Should You Use a STAR Interview Method? (Expert Insights + Questions)
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An astounding 94% of recruiting experts state that understanding employee skills is vital to making informed talent decisions and matching new candidates to fill skills gaps. Behavioral interviewing is great for that, based on the idea that “the most accurate predictor of future performance is past performance in a similar situation.”
The time of birth of the STAR method was the 1970s, with promising commercial firms on the rise but also stagflation threatening to turn the world upside down. In these changing times, people were desperate for ways to find better employees who would help effectively lead companies out of their budget deficits.
Traditional interviews relying on hypothetical or general questions weren’t doing it in terms of predicting the candidate’s future job performance. Behavioral interviewing was the answer – offering a more systematic and evidence-based approach, a guarantee for employers that they’re hiring someone that fits.
Years after, different kinds of behavioral interviews remain a part of the recruitment process for many organizations. One of the most widely used techniques is the STAR interview method.
What is a STAR interview method?
A STAR interview method is one of the world’s most simple and effective ways of behavioral interviewing, created by Development Dimensions International (DDI). The acronym STAR stands for:
Situation (20%) – This is where the respondent should set the stage and give context for their answer. The open question should leave some space for them to explain the specific situation, ideally matched in severity to their seniority level.
Task (10%) – The responsibility or role of the interviewee in the challenge they faced or the goal they were trying to reach.
Action (60%) – This should take up most of the answer time, including the candidate's measures to complete the task or reach the goal. This gives the interviewee a chance to show off their unique skills and qualities necessary to achieve the result and prove they’re suitable for the role.
Result (10%) – Here, it’s essential to highlight the quantifiable results generated by the previously explained efforts. This could also be an opportunity to dive into the key takeaways of the experience.
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You could also expand this structure to include an alternative action and result. Get your candidate thinking about ways to improve and learn from their mistakes.
Open-ended questions structured this way can be much more valuable and insightful than simple “yes” and “no's”. See what experts say about this interview method to determine if you should amp up your HR game.
Should you use the STAR interview method?
The STAR interview method has its pros and cons when it comes to assessing candidates during the recruitment process.
According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the behavioral approach can effectively “review the candidate's experience, personal attributes and job-related skills, (…) job performance and attitude toward work”.
While experts at SocialTalent point out that it's much more time-consuming and comes with the risk of receiving schematic, unauthentic answers.
Keep reading to find out if the STAR method would suit your company.
Pros
Understanding behavior in concrete situations
The STAR method provides HR specialists with real work examples from candidates, offering insights that are, as Forbes’ career counselor Robin Ryan puts it – hard to develop on the spot. That means it’s also a great way to assess your candidate’s communication and fast-thinking abilities.
Evaluating skills and problem-solving capabilities
With the growing emphasis on skills over experience in the hiring process, the STAR method becomes valuable. The 2023 LinkedIn Future of Recruiting Report shows that only 64% of the surveyed recruiters can accurately assess their candidates’ skills. STAR method allows recruiters to gain insights into candidates' problem-solving capabilities even before they start the job.
A resume and cover letter writing expert, Andrei Kurtuy, explains that using the STAR method in recruitment conversations gives insight into your interviewee's problem-solving skills and behavior patterns. With this information, you can predict how they might act in similar future scenarios and ensure they know how to use their knowledge in real-life scenarios.
Predicting cultural fit
By asking candidates about their achievements and how they handle challenges, recruiters get an insight into their character, way of working and predispositions to see if they align with your corporate culture and how they would fit in with the rest of your team.
Aaron Craig Mitchell, former HR director at Netflix and renowned changemaker, says that the STAR method can help to express personality and convey authenticity to the interviewer – when done right.
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Cons
Potential for rehearsed responses
Candidates can find numerous guides on answering STAR questions, which may lead to rehearsed and inauthentic responses. A great example is the FDM Group breakdown of this technique. This limits the opportunity for creative thinking and genuine answers.
However, even these recruitment pros admit this isn’t always good since such rehearsed responses can be unauthentic and limit creative thinking.
Time limits
The STAR method puts results at the end. Emma Ding, Founder of Data Interview Pro, says this is a huge limitation. Although the chronological order has its advantages, answering each question in this way makes the entire interview much longer, more taxing on both parties and potentially dull.
If you, as a recruiter, have time limits for planned questions, you may not allow the interviewee to brag about what’s most important – the results of their work.
Requires more preparation
Although behavioral interviewing is usually much more comfortable and less stressful for candidates, Obsidian HR notes that it requires much more planning and training for interviewers.
Business experts at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce highlight the importance of preparing a set of desired answers and follow-up questions and identifying your company’s core competencies and values beforehand, all to narrow the question types to the ones that best fit the specific position.
Suppose the company hires for multiple positions simultaneously. The recruiters would need to spend more time preparing for each interview, resulting in long work hours or the need for an additional workforce.
Admittedly, the STAR system makes the interview much more structured, but you still have to standardize the process and create a scorecard to reduce the potential for biased hiring. The latter is another potential drawback of the STAR method, with some recruiters going for more charismatic candidates rather than those with better skills.
STAR interview method: Questions to ask
You can adapt behavioral questions, a.k.a. queries candidates should answer with the STAR method, to almost any industry and situation. One thing they have in common is asking about a story of a real-life work situation and how the interviewee reacted to it.
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Here are some question examples you can use in your next hiring process, divided by type.
Tell me about a time…
Tell about a time when you had to adapt to a change in circumstances.
Tell me about a situation when you had to solve a problem under pressure. How did you deal with it?
Tell about a time when you coached a team so that it performed better.
Describe a time when you dealt with a demanding customer or client. How did you handle this?
Tell me about your greatest achievement.
Have you ever…?
Have you ever failed a project? What lessons did you learn?
Have you ever had to deliver a difficult message to someone? How did you handle it?
Have you ever faced conflict with a coworker? How did you resolve it?
Did you ever have to go beyond and above the duties in your job description? What was that like?
Did you ever have to correct your superiors when they were wrong? How did you do it?
Do you usually…?
What do you do when you need to prioritize tasks or projects?
Do you often set goals at work? If so, give me an example of your goal and how you achieved it.
Are you used to working with tight deadlines? How do you prioritize work to meet them?
Do you typically work well with others? Give me an example of a situation when you and your coworkers had opposing views on an issue. What was the result?
Have you got experience managing multiple projects simultaneously? Tell me how you handle the challenges of multitasking.
Conclusion
The STAR interview method isn’t perfect for every situation. There’s no point strictly sticking to it and expecting your candidates to do the same. Still, this type of behavioral questioning has many advantages. When used correctly, it can even become a valuable structure for giving clear, specific feedback within the company.
The key takeaway is that STAR questions can help you understand how your candidates act, what type of work attitude they have and how good their communication and people skills are.
These questions can be a great tool to get to know your interviewee on a more personal level than it’s possible from just looking at their resume. All that even before they show up on the first day of work – potentially saving you an unpleasant surprise in the form of an incompatible employee.
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