STAR method help please

[Anewdance]

Can anyone help me with breaking down examples of the following using the STAR method please. I have many years of experience in administration and carry out my duties without thinking I guess and I am really not sure what they will be looking for at interview. Its been many years since interview and whilst I am sure I have examples the below is just gobbledegook to me. Thank you 😊

• Demonstrate clear judgement and logical approach to difficult situations showing an ability to be able toprovide solutions.

• Be able to be innovative and objective in providing resolution to problems.

• Be able to maintain a high level of performance with the ability to meet deadlines when faced with conflicting priorities of others

• Have the ability to prioritise a variety of tasks and duties.

Are these taken from the job advert?
I think you're over thinking it trying to find an example for each one.

Taking them all together they're looking for you to show a couple of examples where you've worked on something difficult and seen a way through it , also dealt with multiple people asking you to do something and how you've prioritised it.

Give a specific example, as in specific in time, so even if you do it all day every day you'll be able to think up an actual task someone has asked you to do recently, which was complicated ( or might have felt complicated to them) and you dealt with it.

Ah thank you. I have clearly misunderstood what is required in having to use the STAR method for each required skill on the job advert. There have been many occasions I have been asked to do tasks by various people and I probably just use common sense based on my own experience of what priority they are or at least ask the person who is requesting the work what the timescale is. I'm not sure I can explain that 🤔

We use STAR at work interviews its basically Situation, Action and Result.
So situation with awkward customer/ deadline to meet/ process that wasn't working etc what action you took and what the result of your action was .
Use specific examples of situationa that have happened not just generalisations. So things you have done not what you would do.( of course if it's an external interview you could embellish !)Good luck

Demonstrate clear judgement and logical approach to difficult situations showing an ability to be able toprovide solutions.

Situation: I sit on the reception desk on a rota basis one day a week where members of the public come and ask for advice on their benefit.

Task: Often people are aggressive because they have been waiting for their money for a long time and I have to both calm them down and find out where the blockage is and reassure them that their claim is being processed and make sure they are kept fully informed.

Action: following several of these aggressive confrontations I realised that our communications with customers were not timely or reassuring and that internal processes were frustrating the issues rather than resolving them, so I started to log all outstanding issues with a time stamp and once something had not been a escalated to the next stage within three days it was prioritised and the client informed that it has been passed to the rapid response unit.

Result: The number of confrontations experienced by the front desk halved and satisfaction scores rose 25% over a six month period.

Can you do that for all aspects of the job spec?

It’s a good idea to keep a record of some examples so you’re not completely flustered on the day of the interview.
I would hope the interview questions would be worded better that the advert above (which could apply to any job!), e.g. ‘think about a time when you couldn’t deliver a good customer service’.

In your example you could say:
Situation: Person A asked me to do task X, and Person B asked me to do task Y on the same day
Task: Each task takes a full day to complete and it was not possible to meet the demands of both customers
Action: this is where you show your common sense and that you can use your brain at work. E.g. I asked each if there was leeway in their deadline, I checked with manager which had priority, I asked help from a colleague etc… and then agreed new timelines to A and B (remember to say ‘l’, not ‘we’, show your initiative)
Result: both A and B were aware of when their task would be completed and both tasks were done to a high standard
Good luck!

I have had a few interviews recently where the Starr today was used.

My employer has an extra R on the end

S situation
T task
A action
R result
R reflection (what you learnt, could have improved etc. upon reflection, blah blah.

I wrote all my examples out on flash cards with prompts. My employer reads the capability they are looking for and then gives the question linked to it.

I mark the flash cards with the capability so I can easily pick the most relevant answer.

*method, not today.

Thank you so much that's really helped me!

There's lots of great videos on tiktoks with examples of how to answer competency questions using star.

I don’t think you’re overthinking OP.

I always prepare/memorise lots of STAR examples before interviews. They can be adapted to different questions but I would expect things like the below, depending on what kind of job it is.

• a time when you’ve been in a difficult situation
• a time where you’ve had to prioritise
• A time where you’ve had to work in a team
• example of taking initiative or leadership

With STAR it’s also a good idea to mention what your learning was.
Remember as well it’s not necessary to be successful in the example or it doesn’t have to be impressive.
When I score candidates for a large PS organisation sometimes people who have described situation with an unhappy customer using the correct STAR methodology can do better than someone who ran into a burning building to rescue orphaned kittens but doesn’t express it properly

I never even thought of looking at Tik Tok to be honest so thank you.

I will have lots of tasks I do in my every day work and previous workplaces where I've used prioritisation or come across team conflict for example. My problem is using the STAR method I think to describe it. I mean prioritisation..team conflict..team working etc are all tasks we do but do they really need to discussed at interview to such an extent using a methodology. Maybe it's my age but how can someone be better at doing a job based on the STAR methodology they use at interview. I do understand some sort of competency needs to be assessed though.

I am sure my problem lies with not being able to express properly. Very frustrating when you have the 'tools' and experience to perform.

I always take at least one example per competency I'm expected to exhibit, and try to ensure each one covers more than more competency. You never know what specific questions you'll be asked and if it's "give an example of a time when..." then being underprepared in terms of examples can really impact you.

Best advice i was ever given was to ensure i take a 'helicopter view' of the result. So instead of saying "created efficiencies in x, y, z" say "created efficiencies in x, y, z and the extra time saved was used to do a, b, c which resulted in whatever". Just take it a step or two further in explaining the positive result. Good luck!

I have interviewed loads of people. The key is to really know your examples and practise them so much it becomes like second nature to recite the example. Take your time and step the interviewer through each stage. Make sure you have a good few quality examples as you really don't want to use the same situation for every answer.

Lots of people gravel their way through and try and wing it and it shows!

Gravel = garble!

It's very important to talk about what you personally did rather than "my team did" which makes it hard to separate out who did what. You could say 'my team was asked to do y' as long as you then go on to say 'I offered to do x' or 'as the team expert on z I was responsible for.' And don't assume your interviewer understands the situation - you will often need to explain why the situation mattered or why it was challenging, or for more senior roles how it fitted into your vision for the business etc.

Lots of great answers here

Ok so here's a very basic but practical example of using star for a dealing with conflict question:

S - two of my team were tasked with working on an event. It soon became clear they had very different ideas of what the event should include.

T - my role was to oversee the project and ensure the team delivered on time, I couldn't afford for conflict in the team to delay thing or compromise the event.

A - I got both team members together to discuss the way forwards and I couched them to identify solutions XYZ. I implemented ABC to help things run smoothly.

R - in the end we delivered a successful event that evaluated well. I resolved the conflict and there was a better outcome as a result as it incorporated many different ideas that I wouldn't have thought of myself.

L - if I was do approach this task again I would be clearer about delegating tasks and responsibilities at the outset. The key to managing this conflict situation was communication, negotiation and compromise.

Thank you for all your very helpful replies and support. I look forward to putting them into practice.