When preparing for behavioral-based interviews, it’s crucial to have examples at-the-ready that showcase your skills, achievements and problem-solving abilities. Behavioral-based interview questions often start with phrases like “Tell me about a time when…” and aim to uncover how you’ve handled real-life situations. Using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to answer these questions is a proven approach and one that I teach every single one of my clients.
Creating a STAR Project Bank—a personal inventory of well-structured examples—is a powerful way to ace behavioral-based interviews. Here’s how to build your bank so you can confidently answer any question an interviewer throws your way.
Identify Key Competencies
Start by identifying the skills and competencies that are most valued in your industry and role. Common competencies for many positions include problem-solving, teamwork, leadership, adaptability and communication. If you’re applying for a specific job, review the job description and company values to pinpoint what competencies are essential for the role.
**HR Tip: Once you’re identified these competencies, organize your STAR Project Bank by skill area. This makes it easier to quickly locate relevant examples during interview prep!**
Select Relevant Projects
Next, think back to projects or tasks that best showcase each skill or competency. Ideally, your projects should reflect a variety of skills to give a well-rounded view of your strengths.
For example:
- A challenging team project to showcase teamwork and collaboration
- A process improvement initiative that highlights problem-solving and innovation
- A time when you led a group, where you demonstrated leadership and decision-making
**HR Tip: Don’t just focus on big wins. Small projects can also illustrate your skills, especially if they reveal your ability to handle setbacks, navigate challenges or learn from mistakes.**
Write STAR Stories for Each Project
For each relevant project you’ve listed, I want you to break them down using the STAR format. Here’s an example for the competency, problem-solving:
- Situation: Describe the environment that allowed for this challenge
- Our team was facing delays on a project due to inefficient communication among team members
- Task: Explain what you were tasked with or up against
- As the project manager, I needed to streamline our communication to meet the upcoming deadline
- Action: Outline the specific steps you took to address the challenge despite the obstacles
- I introduced a weekly stand-up meeting and implemented a project management tool that allowed everyone to update their progress and flag issues in real-time
- Result: Share the outcome, ideally with quantifiable results
- The changes reduced our project delays by 30% and increased team productivity, enabling us to finish the project ahead of schedule
By structuring each story this way, you ensure you have all the necessary details ready to answer behavioral-based interview questions effectively.
Tag Each Project by Competency
Once you have your STAR stories written, categorize each project by its main competencies. This step is critical because it allows you to easily match projects with the interview questions you’ll likely encounter.
For instance:
- Label the example above as “Problem-Solving” and “Communication”
- A different example showcasing “Leadership” and “Conflict Resolution” could be tagged accordingly
If an interviewer asks about a time you demonstrated problem-solving skills, you can quickly recall your tagged projects and pull up the best example that illustrates your capability.
Practice and Refine
With your STAR project bank in place, practice speaking about each example out loud. This helps you sound natural and confident, ensuring you won’t be searching for details or getting sidetracked during the interview.
Consider getting feedback from a friend or a career coach (pick me!) on whether your examples effectively highlight the competencies you’re aiming to showcase. Remember, concise yet descriptive stories make the best impression.
Final Thoughts
A well-curated STAR project bank helps you avoid scrambling for answers and enables you to clearly and confidently demonstrate your qualifications when faced with behavioral-based interview questions. Identifying competencies and matching them to specific projects shows interviewers that you have a solid track record of applying your skills in relevant ways.
Start building your STAR project bank today and you’ll be one step closer to mastering your next interview!
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