How to Prep for a Behavioral STAR Interview

Explain how you accomplished your work to an employer.

Employers use behavioral interviews based on the notion that how you've acted in the past is a good indication of how you'll act in the future. You can prepare for this type of interview by learning the STAR method of answering behavioral questions. With the STAR method, you present a situation or task, the action and the result.

Instructions

1. Review your professional accomplishments.These are not just your daily duties on the job, but the results of your tasks. Look over your resume to jog your memory on different work-related situations.

2. Identify situations in which you worked as part of a team, overcame a problem, had a conflict with a coworker and the large projects you worked on. Most behavioral interview questions focus on relating to coworkers, completing tasks and demonstrating leadership.

3. Be able to explain how you handled each situation. If you're talking aboyut resolving a conflict with an employee, explain what you did to smooth over the situation. Show the interviewer how you respond to crisis. If you're talking about a long term research project, explain where you looked for information and how you put the information together.

4. Describe the final results of your actions. When possible, provide numerical results such as "increased sales by 20 percent." If your past jobs weren't sales or cost oriented, you should explain other accomplishments such as "research laid the foundation for an award-winning academic journal article."

Tips & Warnings

• Practice by participating in mock interviews.

• Don't lie in a job interview.

References

• Wayne State University Career Services: Behavioral Interview Techniques -- The STAR Approach