Situation, Task, Action, Result (STAR) Technique

A Situation, Task, Action, Result (STAR) Technique is an interview technique used by interviewers to gather all the relevant information about a specific capability that the job requires.

• Context:
  • It can be a Behavioral Job Interview Question.
  • ...
• Example(s):
  • Q: Adaptability to New Technologies
    • Situation**: "Can you describe a time when you had to quickly adapt to a new technology or programming language for a project?"
    • Task**: "What specific task were you trying to achieve, and how did the new technology impact your approach?"
    • Action**: "What steps did you take to familiarize yourself with the technology and apply it to your project?"
    • Result**: "What was the outcome of integrating this new technology, and how did it affect the project's success? Can you also share what you learned from this experience and how you've applied this learning since?"
  • Q: Problem-Solving in High-Pressure Situations
    • Situation**: "Tell me about a high-pressure situation where you had to solve an unexpected problem related to NLP."
    • Task**: "What was the problem, and why was it critical to resolve it promptly?"
    • Action**: "Detail the actions you took to diagnose and resolve the problem. How did you prioritize your steps?"
    • Result**: "What was the outcome of your actions? How did your resolution benefit your team or project? Reflecting on this, what would you do the same or differently in a similar future situation?"
  • Q: Innovation and Initiative
    • Situation**: "Describe a time when you identified an opportunity for innovation within an NLP project or task."
    • Task**: "What did you identify as a potential area for improvement or innovation, and what goals did you set out to achieve?"
    • Action**: "Explain how you approached the task, including any challenges you faced and how you overcame them."
    • Result**: "What was the result of your innovation? How did it improve the project or contribute to your team's objectives? What did you learn from taking the initiative?"
  • Q: Collaboration and Conflict Resolution
    • Situation**: "Give an example of a time when you had a conflict with a colleague on an NLP project. How did you handle it?"
    • Task**: "What was the nature of the conflict, and what were the stakes for the project?"
    • Action**: "Describe the steps you took to address the conflict and work towards a resolution."
    • Result**: "What was the outcome of your efforts? How did
  • ...
• See: SOARA Technique, Job Interview.

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References

2021

• (Wikipedia, 2021) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situation,_task,_action,_result Retrieved:2021-9-8.
  • The situation, task, action, result (STAR) format is a technique used by interviewers to gather all the relevant information about a specific capability that the job requires.
    • Situation: The interviewer wants you to present a recent challenging situation in which you found yourself.
    • Task: What were you required to achieve? The interviewer will be looking to see what you were trying to achieve from the situation. Some performance development methods use “Target” rather than “Task”. Job interview candidates who describe a “Target” they set themselves instead of an externally imposed “Task” emphasize their own intrinsic motivation to perform and to develop their performance.
    • Action: What did you do? The interviewer will be looking for information on what you did, why you did it and what the alternatives were.
    • Results: What was the outcome of your actions? What did you achieve through your actions? Did you meet your objectives? What did you learn from this experience? Have you used this learning since?
  • The STAR technique is similar to the SOARA technique.

    The STAR technique is also often complemented with an additional R on the end STARR or STAR(R) with the last R resembling reflection. This R aims to gather insight and interviewee's ability to learn and iterate. Whereas the STAR reveals how and what kind of result on an objective was achieved, the STARR with the additional R helps the interviewer to understand what the interviewee learned from the experience and how they would assimilate experiences. The interviewee can define what they would do (differently, the same, or better) next time being posed with a situation.

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