The STAR Method - How to Answer Competency Questions

The four components

• –Situation - the context. Where were you? What was happening? Keep this brief.
• –Task - your specific role or responsibility. What were you expected to do?
• –Action - what you actually did. This is the most important part. Be specific.
• –Result - what happened as a direct consequence of your actions. Quantify where possible.

• –Spending too long on the situation and not enough on the action
• –Saying "we" throughout - assessors want to know what YOU did, not what the team did
• –Vague results - "it went well" is not a result. What specifically changed?
• –Using hypothetical answers ("I would...") instead of real examples
• –Picking weak examples that do not show the competency clearly

Categories worth preparing

1. 1Leadership - a time you led or motivated others toward a goal
2. 2Teamwork - a time you worked effectively as part of a group
3. 3Problem solving - a time you identified and resolved a difficult situation
4. 4Communication - a time you adapted your communication style for a different audience
5. 5Working under pressure - a time you managed competing priorities or a tight deadline
6. 6Handling failure or feedback - a time something did not go to plan and what you did next

Questions to prepare for

1. 1"Tell me about a time you had to work with someone difficult."
2. 2"Give me an example of a time you showed leadership."
3. 3"Describe a situation where you had to manage multiple deadlines."
4. 4"Tell me about a time you made a mistake and what you did about it."
5. 5"Give me an example of a time you had to persuade someone."
6. 6"Describe a situation where you had to adapt quickly to a change."
7. 7"Tell me about a time you went above and beyond what was expected."
8. 8"Give me an example of working effectively in a team."
9. 9"Describe a time you solved a complex problem."
10. 10"Tell me about a time you received critical feedback and how you responded."

Question: Tell me about a time you had to manage competing priorities

Situation: In my second year, I was managing the social media accounts for the student union while also in the middle of a busy exam period.

Task: I had a campaign going live during the same week as two major deadlines and needed to keep both moving without letting either suffer.

Action: I spent an hour at the start of the week mapping out exactly what needed to happen and by when. I batched all the content creation for the campaign into one afternoon rather than spreading it across the week, which meant I could focus entirely on revision during the morning. I also communicated with the team so everyone knew what I was handling and where they could help.

Result: The campaign launched on schedule and performed better than our previous one - engagement was up around 30%. Both exams went well. Looking back, the constraint actually forced me to be more organised than I would have been otherwise.