STAR has five letters. Most answers stop at four.
Behavioural questions reward reflection, not stories. Why Situation, Task, Action, Result needs a fifth step, and how to split your time.
Interviewers love a “tell me about a time when” question. Most students answer it with a story. The story is not marked. Your actions, and what you learned from them, are.
The five letters
- Situation: one sentence. Where, when, who.
- Task: one sentence. What needed doing, and why it was hard.
- Action: what you did, step by step. Not the team. You.
- Result: what happened, including anything that did not work.
- Reflection: what you learned, and what you would do next time. This is the step most answers miss, and it is where the marks are.
How to split your time
About 20% on the situation and task. About 80% on what you did, what happened and what it taught you. If you can swap your story for a different one and the lesson still works, your reflection is too general.
Want your own stories checked? Book a lesson with a coach, or try a personal-qualities question against the timer first.
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