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If you have searched the internet for interview tips, it will just be a short time before you come across links for articles, tips and best practices regarding the STAR technique for answering interview questions. The STAR method is a commonly taught technique to answer interview questions.

Now you can make your STAR answers even more impactful. Let me introduce you to my START method for answering interview questions. START is an acronym that stands for:

S- Situation

T – Task

A – Action

R – Result

T – Take-away

The first 4 letters stand for the same Situation/Task/Action/Result. (I am assuming that the reader has a basic understanding of the STAR method. If not I recommend that a little research be done on the topic). However, the “T” in START stands for Take-away. It is the “T”, the Take-away, that adds the finishing touches to the answer.

When using the STAR method for answering an interview question, the candidate begins by describing the situation (S) or task (T), then talking about the action (A) that they took and finally describing the results (R) of the action. In this way, they are able to deliver a clear and concise “success story” about an actual experience that candidate has encountered in their professional experience.

In addition to describing the Situation/Task/Action/Result by adding a Take-away to the answer, the lesson learned from the experience, the answer becomes even more impactful.

By using the START method when answering interview questions, the interviewee can not only demonstrate how they have handled certain situations in the past, but can also show that they have the ability to learn from these experiences and apply them to future situations.

This is very simple to do. After delivering the STAR part of the answer, a simple phrase like “and the take-away from the experience was…”, or “and what I learned from the experience was…”, or “and as a result, in the future I was able to…” will allow one to finish with the (T) Take-away part of the answer.

Here is an example of the START method in action:

Let’s say the interviewer asks a question like, “Tell me about a time you had to deal with a difficult client”. Your answer might sound something like this: “As the manager of the sales department, I was responsible for the overall satisfaction of our clients. Well, one of our new clients was upset when they received their first invoice. They believed that the invoice did not accurately reflect what they believed the pricing schedule to be. So, when this information was relayed to me, I immediately called the client. Since I knew that new clients sometimes found our invoicing system a little difficult to understand, I asked if they would be agreeable to a face-to-face meeting so that I could have the opportunity to explain the invoice and rectify any discrepancies.

Upon sitting down with them, I was able to clarify the invoicing structure. I showed them to how to better understand the invoices and reconcile any concerns they had about the invoice. The client understood that the invoice was accurate and reflected the pricing structure they had agreed to.

What I learned from this experience is that in these situations, it is best deal with upset clients quickly and directly. If the issue can be addressed face-to-face, there is a better likelihood that the matter will be resolved to everyone’s satisfaction.

In this example, the situation (S)/Task (T) was dealing with the angry customer, the action (A) was to arrange a face-to-face meeting, and the result (R) was a satisfied client who now understood the invoice.

The take-away (T) in this example was the affirmation that it was best to deal with the issue swiftly and directly. It is the take-away, the lesson learned in this answer that adds the finishing touch to the answer and makes the answer much more impactful.