Do you know the STAR technique for interviewing?

It’s a great way to probe at interviews after a nice opening question.

Many managers claim they know the STAR interviewing technique (many actually don't know it at all) but we've seen it done wrong or poorly over the years.

Our tops tips for the STAR techniques is:

1. Do one or more extra probes, just getting an initial example is not enough.
2. Know which competency you're looking for and keep on track looking for that.
3. Agree what good looks like (with the panel or fellow interviewers) before the interviews begin so all scoring in the same way.
4. Ask for real actual examples - not hypothetical questions, or that they do have this competency or skill in the workplace and finally …
5. Make sure they are recent examples. Once STAR is done …
6. Ask again for another example (everyone has one great example so ask for two under the same competency) OR
7. Do the flip - this is where you ask a negative question "Tell me of a time it all went wrong" under the same competency.

The answers will be surprising.

The answers and insights (evidence) will be surprising. Helps you sort the wheat from the chaff (or, out the bullsh***ers).

If you want to help your Hiring Managers become more skilled at this technique—understanding why it’s effective, how it works, and how to design the best questions and interview structure, contact us to arrange an initial chat about our training programs.