The STAR framework for JOB INTERVIEWS | Business English class

Our communication frameworks series continues with the STAR model. If you've got an English language job interview and you're not a native speaker then this framework can help you to tell stories and communicate your experience in an effective way that gets you hired. If you want to sound more natural and native when speaking English the using frameworks like STAR can stop you worrying about how you speak and let you focus more on what you're saying. 

If you speak English at work and want to sound more native and natural when talking to colleagues, customers, or clients, then I hope that the vocabulary, grammar, and communication tips in today's episode will be useful for you. 

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Also, if you're studying for the IELTS, TOEFL, ICAO or Cambridge English tests and exams then you might find some of the vocabulary in this episode really useful.

This podcast is all about helping you to communicate better, in English, at work. I work with international English speakers from around the world who use English, at work, as a second or third language and I hope that I can bring some of the ideas, vocabulary, and grammar, from those sessions, to you in this podcast.

Don’t forget that my full time job is helping international professionals who use English at work to improve their communication skills. So, if you need English to do your job but don’t speak it natively then maybe we can work together to help you to achieve your language goals. 

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Transcript

Welcome back to the breakout business English podcast. My name is Chris. I'm a business English and communication coach who has worked with well over 1,000 international professionals who use English at work. Thank you so much for listening today. I'm really glad you're spending some time with this show. Now, if you have been following our frameworks series, you'll know we've been building up a really practical toolkit. Over the last few episodes. We've looked at Para. Which helps you make quick, engaging contributions in conversations. And most recently, we explored Peel. Which gives you a clean structure for making persuasive arguments in meetings. Both of these frameworks live firmly in the world of everyday professional communication. Today, We're taking the Frameworks series somewhere a little different. Because the framework we're looking at today doesn't just help you communicate better at work, it could actually help you get the job in the first place. Because today we're talking about STAR. That's S-T-A-R. And if you have a job interview coming up, whether it's next week or sometime in the next year, then this episode might be one of the most useful things that you listen to, well, this year. Ha. I should say that although STAR is usually used as a framework for telling stories in job interviews, there is a lot of Good content here, some good ideas for how we think about storytelling more generally. Okay, so let me take you back to a feeling that I think almost everyone listening to this will recognize. You're sitting in a job interview, it's going reasonably well, and then your interviewer asks you something like, can you tell me about a time when you had to deal with a difficult colleague, for instance? Or maybe give me an example of When you showed leadership. Or even the dreaded, tell me about a time that you failed. Now, You know, you have the experience. You've worked hard, you've handled difficult situations, you've shown leadership. You've failed, we've all failed, and recovered and learned from it. The experience is there. You just can't seem to access it in the right way under pressure. In real time and, indeed, in a second language.
So what tends to happen is one of two things. Either you go completely blank and give a very short, vague answer that doesn't really say anything. For instance, yes, I have worked with different colleagues. It was challenging, but we resolved it.
And then you end there. Or you go in the opposite direction. You start telling your story and it gets longer and you add more and more context. You go off in a different direction and by the end of it, you've been talking for five or six minutes and you can't really remember how you started. Both of these are very common, and both of them have the same root cause. You don't have a clear structure. For telling a professional story under pressure. And that is what STAR is for.
So STAR, S-T-A-R, is a framework for answering what are called behavioral interview questions. Questions that ask you to describe something you've actually done in the past. Based on the idea that your past behavior is the best available indicator of how you'll behave in the future. You can usually recognize these questions because they start with phrases like, tell me about a time. Or give me an example of, or maybe describe a situation where.
So let's go through these four steps. S. S is for situation. And this is where you set the scene. You give the interviewer just enough context to understand what was happening. What company you were at, roughly when, and what the broader circumstances were. The key word here is just enough. You don't need to describe every detail of every project and every person involved. You're giving a clear background, short, concise, enough for the listener to understand where the story takes place before you get to the interesting part. And this should take around 20% of your time. Not a lot. The T is for task. This is where you describe your specific responsibility in the situation, what you needed to do. What was expected of you. What was the goal that was assigned to you or the task that you took on? This is short. And A lot of people skip it because they feel like the situation Leads to an obvious task. You had to fix the problem. But actually saying this out loud, saying the obvious part out loud is important because yes, you understand it. And yes, your interviewer understands it. But. Your interviewer needs to know. Understood it.
So say the obvious part out loud, give them the task that you had to achieve, but this should be around 10% of your answer. That's not long at all. It really is just a quick mention. Aye. The A in our STAR framework is for action. This is the center. Of the whole framework. And this is where you need to spend most of your time. The action step. Is where you describe in some detail what you personally did to address the situation and complete the task. Not your team, not your manager, but you. This is one of the most culturally interesting aspects of Star. And I think we should spend a moment on it. In many cultures and in many workplaces around the world, it's considered respectful. And maybe modest. Talk about what the team achieved rather than what you personally did. And this is absolutely true in job interviews in the UK, the US, and more broadly around Europe and English-speaking countries. We did this, we solved that, we managed to achieve the following. And this is a good instinct because it shows you value collaboration and doesn't make you sound arrogant. But... We need to find the balance here. In a job interview using too much we and not enough I...
Causes a problem. The interviewer is trying to understand your skills and your abilities.
So if you say we handled the situation, they genuinely don't know who contributed. Yes, we need to talk about the team and our colleagues and working together, but did you do most of the work or did you do very little? Were you even in the room when this happened? They really can't tell unless we find that balance between mainly talking about I, yourself, and then mentioning the team. And importantly, the action step should take up the majority of your answer. This should be around 60%. And if you take one thing from the percentages and the timings that I'm giving you here, just remember over half of your answer should be what you did. And often using some sort of structure in there. Naming the steps. This was the first thing I did. This was the second thing I did. This was the third thing I did. Or I did three things and here they are. Often this is a really effective way to communicate your action part in this structure. R is for result. Let's bring this plane into land. And we need to tell the interviewer. What happened as a consequence of your actions? What was the outcome? And here, specificity matters. Really matters. Things improved is weak. The client was happy is better. But how about the client renewed their contract for a second year and told my manager that it was the best service experience they'd had with us. That is a genuinely strong answer for the result part of this.
So wherever you can, try to attach something concrete and measurable to your results. A number. Percentage, a timeline, a specific piece of feedback, that kind of detail transforms a good story into a memorable one. And anyone keeping track of our percentages will notice that we have only about 10% left now, and that is how long that result should take. There is a word that I want to look at a little more closely now because it comes up naturally from how we described those interview questions a moment ago. I said that behavioral questions often start with, tell me about a time when... And that the interviewer wants you to go beyond a simple yes or no. The word I want to explore is... Elaborate. That's E-L-A-B-O-R-A-T-E. To elaborate means to say more. To add detail, explanation and depth to something you've already introduced. When you elaborate on a point, You're expanding it, developing it and giving the listener a fuller picture. It's a word that's useful to know in two directions. First, you'll often hear it in interviews and professional conversations. For instance, could you elaborate on that? Or maybe. I'd be interested to hear you elaborate on your experience with that Notice there that elaborate uses the preposition "on" to connect to the object of the sentence. If there is an object in the sentence, then we use "on", elaborate on that thing. Or you may just hear it when someone says: Could you elaborate? If someone says, could you elaborate on its own, they're asking you to say more. They're not challenging you. They're inviting you to go deeper. In fact, STAR itself is essentially a framework for how to elaborate well You don't just say, yes, I've managed difficult situations. You elaborate by describing the situation. Your task. Your actions. And the results. But you can use the word yourself, which is where it becomes really powerful. I'd be happy to elaborate on that if it would be helpful. All may be. To elaborate a little on what I just said, the project involved three separate teams across two countries. Or perhaps... I don't want to go into too much detail right now, but I can certainly elaborate later if you'd like. That last one is particularly useful in meetings and presentations. It shows you're aware of time and the listener's needs while keeping the door open to share more. The noun here is elaboration. For instance, further elaboration would be welcome. And you'll sometimes hear the phrase without further elaboration. Which means something was said briefly with no additional information or explanation. Knowing both the verb and the noun usually appearing in slightly more formal sentences, gives you a little more flexibility. It's a word that sounds polished, professional, and it's very much worth adding. To your active vocabulary. However, speaking of adding to your effective vocabulary, your professional vocabulary, if you would like to feel more confident and prepared going into your next job interview in English, maybe we can work together. My full-time job is helping international professionals who use English at work to improve their communication skills.
So, if you need English to do your job, but you don't speak it natively, then I would love to meet you. If you'd like to book some time to meet with me through one-to-one video calls, just you and me, then you can go to breakoutbusinessenglish.com. That's the title of the podcast, breakoutbusinessenglish.com and find out more. Starting on our very first call, we can focus on the specific opportunities that you personally have to improve your English and communication skills. And the mistakes that you make most often or that cause the biggest problems in your communication. And right now, you can use the code PODCAST30, that's PODCAST30, at checkout to get a 30% discount today. Off your first booking of 30, 45 or 60 minutes, whichever is best for you.
Sometimes my calendar gets a little busy, so If you have trouble finding a time that works for you and fits into your schedule, then you can always send me a message through the contact page on the website and ask if I have any time to fit you in. I've worked with well over 1,000 non-native English-speaking professionals, from new graduates up to CEOs and government leaders, to help them achieve their goals, and I look forward to meeting you.
So let's put STAR into practice. And I want to use a... Situation? That is as real and as high pressure as possible, because that's the whole point here.
So imagine you're interviewing for a project coordinator role. The interviewer leans forward and says, tell me about a time. When something went unexpectedly wrong on a project. And you had to fix it quickly. Questions like that always stress me out, the really specific ones, not just a time when something went unexpectedly wrong, but unexpected. That time I had to fix it quickly. There are always these challenging questions where you have to think on your feet. You have to think quickly. Here's how someone might answer without a framework. Yes, this happened to me. Actually, we had a situation where there was a problem with a... With a client training session. The technology wasn't working. It was... It was quite stressful, but we managed to sort it out in the end and the client was fine.
So yeah, I think I'm good at dealing with problems. Okay. That answer isn't terrible, but it's vague. It gives no real insight into what you actually did. It's very short and it ends on a weak note. The interviewer has learned almost nothing about you. Now, let's run this same experience through Star. The situation in my previous role as a project coordinator at a logistics company, we had organized a half day training session for a major client. Around 40 of their staff joining by video conference from three different countries. Okay, so that was your situation. It was short, clear. We know where we are, who is involved, and what these stakes are. Then the task. I was responsible for managing the technical setup. And making sure the session ran smoothly from our side. Simple. One sentence, about 10%, maybe even less, the role of the person giving this story is now established. Next action. About two hours before the session was due to start, our video conferencing system went down completely. A server issue that our IT team couldn't resolve in time. I immediately contacted three alternative platform providers to find one that could host 40 participants at short notice, and within 30 minutes, I had set up an account with a backup platform tested the audio and screen sharing functions myself, and sent personalized joining instructions to all 40 participants, along with a brief explanation of the change. I prepared a one-page quick start guide for participants who weren't familiar with the new platform. And I joined the call 15 minutes early to help anyone who had trouble connecting. Notice how much detail is in that action section. Specific steps, specific decisions, All in the first person there, so I'm talking mostly about what I did. And you really feel what the speaker did hear. And the result. The session started only four minutes behind schedule. The client lead sent a follow-up the next day, an email saying that our handling of the situation had actually increased their confidence in us as a partner. That client went on to book a further two training sessions later that year. There we go. Concrete. Specific. Ends on a very strong point.
So can you notice the difference? The same experience, completely different impression. The star version doesn't just tell the interviewer that you can handle problems. Shows them through a specific, detailed, honest account of what you actually are. Did. One piece of vocabulary that would be really useful to use in your results section is the word quantify. Quantify. To quantify something means to express it in numbers or measurable terms, to give it a concrete countable value rather than leaving it vague. One thing that we can all understand is numbers. Everyone understands a budget of 10,000 euros, a team of five people, an increase of 20% or a reduction of 5%, or maybe a project that should have taken six months that you completed in four.
So think about the difference between the training was very successful and attendance increased by 35% in the following quarter. The first tells me nothing I couldn't have guessed. But the second gives me something I can really hold on to and understand. There are a few natural ways to use the word in professional English. For instance, it's difficult to quantify the impact in exact numbers, but customer satisfaction scores improved significantly. Or maybe. The report quantified the cost savings at approximately 200,000 euros over 12 months. Or perhaps... We were asked to quantify our team's output for the quarterly review, which was a very useful exercise.
So the STAR framework, as I mentioned at the beginning of the podcast, is really tailored for job interview questions. If we're Hanging out, having a coffee and chatting and you tell me a story about work, you might focus more on the situation and what went wrong. Maybe that's the interesting part to you. But for an interviewer, The interesting part is always what you do. It.
So. When you get asked a job interview question or when you're preparing for a job interview. The first question you should ask yourself is, does this question need a story? If you get a question like, Why did you leave your last job? Or maybe a question like, what is your biggest weakness? Then these don't necessarily require stories. They require different kinds of answers. But. Describe a situation when, tell me about a time when, or maybe how would you handle this situation? These often require stories. They usually require stories.
So make sure that's the first question you're asking yourself. So don't forget that if you would like to discuss any of the ideas, vocabulary or grammar in today's episode, or work on your professional communication skills more broadly, then you can book a session with me by going to breakoutbusinessenglish.com. That's breakoutbusinessenglish.com or clicking on the link in the show notes. I take I don't know, between five and seven hours of calls a day, something like that. If you wanted me to quantify the amount of calls that I take every day, five to seven hours, five days a week. And... Usually, Two of that. Around two hours a day is job interview preparation. I spend a lot of time thinking about this. And if you've got a job interview coming up, I'd love to be the one to help you get that new position.
So go to the website, use the code PODCAST30, that's PODCAST30, at checkout to get a 30% discount off your first booking. I've worked with well over 1,000 non-native English speaking professionals from man companies, fang companies, man companies, big... For accountants from marketing agencies, lots of different organizations. And I've helped people get jobs across many different industries. Equally, academic interviews. I've helped a lot of people with those. I find academic interviews really interesting.
So that is almost everything for today. If you want to stay connected between episodes, then you can find me on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Just search for Breakout Business English and you'll find me there. And if you've got a topic that you'd like to hear covered, maybe a framework, a tricky grammar question, a communication situation you're not sure how to handle, or maybe you just want me to do some more job interview stuff, then leave a comment on one of my YouTube videos and I'll almost certainly notice it. Or you can use the contact page on the website. And if you're listening on Apple Podcasts, please, if you haven't already, feel free to leave a review. It takes less than a minute and it makes an enormous difference in helping other international professionals discover the show. Thank you so much for your time today. As always, I hope that Star gives you a real confidence boost next time you're sitting across the table from an interviewer. You've got the experience and now you've got the structure to share it. I'll talk to you again next time on the Breakout Business English Podcast. Thanks a lot everyone. Talk to you soon.