Madeline Mann argues the STAR method makes interview answers ramble and suggests CAR instead: Challenge, Action, Result. She walks through a leadership example where surveys and weekly challenges showed real impact, then explains how to build a story toolbox with concrete examples ready to go.
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In the leadership program case study, manager effectiveness increased from 62% before the program to 89% after graduation.
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The Star Method is not the best way to answer behavioral job interview questions and I'm here to give you a better way. And I have had thousands of client success stories and testimonials on my other videos saying oh yes, this works. This is where the cookies are. So if you're new here, this is self made millennial. I'm Madeline Mann. I am a human resources leader and award winning job search strategist. You may recognize me from these places. Subscribe for Bleeding Edge job Search and career tips and stay to the end because I share with you my number one tip that has led to the most success stories of how you can utilize this alternate formula to ace any interview. Let's dive into what STAR is and then what to do instead to not only make your interview easier to master, but also to sound more impressive. Star is a formula for answering interview questions that helps you to tell a story and in four steps. The first step is the situation. What was going down. The second step is the task. What did you have to do? Third is the action you took, and fourth is the result of those actions. When do you use this formula? Typically, your Star formula shines bright when you are asked a behavioral interview question. Behavioral questions are when you are asked questions that show your behavior in the past, and they usually start with the phrase Tell me about a time when. Not to be confused with Tell me about yourself. Which hello is such a critical question that you need to answer perfectly. So I will link a free worksheet below that will help you to draft the best possible answer to it. But in the case of a behavioral interview question, it sounds like Tell me about a time when you had to work within competing deadlines. Tell me about a time when you had a difficult client. Tell me about a time when you smelled something funky. That kind of stuff. It can also sound like how have you given example of something so on? Essentially they are a kid at bedtime eager for you to tell them a story about budgets and standard operating procedures. You could read a little bit more if you want, and you can also tell a story in other question scenarios in the job interview, which is actually super impactful. So I'll cover that later in the video. So I know people are very precious about their Star formula and stand by it loyally. Almost as loyally as people's belief of which is better, Star wars or Star Trek? Put your answer in the comments. I'm a Jedi myself. But there is a fatal flaw when it comes to the Star method and that is there are too many steps Stars to help you tell a story. Yes. Well, on what planet is a story for acts? You don't need to be Shakespeare to know that a story has a beginning, a middle and an end. Not a beginning, a beginning, middle, a middle and an end. When you tell your story in an interview in four parts, you not only risk confusing yourself, but you also risk rambling for too long in the interview. Rambling is one of the top things that gets people rejected during the interview process. So I'll link a video below on the key strategies to reduce rambling in the interview. So let's simplify this, shall we, without reducing the impact of your answer at all. So go ahead and get out of your rocket ship, go into the stars and hop in your car. That's right, my sweet gearhead. We are rocking the car. Formula, which stands for Challenge. What challenge were you facing? This gives us background of what you had to do and anything that was standing in your way. Action. What action did you take? And results. What were the results of those actions? Boom. The perfect three act formula that will have your interviewer reaching for the popcorn, riveted by by how you are an absolute dynamo instead of retreating to a cave because your long meandering tail put them into hibernation. You may have also heard me call this formula the PAR formula before Problem. Action Result. It's the same thing and it's glorious. Okay, so let's see this formula in action and then I'm going to give you a tip that is going to absolutely improve your ability to ace an interview whether or not you are asked behavioral interview questions. Not an overstatement. I have put out hundreds of videos and yet this one tip I will share with you is the most referenced and has led to the most success stories. So let's say you're asked to describe a long term project that you kept on track. How did you ensure its success? Start with the challenge. The company I worked at was promoting many of our top talent to be managers. The only issue was many of them didn't have a leadership experience and it showed. So I was asked to create a leadership curriculum that would improve the skills of our managers to better motivate and empower our talent. This isn't a challenge that can be solved in an afternoon. So I set out to build a curriculum that spans six months. Next, address the action for this long term project. I established survey checkpoints at the beginning, midpoint and end of the program to ensure progress was being made and objectives were being hit. The mid survey actually led me to change the curriculum to focus more more on how to give effective feedback. The program had monthly workshops, but I knew that the skills from the workshops would atrophy if there wasn't regular support, so every participant got weekly mini challenges and reminders. Finally, the results Due to the monitoring of progress through surveys and the frequent touch points of the program, our managers increased from an overall 62% effectiveness rating from before the program to an 89% effectiveness rating after their graduation from the program. Many of them said that the curriculum was woven well into their roles over six months, which made it highly actionable. This is now the formula we use for our long term learning programs. See how wonderfully logical that is? Beginning, middle and logical. I cannot express how much better that feels in my brain. Now you can step up your interview strategy by mastering the car formula and then driving your car down so many of these interview streets. You'll want to first create a story toolbox and if you don't know what that is, I will link a free worksheet and a free video tutorial of what that is. And then once you have your story toolbox, start telling stories even when they don't ask for a story. Yes, this is powerful stuff. Like if they ask you how do you handle a fast paced environment? Instead of wrapping us up in a soliloquy of your musings, tell a dang example of you thriving in a fast paced environment. Go check out that video and worksheet. I promise you won't be disappointed. And if you are looking for coaching because heck, this is all very challenging to do on your own, I will link more information about that down below. Be sure to like this video and subscribe to this channel. You've got this WI Fi high five.
