How to prep for a job interview

19 January 2016


Last year when I was job hunting, my friend Maayan shared a simple tip to help me prepare for an upcoming interview. It'd be great for job appraisals too.
She called it the STAR approach. Basically, when you're asked a question that needs an example, you use it to talk about past successes (and challenges). It highlights the good stuff and makes sure you don't waffle on.

It's short for:

Situation - the context that you or your workplace was in
Task - what you were assigned or decided to tackle on your own
Action - a step-by-step explanation of the main actions you took
Results - what was a direct result from your actions

It made me see that I tended to talk about what I learnt in a given situation, rather than what I achieved in concrete terms. It also helped me think on my feet in the interview. And I got the job :)

Career advice from friends is rare but great and I'd love to know if you have any tips for talking about your work, whether you're making a pitch, chatting to a colleague about what you're working on, or in a big meeting. Hope you can share them below.

P.S I always feel frazzled after an interview and plan something small and fun straight afterwards, like a cafe lunch or afternoon tea :)

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