Many interviews in South Africa, including in the public service and at many banks and large companies, use competency-based questions: “Tell me about a time when you…”. The STAR method gives every answer a clear shape so you do not ramble or forget the result.
What STAR stands for
- Situation: where you were and what was happening, in one or two sentences.
- Task: what you had to achieve or the problem you owned.
- Action: what you did, step by step. This is the longest part.
- Result: what changed, with a number if you have one, and what you learned.
An example
Question: “Tell me about a time you dealt with an unhappy customer.”
Answer: “At the bank branch, a client was angry that a debit order had bounced twice (situation). I had to calm him down and stop it happening again (task). I listened without interrupting, checked his account while he waited, found the debit order date was before his salary date, and helped him move it (action). He left satisfied, the debit order has run every month since, and he later opened a savings account with me (result).”
Prepare five stories
Write down five short STAR stories before the interview: a problem you solved, a time you worked in a team, a mistake you fixed, a time you led or trained someone, and a result you are proud of. Most questions can be answered with one of them.