. -       Reduced development costs by 25 percent by creating a plan to merge related products into one, more streamlined product.

• Situation: A large-scale operations improvement project.
• Task: Improving the internal tracking system and streamlining products.
• Action: Drove redevelopment of the internal tracking system, refined the company’s outsourcing strategy, and created a plan to merge related products.
• Result: A faster internal tracking system with 20+ new features, an increased offshore headcount, and 25% reduction in development costs.

A good way to check if you’ve successfully used the STAR Method to write your resume is to upload it to the tool below — it’ll let you know if your resume contains the four elements of the STAR Method across your bullet points.

Why the STAR method works

The STAR method combines different elements of our tried and true advice for writing resume accomplishments . The STAR method:

• Focuses on what you did
• Is specific about your contributions
• Lists accomplishments, not just responsibilities
• Explains the benefits to the company
• Provides compelling details
• Keeps your bullet points concise and eliminates fluff
• Provides an easy-to-use template
• Allows quick customization to match the job you’re applying for

If you’re ready to get started using the STAR method to write your own resume, here are some more examples of STAR method bullet points to get you started.

STAR method resume examples

Let’s break down exactly what a STAR method resume should look like — and how to transform your old bullet points using the STAR method.

Old bullet point:

Improved departmental budget and reduced spending.

This says basically what you did but lacks specificity about your actions and leaves out any metrics to illustrate the impact they had. Let’s think about the Situation , Task , Action , and Result to see if we can improve it.

• Situation: Departmental overspending.
• Task: Allocate resources more effectively.
• Action: Established ROI metrics and budget controls.
• Result: Reduced overspend by $200K.

STAR bullet point:

Achieved $200K reduction in department overspend by establishing ROI metrics and budget controls to improve prioritization of the $4MM department budget.

This is a huge improvement. It remains concise but details the context, your specific actions, and the benefit to the company.

Managed social media advertising strategy for various social media accounts.

• Situation: Managing 50+ social media accounts.
• Task: Refine social media advertising strategy.
• Action: Led team members and managed vendors.
• Result: Increased conversions, CTR, and social web referrals in the first six months.

Lead team members and vendors to manage the social media advertising strategy for more than 50 social media accounts. Increased conversions by 145%, CTR 50%, and social web referrals 40% in the first six months.

Engineering

Created various project specific assets for different products.

• Situation: Releases involving UAT and regression testing.
• Task: Create and document assets.
• Action: Created knowledge transfer documents, test plan, and defect summary reports.
• Result: Successfully delivered 7 releases.

Created various project specific valuable assets such as knowledge transfer documents, test plan, defect summary reports and lessons learnt documents, successfully delivering 7 releases involving UAT and regression testing.

Design and Creative

Responsible for graphic design content, layout, and production materials.

• Situation: Producing daily graphic design content .
• Task: Manage content from concept to finished product.
• Action: Oversaw graphic, layout, and production materials.
• Result: 100% success rate on all projects and deliverables.

Strategically oversaw the daily graphic design content from concept to the finished project, regularly working on graphic, layout, and production materials, gaining a 100% success rate on all projects and deliverables.

Grew customer base through relationship building and strong sales skills.

• Situation: Company in need of expansion.
• Task: Secure new customers.
• Action: Performed valuation analysis on 150+ accounts.
• Result: Secured an average of 10 new customers yearly and 30% overall revenue increase.

Performed valuation analysis on over 150 accounts and secured an average of 10 new customers yearly with a 30% increase in revenue today.

Administrative

Responsible for coordinating travel for all members of the crew.

• Situation: Arranging business travel.
• Task/Action: Coordinate all travel-related issues and manage budget .
• Result: Successful management of 300+ member crew and $1M budget.

Coordinated all travel-related issues for a 300+ member crew. Maintained a $1M travel budget.

Entry Level

Ran and participated in student events while at university.

• Situation: Student networking events.
• Task/Action: Organized and advertised 10+ quarterly events.
• Result: 300 participants in 3 universities.

Organized and advertised 10+ quarterly networking events with 300+ participants in 3 universities in Boston.

Senior Management and C-Suite

Responsible for overseeing territory and meeting or exceeding sales goals.

• Situation: Growing sales territory.
• Task: Oversee territory and meet sales goals.
• Action: Created and maintained consistent sales pipeline.
• Result: Grew territory from $300K to $3 million and regularly exceeded sales goals.

Responsible for growing territory from $300k gross revenue to $3 million in 4 years; exceeded sales goals for 4 consecutive years by maintaining and creating a consistent pipeline.

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• Resume and Cover Letter
• How to Create an Effective...

How to Create an Effective STAR Method Resume (With Examples)

11 min read · Updated on February 26, 2024

The best way to get your story across is to use the STAR method

You've likely heard about using the STAR method to answer behavioral interview questions . Those are the questions that begin with something like, “Tell me about a time when…” But did you know that you can also use the STAR method to qualify and quantify achievements in your resume? 

Since your resume is largely made up of single-sentence bullet points, how do you use the STAR method to tell a story? This article will show you how and will provide example bullet points to guide you along. 

What is the STAR Method?

The STAR method is the best, most concise way to tell a story in your resume. As you might imagine, STAR is an acronym. It stands for:

You've probably heard that your resume needs to present your history in a way that shows achievement. No longer is it good enough to say that you are “responsible for training staff,” for example. You must dive deeper by highlighting the things you achieved in each job role. Using the STAR method is a straightforward yet humble way to brag about those achievements on your resume. 

Let's face it, there are a lot of things people are responsible for doing that just do not get done. Moreover, employers understand that every job candidate has been tasked with certain responsibilities. They want to know how you used your skills to meet those responsibilities and accomplish results that provided real value for your employers.

Situation: Everything you accomplish in your career starts with a situation that needs to be handled. Discuss what was happening and what was being affected by the issue. 

Task: What goal did you have in mind as you worked to address that situation? Were you assigned specific tasks to overcome related challenges? 

Action: This is your time to talk about specific steps you took to solve the problem. Explaining the way that you tackled the problem helps recruiters to understand your approach and working style.

Result: The result is the coup de grace, or deathblow, to the problem that you, your team, or your company faced. This is the shining moment where you talk about your achievement. 

What is the point of using the STAR method?

Many people think that all a prospective employer needs to know is your career history. While it's important to detail the things that you've done in your career to get you to this point, that's not all that employers want to see. The job market is fiercely competitive! To stand out from the competition, you'll need to differentiate yourself from rival candidates - and the best way to do that is by highlighting your achievements. 

Using the STAR method can offer several benefits that will help to shine a spotlight on you, including:

Demonstrating that you understand how your qualifications can make an impact on operations

Presenting yourself as an achiever rather than a doer

Laying the groundwork for talking points that you can use during the interview

How to use the STAR method in your resume

You may have a few stories in your head now. They're probably lengthy stories, however, which may make you wonder how you're supposed to fit everything into a one- or two-page document. 

PRO TIP: Remember that your resume isn't supposed to be a narrative of everything you've done. It's supposed to be a summary of your career, showing what you can bring to the table at a new company.

The fact is that you're not going to be able to fit every detail of your STAR stories into your resume. Instead, you should include just enough information about the S ituation, T ask, A ction, and R esult to capture the reader's interest and make them want to learn more about you. If you can spark their curiosity about a career achievement, they'll be more likely to call you for an interview. Then, during the interview, you can expand on the story and give the rest of the details. 

In addition to using the STAR method resume technique in your work achievement bullet points, you can also use it in your resume profile. Simply use the STAR storytelling structure to describe any achievement that you include in that profile. That will help to ensure that your introduction paragraph tells a more compelling story about who you are as a person and a professional.

Related post: Make the Perfect First Impression with Your Resume

Tips to create a STAR method resume

The first thing to do is to pick a major keyword from the job description, remembering that your resume needs to focus on demonstrating your qualifications for that job. For example, if you're applying for a job as a Claims Adjuster, one of your main tasks could center around determining liability. 

This seems easy enough. All you need to do is write a bullet that says you understand how to assess damage to determine liability. Unfortunately, every other Claims Adjuster will be able to say the same thing - which will mean that your resume is no more compelling than theirs. And that just won't cut it in today's competitive labor market.

The good news is that there's a solution. Let's turn that statement into something that packs a little more punch. 

1. Situation

I worked on residential and commercial claims processes, which could be a significant cost to the business. 

I had to gather and analyze documentation and photos of the damage. I completed cost estimates, researched market rates for new construction, and authored proposals for underwriting and financial institutions to mitigate operational risk. 

I monitored claims volumes for severity and analyzed trends to root out unwarranted claims.

I saved more than $1.2M within 6 months by finding and eliminating more than 250 fraudulent claims. 

Of course, all of that won't fit on a resume, but we can use the STAR method to help to tell the story in a more concise manner. You can do that by writing a single bullet point that contains key elements of the story. That would look something like this:

Slashed claims costs by $1.2M+ in 6 months, after assessing damage, analyzing trends, and monitoring claim volumes to reveal over 250 fraudulent claims

That already looks far better than simply stating that you know how to determine liability. You could also use the bullet / sub-bullet method. This allows you to start the story off and then break it down into sections:

Led unprecedented effort to research and eliminate fraudulent claims:

Performed deep-dive analysis of damage photos and claims documentation

Compared cost estimates and market rates with claims severity and trends

Saved over $1.2M within 6 months and eliminated more than 250 fraudulent claims

Whether you choose the single bullet or bullet / sub-bullet option, you're telling a story that lends value to your career history. You now stand out from the crowd of job seekers and a hiring manager will have a clearer picture of what you have to offer to his or her team. 

Related post : 100 + Keywords, Verbs and Action Words for Your Resume

What makes the STAR method so great for resumes?

There are many obvious reasons why the STAR method is such an effective tool for any resume. For example:

The STAR method can help you to focus on what you did and the results you produced, rather than just reciting your job duties

STAR provides a simple and clear structure for telling your story, minimizing resume space

Bullet points that use the STAR method can be easily customized to align with any job you're seeking

Using this narrative technique enables you to draw attention to the benefits you provided for that employer, which is important since prospective employers are always interested in the value you can add to their organization

If you use real numbers in your STAR method resume achievements, you can quantify the results that you achieved to really highlight your value

Just like those behavioral interview questions, your resume is an open-ended story about your career. It allows you to provide as much or as little information as you deem necessary to convey your message. The STAR method allows you to deliver that message in an organized way. 

In revisiting the concept that your resume is a summary of your career, keep in mind that you may not need to develop every achievement using the STAR method. You can reserve STAR method resume bullet points for critical events that will make you stand out from the crowd. 

More STAR method resume examples

To further demonstrate how effective STAR method resume bullet points can be, we've compiled several other examples of this technique in action. They include examples for an entry-level resume, as well as several other job titles. We've also included an example of how you can use the STAR technique to cite an achievement in your resume profile.

1.     Entry level or recent graduate STAR method resume bullet point example

Situation : Group lab project in college

Task : Design an online marketing campaign for local business

Action : Led team in collaboration with company's Office Manager, building new site, social media presence, and customer engagement campaign

Result : Increased company's website and social media engagement by 180%, with 200% boost in customer total online and in-store visits

STAR method bullet point:

• Led university team project that revitalized local business partner's online marketing, expanding total on- and offline customer engagement by 200%

2.     Sales STAR method resume bullet point example

Situation : Company leaders set a 15% sales growth target

Task : Needed to expand customer base and sales conversions to meet goals

Action : Increased upsell efforts with high-value customers, while doubling cold call activities

Result : Boosted client acquisition by 20% and total sales by 19%

• Led sales team effort that exceeded company sales goals, increasing customer acquisition by 20% and boosting sales revenue by 19%

3.     Accounting STAR method resume bullet point example

Situation : Company costs needed to be reduced

Task : Identify waste, redundancies, and project cost overruns to reduce expenses

Action : Conducted month-long internal audit of all departments

Result : Identified more than $15k in monthly waste and cost overruns, reducing annual expenses by $180,000

• Conducted internal financial audit that reduced annual expenses by $180,000 through elimination of waste, project cost overruns, and redundancies

4.     IT Manager STAR method resume bullet point example

Situation : Company network was creating inefficiencies and increasing employee errors

Task : Identify and set up a new network system

Action : Researched potential replacement systems, purchased chosen solution, and implemented new network

Result : New network system reduced troubleshooting time by 61% and reduced employee errors by more than 80%

• Selected and installed a new network system that resulted in 80% improvement in employee accuracy while reducing IT troubleshooting time by 61%

5.     STAR method resume example for resume profile

Situation : Client needed a new mobile application to replace faulty program

Task : Create a new mobile app in eight days, eliminating previous app's programming errors

Action : Led 3-person design team in development project that required careful analysis of previous app, redesign of app interface, and repurposing of brand graphics

Result : Redesigned mobile app within assigned deadline, earning 10% early bonus from client and 100% satisfaction rating

STAR method resume profile text:

Redesigned client's faulty mobile app on expedited schedule, delivering new application that met all expectations and with client expressing 100% satisfaction.

Related post: 47 Accomplishment Examples for Your Resume: Expert Picks

Give your resume impact

By using the STAR method resume approach, you can help your achievement bullet points deliver an even more compelling narrative to employers. Instead of leaving them to wonder how much value you might be able to deliver for their company, you can demonstrate that value in a clear way, providing them with a real reason to schedule an interview with you.

If you need help, that's not a problem. TopResume has a talented team of professional resume writers ready to take on the task of making you look like a career achiever. Why not submit your resume for a free review today?

This article was originally written by Marsha Hebert and has been updated by Ken Chase.

Recommended reading:

How to Write a Resume for an Internal Position

How to Say You Trained Someone on Your Resume

How to Effectively Use Resume Action Words

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• Career Development

Utilizing the STAR Method in Resume Writing

We all want to show off our best side when applying for jobs. It’s a given. Otherwise you’ll probably fail at the first hurdle. But how to shine? How to show off your skills without sounding arrogant? There is a way of presenting yourself within your resume that really works. It is a tried and tested technique that has long been associated with being used in interviews .

It is known as the STAR method.

Your goal, at the end of the day, is to ensure that your job application helps you land an interview. Correct? One way you can do that is by using the STAR method when writing your resume, so you can catch the recruiter’s eye first off.

Look no further for in-depth insights into how this can be achieved. We’ve got the answers for you right here, right now.

In this article, you’ll learn:

Exactly what the STAR method is

How to use the STAR method in your resume

Discover tangible examples of how to use the STAR method

Why it is important to use the STAR method during your job search

So without further ado, let’s dive in, and find out what the STAR method on a resume is all about.

What is the STAR Method?

The STAR acronym stands for “Situation, Task, Action, and Result.” As mentioned, it’s been used at the interview stage for years as a popular option for interviewers wanting to find the most suitable candidates. This particular style of questioning provides hiring managers with a more accurate measure of future performance. The STAR method is considered a behavioral interview technique, offering interviewers a flexible way in which to gather the vital information they need before proceeding with potential job offers.

The 4 components of the STAR method in interviews

1. Situation

During the interview, an interviewer will ask you to describe a challenging situation that you have encountered in the past.

The interviewer will want to know what goal you were trying to achieve in order to overcome that challenge.

Here, the interviewer wants to learn about the steps you took to meet that goal, and why.

Finally, you will be asked to describe the outcome. Were your actions successful in helping you to obtain your goal and overcome the problem ? What lessons did you take away from the experience? What was the added value to you and the company?

While the STAR method has been primarily used for interviews, it is easy to see how it can be adapted as a guide to writing very effective bullet points on a resume!

Adapting the STAR method to your resume

To properly use the STAR method within your resume, you need to apply the same mode of thinking to your work experience descriptions within the career summary section, the part of your resume that normally forms the bulk of the whole document.

You should include information that addresses each of those four areas: Situation, Task, Action, and Result. Done properly, this can present a more complete description of your expertise, as well as demonstrate your potential value to prospective employers.

See below for an explanation of how to modify the STAR method used in interviews to your resume.

The 4 components of the STAR method in resumes:

1. situation : your job, challenge, role, or other context.

Begin by defining the role you filled at a previous employer’s company. Include the position and your core responsibilities.

2. Task : demonstrate your competencies through defined problem-solving

Select a required competency from the job posting, and describe an instance in your previous job where you needed to demonstrate that expertise.

3. Action: showcase your ability to make things happen

Provide details about the actions you took to deal with that issue, including whether your efforts involved acting alone or in conjunction with other members of the team.

4. Result: show how you achieved your goals and added value

Document the actual results that you achieved. Here, you will want to focus on quantifiable results, using real numbers to highlight the value that you provided to the company.

What is a good example of using the STAR method in your resume?

To better understand how this works, let’s look at the example below of how it might be used in your resume. For the example, we are assuming that you are applying for a managerial position where the job posting lists “inventory control” as a key qualification. 

Now, you could just mention the fact that you managed inventory in your previous position. The better option is to use the STAR method to provide greater clarity and color to your resume description.

Let’s break down how you might think through this process.

I served as the Branch Manager for an industrial equipment warehouse, with responsibility for managing shipments, maintaining inventories, and tracking / monitoring district sales.

When I was hired, the company lacked a cohesive system for inventory control, which resulted in delayed order fulfillment and a high volume of order cancellations, totaling 34%.

I led a dedicated team to redesign the inventory control system, implementing new quality controls, improving network integration, and revising a training program for new hires.

Within just four months, the company’s on-time fulfillment record had soared from 61% to 98%, and we enjoyed an 82% decline in canceled orders. By the year end, profits had risen by 23%.

Obviously, this description is far too long to be used in your resume. But all is not lost. We can use the information you generated with the STAR method to create a strong and comprehensive resume entry.

Bringing it all together

Using the details above, your work experience entry might look something like this:

Headed up the effort to resolve the inventory management deficit at ABC Corp.

Redesigned the inventory control system, quality controls, network integration, and training efforts.

Resulted in improved on-time order fulfillment of 45%, an increase in profits of 23%, and a reduction in canceled orders of 82%.

Alternatively, if you are tight on space within your resume, you can further combine the bullet points into this:

Resolved the inventory management deficit by redesigning the inventory control system, quality controls, network integration, and training so on-time order fulfillment improved by 45%, profits increased by 23%, and canceled orders decreased by 82%.

This more concise bullet point entry summarizes all the information you compiled using the STAR method. More importantly, it provides a clear explanation of the type of value that you provided to that employer, and suggests that you can do the same for a new employer.

And here is another example , where this time, the applicant works in the insurance industry.

As an Insurance Assistant, I worked within a team that dealt with car insurance policies. I had a great relationship with clients, helping them out with questions on any claims or queries on their policies.

I was tasked with finding out why a lot of the clients didn’t renew their policies after a year or two. I did ask colleagues, who’d been there longer than me, why they thought this was, but they said an obvious reason had never been found.

I decided to do something about it, so I devised a customer survey that was easily emailed out to previous customers when they didn’t renew their policies. It asked for a reason why they hadn’t, and included a few reasons why this might be, such as shopping around and finding a better deal with another company, or a lack of customer service support. Once I had enough surveys come back, I cited the top reasons, and requested a meeting with my manager.

After going through the results with my superior, it became clear what the answer was—the perceived lack of customer support throughout the policy renewal process, and also during the claims process. The answer was to train up our customer service staff to be more supportive and helpful, and I was delighted to be put in charge of this project going forward.

Let’s now put this into resume-speak.

Tasked with identifying a lack of policy renewals from previous customers.

Created a comprehensive questionnaire containing detailed information which was sent to customers.

Resulted in customer service staff being offered relevant training to understand and better react to customer needs.

KEY TAKEAWAY The STAR method can help you to effectively convey your value as a potential employee by providing a reliable format for showcasing all of your abilities.

Why the STAR method works for resumes

As you can see, the STAR method creates a much more compelling resume entry. Moreover, it answers many of the hiring manager’s questions before you have even sat down for an interview!

Most importantly, however, it provides an easy-to-use format for addressing the single, most critical question any employer wants answered--can you provide real value to my company?

It’s not necessary for every bullet point to follow this format, but one or two of your best examples from each job will really help you stand out as a valid candidate.

Using the STAR method in your resume will:

Help you prepare for an interview , as the examples you use within your resume can be adapted to use at an interview.

Differentiate your resume from other candidates, emphasizing your skills in a way that keeps the recruiter engaged while reading all about your achievements.

Offer up detailed information on your career background , and how you got to where you are today. The STAR technique draws the attention to specific examples where you have excelled, thus giving hiring managers a good understanding of your expertise and many abilities.

Position you as an achiever and not just a doer, which is essential to show on your resume, shedding light on your ability to resolve problems and contribute in this new role.

You don’t need those dull, dry employment descriptions any more on your resume . Start thinking like a STAR. Because when you do, you will find that the STAR method can help redirect your thoughts and aid you in crafting a more compelling resume and cover letter . That will better ensure that you’re able to secure more interviews, and get that dream job that you have always hankered after.

To ensure that you’re utilizing the STAR method to its fullest effect, check out ZipJob’s free resume review tool. It provides great insight into how to create the perfect resume that should put you on the road to success!  

Recommended reading:

Core Competencies On A Resume: Guide & Examples

How To Write a LinkedIn Work Experience Section (Examples and Tips)

Should Your Resume be Written in Past or Present Tense?

Elizabeth Openshaw, Editor & Content Writer, Elizabeth Openshaw, Editor & Content Writer

Elizabeth Openshaw is an Elite CV Consultant with over 12 years of experience based in Brighton, UK, with an English degree and an addiction to Wordle! She is a former Journalist of 17 years with the claim to fame that she interviewed three times Grand Slam winner and former World No.1 tennis player, Andy Murray, when he was just 14 years old. You can connect with her at Elizabeth Openshaw | LinkedIn .

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What are STAR method resumes and how to create one (with examples)?

The STAR technique is a structured approach to convey your work experiences, accomplishments, and competencies clearly and concisely. It is relevant and vital when writing your resume as well as when preparing to answer job interview questions. The STAR acronym stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result. In this post, we will explain the importance of each part, how to write STAR method resumes, and answers to interview questions.

Key takeaways

• STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, Result, a technique for clearly presenting work experiences and achievements in resumes and interviews. 
• The Situation sets the context; the Task describes responsibilities; Action details steps taken; the Result shows the outcome, with an emphasis on clear, quantifiable achievements.
• STAR combats the issue of ‘list-like’ resumes by providing a narrative structure that links actions to outcomes, making it easier for employers to assess a candidate’s potential impact.
• It’s also a preparation tool for behavioral interview questions, enabling candidates to confidently discuss past experiences with detailed, structured responses.

Table of Content

Star with multiple resume bullet points, star in a single resume bullet point, preparing star method answers for job interview questions, what does star stand for (3 examples).

The STAR framework breaks each experience or ‘story’ into four parts: element Situation, Task, Action, and Result . Recruiters and hiring managers like the STAR format because it helps to standardize experiences and make them easier to understand and appreciate. Let’s go over each part and understand why it is essential.

This is where you set the stage by describing the context or circumstances surrounding a particular scenario you encountered in your work. It helps the reader or interviewer understand the backdrop of your experience. The situation should lay out the background for what you were tasked with. This part is essential for understanding the scenario because it changes the interpretation of the rest of the elements (task, action and result).

We will go over three complete examples through the four parts of STAR. Note that these examples are not phrased short enough for resumes; we will discuss STAR format in resumes in a later section.

See how the following situation statement examples prime you with a completely different set of expectations for the rest of the scenario:

• “It was the end of the year, with all the mess of a public company during such times, and the division I led missed the sales quotas by 20%…”
• “Our startup was near closing a round of funding after we burned through all of our cash, and on a Saturday morning, our lighthouse customer called me to say they want to discontinue our service…”
• “Three months after launching our second product, our sales numbers started to blast through every milestone we’ve set for the year, and I have a team of only three salespeople at this time…”

Here, you explain what you were tasked with in the context of the situation. In most cases, you get tasked by someone who is your superior at your job. The task might be the problem you were set to solve or the goal you were set to achieve. In any case, you should describe it clearly enough so that it will be clear to understand why you chose the course of action that you did. This part helps to frame the types of actions you could have taken. Let’s continue the previous examples:

• “ My task was to plan and execute a robust sales recovery plan within one quarter, aiming not only to meet but exceed the original targets, increasing overall sales volume by 30%…”
• “The immediate objective was to secure the funding round within two weeks by renegotiating terms with the customer to retain their business and demonstrating to investors our capacity for quick adaptation and customer retention, thereby ensuring financial stability.”
• “The goal was to scale the sales operations to support a 200% increase in sales activity over the next two months and expand customer support to maintain service quality.”

What action did you decide to take? The recruiter and hiring manager are most interested in understanding this part so you can provide some of the rationale for deciding to choose the action. In later stages of the job search, you might get asked about why you didn’t take alternative actions or what information you were basing your decision on. Use action verbs to describe this part. You can use one statement or a couple of bullet points depending on the level of detail and the context (e.g., resume, screening call with recruiter, or interview with hiring manager). Extending the previous examples: 

• “To reverse the sales shortfall, I initiated an aggressive outbound marketing campaign targeting untapped market segments, negotiated partnerships with complementary service providers for bundled offers, and implemented a dynamic pricing strategy to attract price-sensitive customers, thereby aiming to boost our sales volume significantly.”
• “In response to our startup’s funding jeopardy, I engaged directly with our key customer’s decision-makers , presenting a tailored value proposition that addressed their concerns, highlighting our commitment to customer success and long-term viability.”
• “To manage the surge in demand, I streamlined the sales process with automation tools to increase efficiency, launched an accelerated hiring and training program to triple our salesforce, and formed a dedicated customer success team to ensure ongoing support and satisfaction, preparing the business to handle a twofold increase in sales transactions.”

What was the outcome of your actions? The recruiter and hiring manager are usually not interested in the metrics of another company, but they are interested in verifying the following:

• Do you know what the results were in a clear and quantifiable way?
• Were the results satisfactory given the task or not? Did you follow up to check the impact? Do you have the intellectual honesty to assess the results objectively?
• Whether the results were satisfactory or not, what did you learn?

Finalizing the examples, with the result statement:

• “Despite concerted efforts, the sales recovery plan fell just short of the ambitious 30% increase , achieving a 25% rise in sales volume. Rigorous follow-up and analysis revealed that while the outbound campaign generated a substantial lead pipeline, conversion rates did not meet projections. This experience taught me the importance of setting realistic targets and the value of adaptive strategies in response to market feedback.” 
• “The direct engagement strategy led to successfully renegotiating the contract with our key customer and securing the funding round , surpassing our two-week goal by closing in ten days. This turnaround was a testament to our team’s adaptability and provided a solid foundation for financial stability. Post-negotiation assessments confirmed heightened investor confidence and reinforced customer commitment, validating our approach.”
• “The initiative to scale sales operations encountered significant challenges, ultimately not achieving the 200% target , with only a 50% increase in sales activity. The accelerated expansion strained our resources, resulting in gaps in customer support. Reflecting on this outcome, I recognized the critical need for balancing growth with operational capacity and the importance of incremental scaling to ensure sustainable expansion.”

How to use the STAR method for resumes?

Creating a STAR method resume enables job seekers to provide concrete examples of their accomplishments and contributions. It adds depth and substance to resumes, allowing potential employers to see how you’ve effectively navigated real-world challenges and delivered tangible results in previous jobs. STAR resumes address a common problem with resumes that look like a ‘shopping list’ of actions. Such resumes are difficult to assess without a behavioral interview because the actions you took cannot be appreciated without the relevant situation, task, and results.

In the examples above, we’ve used the star method to describe a detailed scenario. How do we condense it to a resume format?

When describing an entire work experience using STAR, you can use 3-4 resume bullet points to go over the whole STAR structure. 1-2 bullet points describe the situation and task, and 2 bullet points represent the action and result. When writing the resume, you should be very concise and focus on your success.

The following STAR method resume example shows an entire work experience formatted with STAR (highlighting with brackets the parts of STAR in the example)

• [Situation & Task] As the Regional Sales Director at IBM, I was responsible for addressing a 15% slump in market share in the enterprise software division across North America.
• [Action] Implemented a strategic overhaul focusing on customer relationship management (CRM) systems to streamline client interactions and sales processes. 
• [Action] Developed and executed targeted sales training programs, enhancing the team’s consultative selling skills and knowledge of emerging tech trends. 
• [Result] Revitalized the enterprise software division, resulting in a 25% increase in market share and a 20% uplift in annual revenue, effectively exceeding the financial targets within two fiscal years.

Another useful format of the STAR method in your resume is to use the structure for a single bullet point. In such cases, situation and task are usually meshed together into ‘problem’, while action describes the ‘solution’ to the problem followed by the result. This implementation of STAR in a single sentence or bullet point is therefore called problem-solution-result (or PSR ).

You can use PSR in your work experiences as well as your resume summary section. The structure of PSR lends itself naturally to tailoring your resume to the job description, where each part of the PSR can use language that is more relevant to the job. That is why professional resume writers use PSR both in resumes and cover letters .

In the bullet points below, we’ve condensed each of the detailed STAR structured examples above to a single PSR bullet point:

The efficiency of the STAR method goes beyond written documents. STAR method can help you prepare to answer behavioral interview questions. In fact, professional interviewers will ask drill-down questions to understand each part of STAR with regard to experiences they deem essential. If you use a STAR method to answer interview questions, you convey confidence and help your interview flow without needing drilling or grilling. For each resume experience, you should have a detailed STAR structure (such as the examples above ) written in the form of an interview answer. For any other interview question you prepare for, we highly recommend that you write a detailed STAR answer, and practice describing experiences by speaking through each of the STAR parts.

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How to Create a STAR Method Resume (With Examples)

A STAR method resume uses your work experience and skills to show your value as a candidate. By using the STAR method, you can create a compelling resume based on specific situations, tasks, actions, and results.

Abi Tyas Tunggal

Find your dream remote job

Most candidates know how to use the STAR method to answer behavioral interview questions in job interviews. But you can also apply the principles to create a great resume that contextualizes your achievements, work experience, and skills.

The goal of your resume is to get you to the next step in the application process. A STAR method resume shows your value as a candidate and helps you stand out from other job seekers.

Read this article to learn:

• What the STAR method is
• What STAR stands for

How to construct STAR method answers

• Why you should use the STAR method on your resume

How to create a resume using the STAR method

• The benefits of using the STAR approach on your resume

What is the STAR method?

The STAR method is a four-part approach to answering behavioral interview questions. Behavioral interview questions (or STAR interview questions) are questioned based on how you acted and applied your skills in a specific situation at a previous job.

When interviewers ask these situational questions, they want to see how you react to stressful situations and whether you have the skills needed for the role. The STAR method encourages job seekers to provide detail about their work experience by discussing the situation, tasks, action, and result.

The STAR interview method is the best way to answer these questions and impress future employers when used well. Employing the STAR framework on your resume allows you to reveal details about a similar situation and help recruiters understand how you've applied your skills to succeed in your past work experience.

Examples of behavioral questions include:

• What can you contribute to this company?
• Tell me about a time when you made a mistake .
• Why do you want to work here?
• Share an example of when you sacrificed short-term productivity for a longer-term goal.
• Tell me about a time when you had to work closely with someone who had a different personality to you.

Related: How to prepare for a behavioral interview

What does STAR stand for?

The STAR acronym stands for situation, task, action, and result:

• Situation: Describe the situation as it forms the basis for the rest of your answer.
• Task: Outline your goals or problems.
• Action: Describe the steps you took to solve the problems or achieve your goals.
• Result: Explain how solving the problems or meeting your goals contributed to the company, then list any important lessons or skills you learned.

Structuring your resume STAR method responses provides a complete description of your experience and shows your value to prospective employers.

In the next section, we'll construct a sample answer to give you a clearer picture of each component of the STAR format.

Constructing a suitable STAR method answer allows you to explain your knowledge and capabilities clearly, and helps potential employers understand the situation from your perspective.

Let's walk through the four parts of STAR and how to use them to answer a question. Then we'll go through how to adapt your response to your resume.

1. Situation: What's the context?

Provide the context surrounding the problem goal or project. An excellent place to start is with your role and responsibilities:

"As the Internationalization Lead at Canva , I was responsible for a multilingual, 10-person SEO team, including six direct reports, multiple agencies, 10+ freelancers, and 50+ contributing authors."

While this response is too long for a resume, it'll form the basis of what we include:

Canva – Internationalization Lead (May 2018 - Jan 2022)

Task: What were your responsibilities?

Recruiters need to understand your responsibilities, including why your previous employer hired you. The task part of a STAR response outlines why you were hired and highlights skills relevant to the job description.

Establish your competencies by outlining a specific task:

"Before Canva hired me, the company had strong English-based organic traffic but had yet to scale its international SEO efforts. They didn't have a consistent way of internationalizing their existing content. My task was to find a way to enable and manage our internationalization efforts."

Action: What did you do?

Describe the steps you took to complete your task. Emphasize your ability to drive things forward and get results:

"I led the restructuring of your marketing site to support multiple languages. It was a team effort that included weekly meetings with engineering and product to ensure the migration from a single language site to a multi-language site didn't impact our metrics or end-user experience."

Result: What were the consequences of your actions?

Now it's time to share the results of your actions. Focus on quantifiable outcomes by using metrics to highlight the value you contributed to the company, then list the lessons or skills you learned.

Here's an example answer:

"The restructuring of our marketing site led to vast improvements in our non-English organic traffic. For example, we translated our most important pages and content into Spanish and saw a 500% growth in organic search traffic.

We then repeated this process for other languages. By the time I left, Canva was available in more than 100 languages and had increased its organic traffic to more than 20 million visits per month.

Suffice to say. I learned the impact of translation on organic growth and how to manage a distributed team that speaks different languages, many languages that I don't speak. SEO is one of Canva's most essential growth channels, so I'm pretty proud of this work and the impact I drove."

Why you should use a STAR method resume

A STAR method resume creates a more compelling resume because it shows employers you have:

• A solid understanding of your accomplishments, qualifications, and work history
• Specific, practical experiences that are relevant to the role you're applying for
• The ability to communicate your value concisely and confidently

A STAR method resume achieves all these goals and proves you have the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in the position.

Writing your resume with STAR statements also gives you an advantage over job seekers with generic resumes. It shows you put time and effort into personalizing your resume for the role.

Creating a resume with the STAR technique begins with reading the job description. Choose two or three key behaviors or skills you want to highlight on your resume, then create a verbal answer using the steps above.

Once you have your STAR answer, it's time to use it in place of the key responsibilities you'd usually put under a job on your resume. Use the STAR method to describe each job with your situation, tasks, actions, and results. You can do this in a few bullet points.

Always start your bullet points with action verbs to make your statements descriptive and persuasive.

• Led internationalization effort to grow Canva's organic traffic and product usage in non-English languages
• Restructured marketing site to support internationalization work, liaised with product and engineering teams, proved our initial concept, and set up best practices for future languages
• Led to Canva being available in more than 100 languages and organic traffic growth to more than 20 million visits per month

Or you can condense it into a single point:

• Led the internationalization effort to grow Canva's organic traffic and product usage in non-English languages. I restructured the marketing site to support internationalization work. I set up best practices, which resulted in Canva being available in more than 100 languages and organic traffic growth to more than 20 million visits per month.

As you can see, the condensed response still follows the STAR formula.

STAR method resume example

Here's an example of how you can apply the STAR method to a resume:

Erlich Bachman GMT-8 | US Citizen | 111-111-1111 | [email protected]

Summary I am a self-motivated hype man with over a decade of experience investing in and growing tech startups. I incubated TechCrunch Disrupt winner Pied Piper and have worked remotely since 2018.

Professional experience Chief Evangelism Officer | Pied Piper Remote | June 2014–Present

• Supervised and managed a team to promote Pied Piper's cloud-based machine learning middle-out compression with an exceptional Weissmann score of 5.2 (Situation and task are combined here)
• Developed social marketing campaigns to drive awareness (Action)
• Social media strategies increased engagement by 90% and caused $1 million of recurring revenue (Result)

Founder | Aviato San Francisco, California | May 2014–May 2018

• Founded social media aggregation and management software for commercial airlines and the airline booking aggregator Aviato (Situation)
• As the founder, I was responsible for all aspects of the business, including fundraising (Task)
• Built relationships with customers and raised money from proponent investors (Action)
• Frontier Airlines acquired Aviato for low seven figures (Result)
• Public speaking
• Asynchronous collaboration
• Fundraising
• Time management
• Organization

Education School of Hard Knocks , Bachelor of Startups

• I did not attend college. Instead, I built startups

Related: How to write your remote job resume (templates + samples included)

Benefits of using a STAR method resume

The main advantages of using a STAR method resume:

• Shows your value: The goal of your resume is to show the value you bring to a potential employer. Using the STAR method in your resume makes it easy for hiring managers to see your worth.
• Presents more detail: Using the STAR approach forces you to provide examples of how you acquired and applied specific skills in specific situations.
• Doubles as interview preparation: Drafting your resume by following the STAR interview technique prepares you for many behavioral interview questions you might encounter.
• Creates a compelling story: Humans love stories. Stories make you more memorable by allowing you to explain how your work experience has formed who you are and how you've been able to develop as an employee and a person.
• It makes it easy to create a resume relevant to the job requirements: Using the STAR method to create a resume forces you to think through the job description and tailor your resume to the employer and role. It shows the potential employer that you're invested in the position and have the skills needed to succeed.

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Resumes with Impact: Creating Strong Bullet Points

How can you make your resume stand out to an employer?

• Use an easy-to-read format and structure that highlights your relevant education and experience.
• Develop bullet points or statements to show relevant skills and qualities. Be specific about what you did and how you did it.
• Start your bullet points or statements with strong action verbs.
• Provide contextual details to inform the reader about the purpose of your work, the scope of the project, and what you produced or accomplished.
• Quantify your work and achievements where possible.

Using the STAR method

The STAR method can help you create impactful descriptions for each experience on your resume.

First, read through the posting for a job that interests you. This will help you understand the role and the employer’s needs. Identify the skills and qualities they seek. You can usually find them in the responsibilities and qualifications sections.

Next, use the STAR method to describe the context of your work, your actions, and how your actions had positive impact on the organization.

Situation: What was the situation, problem, or conflict you were facing?

Task: What were you tasked with? What were your responsibilities or goals?

Action: What action did you take? What did you do to solve this problem? (start with action verbs)

Result: What was the result or outcome of your action? How did it benefit the organization? Can this result be quantified?

Follow the STAR method to create descriptions that incorporate the key skills and qualities the employer is seeking. Your final statement will start with the action section and include the results section when appropriate.

Skills/qualities you want to show: initiative, organization, analytical thinking, writing, interpersonal skills, problem solving

Situation: The trainees were learning too slowly and could not navigate the company’s data tracking system by the end of the two-week training period. Instead, they were not ready for another two weeks.

Task: Help trainees learn the system faster.

Action: Initiated, wrote, and edited the first training manual for the company’s data tracking system. Successfully presented proposal to use manual to management. Revised training program curriculum to implement new manual. Trainees worked through the manual during the two-week training period.

Result: At the end of the training period, trainees were ready to use the data tracking system two weeks earlier than expected; the training manual was adopted across the company and is still in use.

FINAL STATEMENT FOR RESUME: Initiated, wrote, and edited the first training manual for company’s data tracking system, which cut training period in half, was adopted across the company, and is still in use today.

This example could focus on different skills (communication, persuasion, leadership, training), depending on what’s relevant to the job.

Bullet Point Examples

What, how, and why.

Answer these questions to transform a generic description into an impactful  bullet point. 

• What did you do? What was the situation, problem, or challenge you were facing?
• What were your responsibilities or goals?
• How exactly did you do it? How did you accomplish your tasks? Did you use any tools, equipment, or computer programs?
• Did you work as part of a team or independently?
• Why are these actions important? How did they benefit the organization? What was the result or outcome of your actions?
• Can you quantify the results? (Note: Not every bullet point on your resume must be results-oriented.)

Generic Description

Public Health Society, Events Coordinator

• Responsible for organizing events and panels

In this example, it is not clear what the candidate did to organize events and panels, what skills they used, or what kind of events and panels they organized. Because of this, the writer misses the chance to showcase the skills used to carry out this task.

Strong, Concrete Description

• Plan and coordinate panels on public health for audiences of 25–50 undergraduates on a bi-monthly basis
• Identify and contact health professionals in the community to participate in panels
• Create marketing materials and publicize events through social media

Add context and skills (WHAT was the situation and HOW were the tasks accomplished) to deepen the information provided.

In this example, the first bullet point clearly highlights organizational skills. It also lets the employer know the scope, target audience, and frequency of the events. This efficiently illustrates the candidate’s abilities and experience.

The second bullet point indicates research and interpersonal skills, which were used to secure panelists. It also demonstrates the ability to communicate with professionals outside of the university.

The third bullet highlights a specific business skill and/or the ability to be strategic in marketing, as well as familiarity with using social media for marketing purposes.

Adding Accomplishments and Impact:

Employers review resumes to understand the impact you’ve had on a project, organization, or company. Explain WHY your actions matter; how did your actions affect outcomes? For instance:

• Were the materials and publicizing efforts successful?
• Did these actions result in reaching a new group of students?

Review each statement you’ve created for your resume. Can you add an accomplishment or achievement? What happened as a result of that action? How did it benefit the organization? You don’t need to add a result to every bullet point on your resume, but it’s helpful to demonstrate achievements when possible.

What does this look like? In the bullet point about marketing materials and social media, this might read:

• Create marketing materials and publicize events through social media. Increased attendance at several club programs by 75% (if you have an accurate figure)
• Create marketing materials and publicize events through social media. Saw increased attendance at several club programs throughout the year (if you are unable to quantify)

These statements combine the Action and Result sections of the STAR method.

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Star Resume Template

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A STAR resume template is a format for presenting job experience and skills on a resume. The acronym "STAR" stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result. This template is used to organize information in a way that highlights how a candidate has used their skills and experience to achieve specific results in past job situations.

• The Situation section of the STAR template is used to describe the context in which the candidate's skills were used. This might include information about the company, the department, and the specific project or initiative.
• The Task section is used to describe the goal or objective that the candidate was working towards.
• The Action section is used to describe the specific actions that the candidate took to achieve the goal or objective.
• The Result section is used to describe the outcome or impact of the candidate's actions. This might include information about how a project was completed on time and under budget, or how a particular initiative led to an increase in sales or customer satisfaction.

The STAR format is a powerful tool for highlighting a candidate's skills and experience in a way that is both organized and easy to read. It allows recruiters to quickly see how a candidate has used their skills and experience to achieve results in past job situations.

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How to Ace Interviews with the STAR Method [9+ Examples]

Behavioral job interview questions are hard.

Everything is going seemingly well, until the interviewer drops the “Can you tell me about a time when you…”  question.

Shoot, what now?

You try to think of a coherent answer, but you just can’t think of anything on the spot.

So, you blurt out something awkward (which you instantly regret) and pray that the interviewer will just let this one slide.

...But it didn’t have to go this way. There IS a way to give a good answer to every single behavioral job interview question:

The STAR Method.

In this guide, we’re going to teach you what, exactly, that is, and how to use it to ace your upcoming job interview!

• What the STAR method is and when to use it
• 4 tips to keep in mind when answering with the STAR method
• 9 sample job interview answers that follow the STAR method

Sounds good?

Let’s begin!

What is the STAR Method and When You Should Use?

So, first things first - what is the STAR method, exactly ?

In short, the STAR method is a structured answer that can be used to answer most behavioral interview questions.

Here’s what it stands for:

• (S) Situation - What’s the context? Describe the situation or the background first.
• (T) Task - Talk about your responsibilities or the tasks you had to complete (i.e. what was the challenge for the specific task?)
• (A) Action - How did you fix the situation? Describe your process and the steps you took.
• (R) Results - Describe the results of your actions. If possible, use numbers or hard data (e.g. by what % did you increase the overall sales? What changed?).

While you can use the STAR method for ANY interview question, it’s most useful for answering behavioral interview questions .

So, what ARE behavioral interview questions, exactly ?

In short, they’re just like any interview question, but their main focus is on real-life work situations.

• What’s your #1 strength?
• Give us an example of how you used your #1 strength at work, and what kind of results did it drive?

Makes sense, right?

Now, here are a few examples of what those questions might look like:

• Can you give me an example of when you had to take charge in your previous position? What happened and how did you react?
• Tell me about a time when you were faced with a tight deadline. Did you still manage to complete your tasks? How?
• Have you ever set specific goals for yourself at work? How did you make sure you would meet your objectives? 

Now that you know what behavioral interview questions are, let’s take a look at a sample answer that follows the STAR method:

Behavioral Interview Question:

“Give me an example of when you had to be very strategic in your tasks to meet all of your responsibilities under a specific deadline.”

Sample Answer:

Situation - “I typically like to plan out my work weeks in advance if possible. But in my previous sales manager role at Company X, I had to suddenly move the team to a new customer relationship management (CRM) software. The software we were using before unexpectedly changed their pricing model, which made it too expensive for us.”

Task - ”I had to find new software that met our requirement, by the end of Q3 (when the price increase hit), while making sure my own sales numbers did not decrease. The new tool also had to be intuitive and easy for our employees to adapt to.”

Action - “In order to do that, I had to be very careful with how I managed my time. The first thing I did was ask our sales associates what the number one problem was with our current CRM, so I knew what to look for in a new one aside from the price factor. After that, I dedicated 1-2 hours each day to research, and once I found the new software, migrating our data. I made sure to delete any old contacts, update the missing information on our current leads, and caught the team up on how to use the new software. All the while, I was still handling my daily responsibilities as usual, without any decrease in performance.”

Results - “Finally, we managed to complete the transfer 1 week behind the deadline. I finished the quarter 12% ahead of my sales goals, and the team was satisfied with the new CRM. By planning ahead and with proper time allocation, everything worked out well.” 

This is pretty much a perfect answer that follows the STAR method .

It gives the right amount of background , clearly shows the challenge without getting too detailed, presents the process when approaching the problem, and ends on a high note using data and numbers to show their results.

By using the above formula, it’s much easier to structure your answer so that the HR manager doesn’t get lost following your story. 

Now, if you really want to nail your answer, here’s what you need to keep in mind when following the STAR structure:

4 Tips on Getting the Most Out of the STAR Method

Knowing what the acronym stands for is only the first step.

Here’s how to really get the most out of the method:

1) Keep It Relevant

Sounds obvious, right?

But here’s the thing:

Even if you’re following the STAR formula down to the T, it won’t amount to much if your answer is not relevant .

Think about this: what are you trying to communicate with your answer?

Ideally, it should be related to your position and show that you come equipped with skills that will be helpful in the job you’re seeking.

For example: if you’re applying for a job in graphic design , you wouldn’t start talking about your greatest accomplishment in accounting , right?

If your answer is not relevant for the job, it basically doesn’t even count.

2) Have a Few Examples Ready

There’s no way for you to know in advance what type of behavioral interview question the interviewer will ask.

But it’s still a good idea to have a few examples ready that follow the STAR method.

This way, you can tweak and adapt your answer on the go depending on the question.

Keep in mind, though, that your answers shouldn’t be a word-for-word memorized script.

You’ll want to sound natural when answering.

And if you’re having a hard time coming up with an answer during the interview, don’t be afraid to ask for a minute to come up with an example.

It’s ok to take a few seconds and structure your answer in your head first. If anything, the HR manager might appreciate that you’re not rushing in your answers.

• While you’ll never know what questions they’ll ask during the interview, you can still prepare for the most common ones. Check out our complete list of most common interview questions and answers here !

3) Give Proper Context

Imagine you’re telling a story about how you saved a client’s project at the last minute.

You swooped in, took charge, and made sure everyone knew what to do.

That’s awesome! That’s what the interviewer wants to know about.

However, you don’t have to :

• Go in-depth about how you found the client in the first place.
• Describe your whole working relationship with them from the beginning till the end.
• Give their whole backstory and explain why you’re such good friends with the client.

As we mentioned before, your answer should be relevant and straight to the point .

So, when talking about the situation , try to only summarize the buildup to your story in only 1-2 sentences.

4) Show Your Work

Finally, it’s your time to brag a bit.

Don’t be afraid to go all out and show how you made a difference. Make sure to mention the following:

• What kind of impact did your actions have on your department/company?
• What were the EXACT results? use numbers and data to back it up.
• What did you learn from the experience?

No interviewer will be satisfied with a lackluster ending like “Yeah so, and then, we finished the project in time, and everyone lived happily ever after”

See how boring that sounds?

Even if the ending of your story isn’t all that amazing, you can at least say what you learned .

Star Interview Questions and Answers (+9 Examples)

Your answer following the STAR method will depend on the specific behavioral interview question being asked.

So, to help you prepare, we’re going to give you 9 more common behavioral interview questions (with their corresponding sample answers)!

The questions we’re going to cover include:

• What’s your greatest achievement?
• How do you set and accomplish personal goals when under pressure?
• Have you ever faced conflict or disagreement with a coworker? What Happened and how did you resolve it?
• How do you handle unexpected challenges? Give me an example
• Have you ever been in a situation when the client was wrong, and you had to correct them? Give me an example.
• Tell me about a time you failed. What happened and what did you learn?
• How do you handle irate customers? Give me an example.
• Can you tell me about a time when you went above and beyond to deliver excellent customer experience?
• Can you give me an example of a goal you set, but couldn’t meet? How did you handle it?

Now, let’s dig right in!

1) What is your greatest achievement?

S - “When I was a manager at Cafe X, we would always get a lot more customers than usual during the summer. It would almost always be packed, and sometimes, there were not enough servers to handle the work. And if someone got sick or unexpectedly could not show up - things were only worse.”

T - “So, I had to come up with a system so that we would not get overwhelmed during those 3+ months.”

A - “To make sure we were prepared, I realized we needed a better schedule. For the next summer, I had a very strict shift schedule ready, and a reward system in case someone couldn’t show up for their shift. If someone called in sick, whoever filled in for them would be rewarded with extra pay. And if there was absolutely no one else available, I would personally fill in for them instead.”

R - “Overall, the summer went pretty smoothly with minimal accidents. We didn’t get ANY negative reviews on TripAdvisor for the summer (whereas for the summer before that, we had several for slow service).”

2) How do you set and accomplish personal goals when under pressure? Give me an example.

S - “Sure! To give you some context, during university, I had very limited financial aid, and my parents couldn’t help co-pay the rest of the tuition. So, while studying, I also had to work to pay for the university. At the same time, I also took up a lot of extracurricular activities (and internships when possible) to get as much professional work experience as possible before graduating.”

T - “To keep up with the workload, I realized I had to manage my time very efficiently. So, I set up Google Calendar and got a personal notepad for my daily tasks and responsibilities.”

A - “Through hard work and dedication, I managed to balance studying, a part-time job, and all extracurricular activities. Sure, it was pretty tiring at times, but by the end of each day I would always go over and edit my calendar for the rest of the week. This way, I knew pretty much everything I had to get done daily, and never missed an assignment or a deadline either!”

R - “In the end, I graduated with a 3.7 GPA, no student loans, and a personal design portfolio which landed me my first real job at Company X within a month of graduating.

3) Have you ever faced conflict or disagreement with a coworker? What happened and how did you resolve it?

S - “Yep! During my internship at Company X, my team and I were supposed to work together and brainstorm new talent sourcing ideas for a client. The client was a large supermarket chain located in a very rural area, so they were struggling to source new talent. ”

T - “Basically our task was to meet on a daily basis, brainstorm and finally settle on 3 great ideas. After a couple of meetings, we did have SOME ideas, but none of them were too exceptional. The management wanted something that they could confidently present to the client (that would, for sure, drive results for them).

Some of my teammates wanted to just give up, say “well, here’s our ideas, we don’t have anything else!” and be done with it. Me and another teammate, however, wanted to work on it a bit more and come up with something that WOULD work.

There was a LOT of back and forth from there, the tensions were high, and the team kept shutting down all the ideas we were proposing. The deadline was super close, and had to figure out a way to move forward.”

A - “So, I gave it some thought, and realized that we’d forever be in a deadlock if we continued like this. They wouldn’t agree with our approach, and we wouldn’t agree with theirs. So, we decided to bring in an unbiased third party who didn't have any emotional investment here.

We then conducted a longer meeting without any time restraints (so we’d get everything done ASAP in a single meeting), where we went through each idea one by one, and the third party acted as a sort of mediator. When someone pitched something, they also had to back it up with as many facts as possible, otherwise it wouldn’t count.”

R - “This really helped bring in something new to the table. The “mediator” helped sort through all the bad ideas, as well as infusing the team with some new energy.

We eventually DID end up coming up with completely original ideas, which were also something we all agree upon. We finished the meeting in approx. 2 hours, and the management had 3 awesome ideas they could pitch to the client. The client DID implement one of the ideas, which eventually resulted in 3 new hires.”

4) How do you handle unexpected challenges? Give me an example

S - “One time, while preparing for a presentation at a conference for Company X, one of our guest speakers had to unexpectedly cancel due to an emergency. We found out only a few hours before the event, and there was now a 1-hour gap in our schedule we had to fix.”

T - “So, we didn’t have a lot of time, and had to somehow fill up the time slot to keep the event going.”

A - “As one of the main event organizers and community managers at the company, I decided to take initiative. Instead of the guest speaker, I wanted to present our CEO as the speaker instead - which was definitely a possibility because he was working behind the scenes as well. I personally spent an hour working with him one-on-one, trying to get him to transform his decade’s worth of experience into a presentation. With 30 minutes to spare, everything was ready to go and all that was left was to present.”

R - “From the one 1 hour gap, the speech lasted about 45 minutes, and for the rest of the 15 minutes we took some questions from the audience. After that, everything continued on track, and most of the audience members loved the presentation.”

5) Have you ever been in a situation when the client was wrong, and you had to correct them? Give me an example.

S - “Yes, that happens every so often. 

I can think of one example which happened during my first job as a recruiter. I had sent out a candidate over to a client and the hiring manager had rejected him based on CV alone. They said that the candidate was too junior of a profile for the position, no experience with X, Y and Z.” 

T - “I went through the resume and my notes several times, and I was 100% sure that this had to have been a mistake on the client’s part - the candidate was an exact match for the job ad they gave me.

So I had to somehow let them know about it without seeming to be telling them how to do their job.”

A - “I contacted my candidate, I got exact and thorough information on his experience with X, Y and Z, wrote it all out in an email and obviously with a very calm and professional tone explained to our client’s hiring manager that my candidate did in fact have experience in all areas pointed out, proven by this and that project, etc. And I kindly asked him to review his application.”

R - “He responded, agreed that the candidate did in fact have the required experience and admitted that it was an error on their end. So, they DID invite the candidate for an interview. Given, he wasn’t chosen for the role, but oh well, at least we gave him a chance.”

6) Tell me about a time you failed. What happened and what did you learn?

S - “During my last job, I was managing the web dev team in charge of setting up an online e-commerce store for one of our clients. In hindsight, I was too ambitious with the project, and over-promised the turnaround rate for the website. I told them we’d be done within 2 months, as it seemed like a very cookie cutter project at the time. However, around 2 weeks into the project, we realized we were off by at least a month, as we would have to hand-code a bunch of stuff that we thought was open source or sold as packaged plugins.”

T - “So, I had to inform them about the issue, give an updated deadline for our team, and fix my mistake.”

A - “After the meeting, they were understanding, but not very happy. I then assembled our web developers and started working hard on the project the very next day. We focused 100% of our time on fixing the issue, outsourced some of the small tasks to save time, and ended up fixing everything before the new deadline.”

R - “In the end, their site was a success and I learned a valuable lesson on managing expectations. I realized that sometimes it’s better to under-promise and over-deliver, and learned how to better set and manage deadlines for my team.”

7) How do you handle angry customers? Give me an example.

S - “I always try to be calm and collected. Recently, when I was serving a customer behind the checkout, I had a customer shout at me for not being eligible for a refund. The customer was getting louder and there was a large line starting to form behind him.”

T - “I had to remain calm, move the conflict somewhere else, and make sure the other customers could go about their purchases.”

A - “I realized the best thing to do was to move the situation away from the cash register. I asked my colleague to take over for me so that I could talk to the customer one-on-one and better explain the situation. I explained that I could understand his frustration, but I made it clear that sales items were non-refundable, even though he had a receipt.”

R - “In the end, he began to calm down and accepted my explanation. While he still wasn’t happy about it, I managed to dissolve the situation before he made any more of a scene. I believe that by being calm and empathetic, it’s possible to dissolve most (if not all) such situations.”

8) Can you tell me about a time when you went above and beyond to deliver excellent customer experience?

S - “When I was working at Company X, we were preparing for a video presentation for a client when I learned that someone on their team was deaf. The presentation was due the next day in the morning and I was the only one left in the office after 5PM.”

T - “I realized there was only one solution and that was for me to stay behind in the evening and add the captions myself.”

A - “It took a few hours, and around 8PM, I was done. Then, I let our team know about the update.”

R - “In the end, the client enjoyed the presentation. They were very impressed (and surprised) by our attention to detail, and we ended up closing them soon after.”

9) Can you give me an example of a goal you set, but couldn’t meet? How did you handle it?

S - “In my previous job, one month, we decided to focus most of our marketing efforts on growing our blog. I was charged by the CMO to take over the blog and create content. The issue was, I had ZERO experience with content, but we didn’t have anyone else to own the channel.”

T - “I had to write 5 total articles in that month, create the social media posts for them, and work on promoting them.”

A - “Halfway through the month, I realized I couldn’t write. At all. It just wasn’t my thing, and I had NOTHING to show for the month’s work. So, here’s what I did: I explained the situation to the CMO, and we came up with an alternative solution. We’d find outsourced content writers on UpWork, and I’d manage them as a content strategist.”

R - “Overall, we ended up hiring a content writer, who managed to pump out the 4 articles before the deadline. I worked hand-in-hand with them to ensure that their writing was on-brand, and I also created the social posts for them and promoted them. Overall, the articles performed pretty well, even landing us a handful of new leads.”

Key Takeaways

Yes, interviews can be quite scary. 

With the STAR method, though, you’ll stand a much better chance at acing them!

Now, let’s recap everything we’ve learned:

• To answer behavioral job interview questions, you need to give real-life examples and stories. To answer it right, you need to follow the STAR method.
• As a reminder, the acronym stands for: S - Situation, T - Task, A - Action, R - Results.
• The format is quite straightforward to follow. Just make sure your answers are relevant, give proper context , describe your thought process , and finally, include real facts and figures .
• And for sample answers, you can always consult with the examples above for some inspiration.

Are you looking for more ways to prepare for and to ace the job interview? Then you should look no further than the Novorésumé career blog for the latest career advice and other actionable guides!

Recommended reading:

• Thank You Email After Interview - 2024 Guide & Examples
• 26+ Biggest Interview Mistakes (To Avoid in 2024)
• Why Should We Hire You - 10+ Best Answers
• Best Resume Formats for 2024 [3+ Professional Templates]
• 19+ STAR Interview Questions - Complete List

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MyResumeStar

STAR Method For Resume

• Posted on May 25, 2022

How would you like to be a resume star with Star Resume?

If you have tried to search for resume building you probably have come across the term ‘star method for resume building’ . What is it? How to Write a ‘Star Resume’? What are its advantages? 

You are at right spot. Let the learning begin..

MyResumeStar provides AI powered resume builder That is ATS(Applicant Tracking System) friendly and  can help you to ace the job. Checkout our Resume Templates here…

Resumes are an excellent way for employers to get a deeper understanding of the candidates’ skills, competencies, and experience. This single document reflects an applicant’s achievements, experience, job duties, and skills that align perfectly with their career goals. 

A star method resume is perfect for persuading a hiring manager to hire you. It focuses on the major and most significant part of the resume: professional work experience. This section covers the bulk area of your resume and thus requires essential detailing of your job role and achievements. 

Hundreds of CVs pile up on an employer’s stage. In other words, a dull and misaligned resume won’t help you make it to the top. You need to submit an ideal resume that gives unique and valuable insight into your capabilities. 

The employer judges if the candidates are experts and look for those who will be loyal and dedicated to the company. According to statistics , an individual has to send 30-50 resumes to get hired, on average and only 2% result in interview invites. You wouldn’t want that, right?

So, today we have brought you a detailed guide on the Star Resume so you can stand out from the rest of the crowd and land your dream job.

What Is A STAR Method Resume?

A star resume is a long and descriptive version of your standard resume. “STAR” is basically an acronym that stands for Situation, Task, Activity, and Result. This resume helps give hiring managers a more useful insight into the job seeker’s previous job duties and accomplishments. 

Through this method, applicants are guided to mention their work experience in a detailed and narrative manner in their resumes. By adopting this method for resumes correctly, an applicant can stand out from others.

The STAR resume method is considered a behavioral interview that helps the interviewer gain insight into the applicant’s core competencies and skills.

Our resume builder has been used by thousands of job seekers and professionals. 

Checkout our Resume templates by clicking here…

Components of A STAR Resume

By breaking down the components of the star resume, one can easily understand its context and the strategy for writing the perfect CV. Let’s dive deeper into what each component consists of:

This is the part in which you will have to briefly introduce your role and designation in any previous company you have worked for.

In this part, the interviewer asks about the unique goals you have accomplished, such as any significant challenges you may have overcome or any milestone you specifically helped the company achieve. 

A small tip that comes in handy is sharing relevant skills and competencies according to the job requirement of the place you applied. This is useful to impress the hiring manager with your understanding of the practical application of the demanded skills.

This part of the description discusses the actions you took in order to accomplish the goal. You might be asked whether you did it on your own or whether it was a team effort. In short, these sections need a lot more explaining of your efforts in achieving the goals you have mentioned before.

Lastly, now you must include the final results/outputs of the actions you took. How did the result affect the company’s growth, and did they achieve any significant milestones because of it? This brief description shows the level of your loyalty and dedication to the company and highlights these goals as personal achievements. 

By considering all these 4 components, you will be able to answer the questions more clearly and accurately. With the proper explanation of your work experience, the hiring manager will get the idea that you are a suitable candidate to fill their empty position.

How to Create A STAR Resume?

A star resume can make your CV look more exciting and impactful. By using these four components, you can make each experience look more meaningful in the eyes of the recruiter. 

To create a STAR resume, first, you must thoroughly read through the job description and the requirements. Brainstorm if any of the vital job duties are similar to your previous job. Then, using the STAR strategizing writing method, describe the background of your job, your actions, and how your activities benefited the organization. That way, you will be ticking on every requirement on the recruiter’s list.

Check out MyResumeStar builder here…

For example, you are applying for the position of bank manager. The job description says to promote and market the branch and its services; you won’t just mention “Promoted and marketed the branch and its services.” Your aim is to make it look more enticing. You have to mention accomplished goals, facts or statistics, the tasks you performed exactly, and the result you got in return.

Continuing with the same example, let’s dive further into how the work experience will look when written according to the STAR method.

 1. Situation

An excellent way to describe your situation (that is, role and job duties) is to include a brief and important aspect of your previous job duties. You can write it as follows:

• Responsible for managing the XYZ branch, promoting and marketing services to achieve challenging sales objectives, and keeping employees fully trained and motivated.

In an interview, you might be asked why you were hired previously. A good interview answer would be: “Before my hiring, the company was neglecting marketing and promotion factors, which were resulting in deteriorating sales. I was assigned to boost productivity in the marketing domain and increase the overall sales”. But in a star resume, you can give strategically write:

• Evaluated, analyzed, and refined pre-existing marketing strategies to increase sales generation.

Situation and task description can also be written altogether as:

• Used my role as a branch manager to identify challenges in marketing strategies and improved them to increase revenue.

 3. Actions

When talking about how you overcame these problems in an interview, you can say, “I put together a complete strategy to raise revenue efficiently because I had the in-depth technical expertise and a good background in marketing. Following that, I recruited three colleagues: a graphic designer, a digital marketing expert, and a writer. These three were able to carry out the activities successfully.”

Whereas in the resume, you will write it in bullet points like this:

• Developed competitive strategies through in-depth marketing knowledge and led a creative team of 4 experts for successful implementation.

When you want to convey the results, mentioning numbers can make a great impression. For example, if you want to mention the quick increase in sales of the company in the very next month of your planned strategies, you can write it as:

• 10% rapid increase in sales after one month of implementation.

When writing a STAR resume, you are basically answering the interviewer’s questions. The key point here is to write precisely using strong words and numbers. However, these words should be similar to those demanded in the job ad. Moreover, the numbers should be more realistic and should be backed up by your previous office. 

Advantages of Using the STAR Resume Method

As a job seeker, your motive is to show your employee how valuable you are. This is why a STAR resume is perfect for you. It portrays the correct picture by showcasing your skills and previous accomplishments. Here are a few of the advantages you can enjoy if you choose the STAR resume format:

More Detailed

Instead of just listing the skills, a star resume format is more descriptive as it gives more details. These explain how you practically applied the relevant skills and overcame the challenges that came your way.

Describes Your Capabilities

An employer’s primary purpose is to determine what capabilities you can provide to the firm if hired. When you employ the STAR strategy for writing your resume, you clearly demonstrate the practical application of your professional skills and determine your worth.

Interview Preparation

You might have noticed the questions mentioned above are commonly asked in interviews. By creating a STAR resume format, you will eventually be fully prepared to answer any tough questions during the interview.

Narrates Your Story

A STAR resume tells the story behind your achieved milestones. It tells how you identified an issue or created a method by applying your expert skills in order to contribute to the organization’s growth.

Stitched According To Job Demands

The star resume method allows you to include major skills, duties, or milestones relevant to the job description issued by the employer. This type of resume easily catches the eye of recruiters as it includes all the qualities they are looking for in a person to hire.

Ideally, one should mention a single description of a critical achievement or challenge in a single work experience. And don’t put everything you find similar; choose only the winning one that can impress the reader.

A tip to help you is that first determine the situations of your work experiences and connect them to the job requirements mentioned by the employer. Then, rate them from the most valuable to the least. Now, you will have more clarity in selecting the fitting job description for your resume. 

A star resume is all about marketing your abilities. It is written strategically to make a strong impression on your future employer, so if you want your resume to stand tall among other CVs, adopt it right away to make your capabilities shine and be a resume star. 

Tip :-  Star method for resume building is all about emphasizing your skills relevant to the job you are applying for. Putting information in bullet points will attract the attention of potential employer towards your strong points. 

Check out here for building the resume by star method.

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Mastering the STAR Interview Method – How-to and Q&A Examples

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What is the STAR interview method?

What is a behavioral interview, what does star stand for, preparing for your interview with the star method, how to use the star interview method.

• STAR question and answer examples
• Focus on success

The STAR interview method is a way to respond to common interview questions. It’s important that you understand how to use the STAR method so you can clearly and confidently answer any type of behavioral interview question an employer may ask you. This article explains how to use the STAR answer method to answer popular interview questions so you can impress your interviewer. 

The STAR method is an interview response technique that allows you to take control of a job interview (especially a behavioral-style interview) by assessing a prospective employer’s requirements and preparing answers to likely questions ahead of time. STAR is an acronym that refers to Situation, Task, Action and Result. 

In a behavioral or competency-based interview, the interviewer has a particular set of needs or goals in mind and wants to know how you will fulfill them. 

Common behavioral interview questions include:

• Tell me how you set goals.
• Describe an incident where you were faced with an unexpected problem on a tight deadline.
• Where do you see yourself in five years?
• How did you handle working with someone you disliked?

The STAR technique allows you to explain and illustrate how you will meet the needs of your future employer by using examples of how you’ve dealt with related challenges in the past.

The acronym STAR stands for:

The situation is the challenge, project or other event you faced. When you’re preparing for potential interview questions, think about situations that might be relevant to the job you’re interviewing for. Consider the way you’d describe the problem you faced. This could be something directly related to your current or previous job, such as ‘I had to give an important presentation with only two days to prepare’ or ‘My team needed to develop a social media strategy before a product’s launch date.’ 

It could also be something more general. For example, if you’re asked ‘Where do you see yourself in five years?’ you might mention the position you wish to have, an academic or professional achievement and perhaps your ideal location. Think about who is involved, what is happening, where it’s happening and when it’s happening.

The task is what your responsibilities and duties were in that situation. In the situation you described, narrow down the task or target you were directly responsible for. Be concise. You need to convey the specifics to your interviewer as briefly and clearly as you can. Be sure to highlight any particularly challenging aspects of the task. Mention constraints and obstacles you faced.

The action is the steps you took or the procedure you followed to complete the project or resolve the difficulty. Describe the actions you took to complete your task or achieve your target. Think about the steps you personally took to ensure that the task was completed or the target met. Focus specifically on your own actions rather than those of others. Be sure to highlight the good qualities you showed in taking those specific actions. 

This is a great opportunity to demonstrate your best traits to the interviewer. Make sure you take full advantage of it. If your actions showed good leadership, expert communication skills or great dedication, convey this to your interviewer.

The result portion of the STAR method is where you demonstrate your accomplishments. Describe the outcome of the actions you took. Let the interviewer know how well that important presentation was received or how successful that social media strategy proved to be. If the question relates to something that hasn’t happened yet, such as your future plans and ambitions, you can share the results you’ve achieved so far on your road to fulfilling those goals. 

Well before your interview, consider the requirements of the job you’re interviewing for and how you might apply the STAR method. Read the job description for your prospective role and try to get as much detail about your future responsibilities as you can. 

It will also be helpful to learn about the corporate culture and overall mission. This will put you in the best position to answer any questions the interviewer might ask you. 

The types of interview questions and topics that could be answered by the STAR method include:

• Working as part of a team
• Planning and problem-solving
• Leadership and initiative
• Interpersonal skills, communication and conflict resolution
• Performing under pressure

You do not need to anticipate every question the interviewer might ask, but you should have a good general idea of what the interview will involve. By thinking ahead and coming up with STAR responses that are relevant to each of these categories, you will be well-prepared.

Follow these steps to use the STAR interview method to answer a behavioral or competency-based question:

1. First, start with the specific situation that you want to discuss

When answering a behavioral question, start by explaining the specific situation that you were in.

As if you were telling a story, use plenty of details when describing your situation. When you’re speaking, try to address some of these storytelling principles:

• Who : Who was involved, including the job titles of the people you are talking about
• What : What was the situation, such as the exact project you were working on
• Where : Where this situation occurred, e.g. the company you worked for
• How : How you addressed and/or overcame the situation

‘In 2018, I was working as a Junior Project Manager at Bee Construction Company. We were six months into a new shopping complex buildout and our clients were growing increasingly angry because we were running behind and they hadn’t received an updated timeline. On top of that, the Senior Project Manager in charge of the project had to leave early for maternity leave, leaving our group with no one in charge.’

2. Secondly, describe your specific tasks or responsibilities in your role

The next step is to describe your specific tasks or responsibilities.

‘I had been training with the Senior Project Manager for a few months and was responsible for updating our project status on MS Project, as well as taking meeting minutes and following up on action items.’

3. Thirdly, describe what you did to respond or react

After describing your specific tasks, it is time to describe the subsequent actions you took.

‘When stress was rising in the group after the Senior PM had to leave, I decided it was time to take charge. The first step was to schedule a meeting with the construction team leads to prioritize deliverables, delegate tasks, and to create a new, realistic timeline. After updating the project status in MS Project, I set a meeting with the client to give them the update on where the project stands.’

4. Finally, share the impact or results that you achieved

To finish the STAR interview response technique, explain the results you achieved from your actions. These results should show the positive outcome of the way you handled a situation.

‘Although the client was upset things were being pushed back, they were very happy to have a new timeline that they could work with. For the next three months, I lead the construction project and was able to keep everyone on task with daily and weekly meetings. In the end, we ended up finishing the buildout a few weeks earlier than planned.’

STAR method question and answer examples

Question 1: tell me about a time when you had to work under pressure..

Example answer:

‘Last year I was a server at a sports bar during Super Bowl Sunday. The restaurant was slammed and one of the servers called in sick last minute. The pressure was high because it was our biggest day of the year and we had multiple parties of 10 or more people that were paying a lot of money to be there.

I already had eight tables when one of our large parties walked in. We soon realized that the server they requested was the one that had called in sick. Hating to see customers disappointed, I asked our FOH manager if I could take them.

I always believe transparency is the best, so I informed the eight tables I already had of the situation we were in. I offered to get them refills on their drinks ahead of time because I needed to be away for a while getting the large party settled in.

I left that night with the biggest tips I had ever received, and my customers thanked me for being proactive and transparent.’

Question 2: What do you do if you disagree with a team member?

‘It’s impossible to always agree with team members, so I have created a useful strategy for disagreements – listen, evaluate and make a decision. This happened in my last role as a software engineer.

Our team was creating a new website front-end for an e-commerce client and a team member and I didn’t agree on how to tie the shopping cart functionality in. Instead of getting worked up, I took time to sit down with my team member and to listen to his opinion. After he felt heard, I gave him my opinion.

Giving each other space to voice our opinions, we evaluated the pros and cons of our respective strategies. In the end, we decided to move forward with my strategy because it would create more ease for our client.’

Question 3: Give me an example of a time you had to work with a team.

‘Teamwork is crucial, no matter what type of position you are in. Most recently, I was working on a business class project with three other students. I have a type-A personality, and am usually the one to take the lead, but I noticed someone else in the group that wanted to take charge.

Instead of taking over, I asked my classmate if she wanted to delegate tasks. She was extremely excited about the opportunity and ended up doing an excellent job. It was a valuable learning process for me to let someone else manage.

In the end, I learned much more than I would have taking the lead, since I already know how to do that.’

Question 4: What do you do when you are overwhelmed at work?

‘I feel like I work better under stress. When there are a million things to do, I like to take a deep breath and prioritize the tasks at hand. Just yesterday, while bartending at Craft Cocktail Bar, we welcomed a party of 25 people just as our shipment of inventory came in.

Instead of panicking, I prioritized the tasks at hand. Customers came first, because handling them is more urgent. Restocking the bar would come second. After signing for the shipment, I asked the delivery guy to store everything in the liquor closet for the time being. I took a deep breath and started taking three or four orders at a time, making drinks as fast as I could, while providing friendly, cheerful service.

In the end, the bar cleared out within an hour. The customers were very happy and I was able to get back to restocking and taking inventory.’

Question 5: Tell me a goal you have set for yourself and how you achieved it.

‘I like to set goals on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. Having both short and long-term goals helps me stay motivated while also keeping an eye on the bigger picture.

My goals for today are always written in the form of a to-do list. On my list for today is coming to this interview, sending you a nice follow-up email, finishing my online portfolio and washing my car. For the week, my goals are to have three interviews, apply to 10 positions and add 30 new connections on LinkedIn. My long-term goal is to find a company that I can call home within the next month.

Breaking down goals incrementally makes each task attainable, rather than just having a bunch of goals that are harder to achieve.’

Question 6: Why do you think you would make a good cashier?

‘I will make a good cashier because I have a lot of experience with customer service. Being a cashier isn’t just about ringing people up. It’s about ensuring that customers have an enjoyable experience while they shop. For the past six months, I have been volunteering in the kitchen of a local homeless shelter.

In addition to serving food, it is my job to interact with our guests and to see if there is anything we can help them with. Much like cashiers, I make sure to approach each person with a friendly demeanor and a big smile. I take time to listen to their needs and to ask questions about their desires.

Because of my personality, I have guests that come back to the shelter to chat with me time and time again. Although the environment is different, I feel my experience with providing exceptional customer service would make me a great cashier.’

Question 7: Describe a time when it was important for you to make a good impression with a client. What did you do?

‘As an account executive at Regent Staffing, it is extremely important for me to make good impressions. Most recently, I set a huge meeting with the VP of HR at Ace Corporation.

Needing to make a good impression, I did extensive research into her role and the company. I soon found out that they were going through massive re-orgs, which means she was putting in lots of hours. Knowing she didn’t have much time to take a break, instead of doing the usual lunch, I offered to take her to get her nails done over the lunch break. The meeting was a huge success.

She told me how tired she had been and that having some time to take care of herself was much appreciated. Because of that meeting, we landed a huge contract and she is now one of my favorite clients.’

Focus on success when using STAR

When considering which examples you use for your STAR answers, choose an episode from your career that resulted in success. You can model your best qualities and accomplishments for your interviewer. Think about how the outcome of the episode reflects on you, both in your work role and as an individual.

The STAR method is a very powerful technique with many applications beyond the interview setting. You can use the STAR method as a tool in many different situations, both in and out of the workplace.