This week, we continue our series on interviewing tips by discussing how to answer tricky behavior-based questions using the STAR method.
Employers ask behavior-based questions because they believe that past actions predict future behavior. Some examples of behavior-based questions include:
· Describe a time when you were faced with a stressful situation that demonstrates your coping skills.
· Give me an example of a time when you had to conform to a policy with which you did not agree.
· Tell me about a difficult decision you’ve made in the last year.
· Tell me about a time when you missed an obvious solution to a problem.
· Tell me about a recent situation in which you had to deal with a very upset customer or co-worker.
· Give me an example of a time when you tried to accomplish something and failed.
· Tell me about a time when you had to go above and beyond the call of duty in order to get a job done.
· Tell me about your most embarrassing moment.
· Describe your greatest disappointment.
While these may seem like tricky questions, they are the perfect opportunity to illustrate your strengths for a potential employer. How well you answer this question will depend on how much you have prepared.
A great strategy for answering these types of questions is the STAR method. STAR stands for Situation or Task, Action you took, and Results you achieved.
Situation or Task: Describe the situation you were in or the task that you needed to accomplish. You must describe a specific event or situation, not a generalized description of what you have done in the past. Be sure to give enough detail for the interviewer to understand. This situation can be from a previous job, volunteer experience, a class project or extracurricular activity, or any related event.
Action you took: Describe the action you took and be sure to keep the focus on you. Even if you are discussing a group project or effort, describe what you did – not the efforts of the team. Don’t say what you might do; say what you did.
Results you achieved: What happened? How did the event end? What did you accomplish? What did you learn? Be as specific as possible.
Here’s an example of how to answer the question, “Give me an example of a time when you had to conform to a policy with which you did not agree.”
S/T: I had a client who was accused of violating a local ordinance because he brought a holstered-but-not-concealed handgun into a state park. Prior to this case, I had been generally in favor of gun control laws, especially when there was a risk of guns being around young children, as there was in this case. However, our office policy is to accept whatever case we are given and to represent our client’s interest to the fullest extent, regardless of our personal feelings about a case.
A: Therefore, I began researching the legal issues involved and discovered that the local ordinance was in direct conflict with state statutes. I filed a motion to dismiss. The prosecutor agreed with my motion and dismissed the case under the local ordinance, but refiled the case under the unlawful display of a weapon statute. I filed a Knapstad motion, arguing that the safest way to carry a firearm in an open-carry state is by having it in a holster.
R: The court agreed with my motion and the case was dismissed. While it was challenging to go against my gut reaction to gun control laws, I now have a much more sophisticated understanding of gun control laws and the need for state-wide consistency. I benefited both personally and professionally from following the office policies despite my initial reservations, and I believe that I am a better attorney for having represented this client. After his case was dismissed, he sent me a thank you card and a bouquet of flowers.
Remember that your responses should be 30 to 90 seconds long, they should end on a positive and they should tell a story. The key to answering these questions is preparation. Pick a few questions from above, or additional behavior-based questions can be found here, and begin crafting your responses. The goal is not to memorize an answer, but to create a few highlights that you can draw from easily in an interview. Another approach is to think about the behaviors that this employer might ask about and then to come up with situations that help describe those behaviors. A list of typical behaviors be found here. You will need at least 3-5 example situations that you can tailor to various questions.
The next step is practicing your interviewing techniques – but more on this next week.
