Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it's job interview time again.
Yeah.
And do you know what?
The powers that be, that means the people that do stuff, have invented a new scary technique.
I think it's scary.
It's called the star method.
So, job interviews are always awkward, especially if you have to do them in English.
And if English is not your native language, it's going to be more difficult.
But do you know what?
This is actually a really good thing to help you, and I'm quite surprised because when
I first encountered the star method-hi, Ang, thank you-a student wanted me to teach them
the star method, or go through some mock or fake interview practice.
And I was like, "Yeah, sure, let's sit down and have a good interview."
And my student introduced me to the star technique, and I thought, "Oh, this is going to be hard.
I'm going to have to learn something, or it's going to be technical, but it's actually quite
easy and it's actually really good for you to learn, so this is why I'm teaching you."
It's not really a new thing.
I was worried that it was a whole new process, that they'd ask you really scary new questions,
but there are some things that they will ask you generically, which means all the time,
about your job experience, about everything you've ever done in your life.
I'm joking.
They just want the details.
So the first thing that I thought was, "Oh, if I'm in a job interview, how do I know that
they want me to use the star method?
Is...
Like...
And what is the star method, and why is it called a star?"
So then I calmed down, and I checked some resources, and I found out the star method
stands for-ready for it-situation, task, job, action, and then the result.
So then I thought, "Well, how do I know what...
When to use this?"
So if someone says, "Hi.
What's your name?"
"Well, my mom gave me the name Ronnie when I was born, and then I use it when I...
You know, people ask me what my name is, and I tell them, and then they know my name."
But it isn't as complicated as this.
You will know exactly when they're looking for their star method answers because of the
kind of question they ask you.
Thank you.
It gets easier.
So you don't have to use the star method for everything.
We're going to ask you things like "Give me an example of", or "Tell me about a time when".
So these are going to be your clues to know, "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, it's time
to use my magical star method and get this job."
Companies like Amazon, Procter & Gamble, maybe Google, I don't know, but a lot of big companies
nowadays are using this technique or this method.
And I guess they've just decided, like, "Yeah, let's use the star method.
That's cool.
We like this."
What they're really doing is they're not looking for your generic answers, like, "Yesterday
I went to the store, I didn't have any milk, so I got some milk, and now I have some milk.
I solved a problem."
What they want to know is the way you think about things, your behaviour during things,
and the outcome of things.
So, I mean, you could just lie the whole time, too, and make up stories, but don't do that.
Apparently that's wrong.
But do it.
Make it up.
But make sure you make it up well and it's a good story, and then they'll hire you.
It's all about the bollocks and the bullshit.
So let's go.
Bullshit number one situation.
They're going to give you a task.
Example.
"Give me an example of conflict at your job."
And you think, "Oh, man, I've never had conflict at my job."
Apparently they don't want to hear that answer, but you can tell them, be honest, and say,
"Do you know what?
Honestly, I've never had conflict at my job."
And then they...
"Uh-oh.
I have to think of a different question.
Okay.
Tell me about a time when you made a mistake at your job."
Don't talk about, I don't know, some party mistake that you made.
Make sure it's professional.
So what they want, the situation, they want you to give details.
They want you to tell them a story.
And again, it could be made up or not real.
So they want you to tell you exactly when it happened.
So you don't have to go into a great detail, but they want to know when it happened, where
it happened, why, stuff like that.
If you're nervous, you can just kind of...
Okay.
So...
Don't do it like that.
"Tell me about a time when you made a mistake."
Oh, yeah.
So three years ago, when I was working for Johnson & Johnson, we had a great team of
really productive people, but there was, you know, one person who kind of wasn't pulling
their weight or wasn't doing a good job.
So you've set the stage, you've told them the story.
Next is the task.
Okay?
The task is describe your responsibility.
So what's your role in this?
What did you have to do?
It was my job to make sure that the people on the production line were actually doing
a good job, there was no conflict on the line, everyone was getting along with each other,
but more importantly, they were doing their job well, with quality control.
Okay.
And the action, they want to know the steps that you took.
Okay.
So what I did is I implemented a new routine.
So every morning when people came in, we'd have some coffee for them, we'd give them
some donuts and some cookies if they wanted, and we made sure that the people were kind
of in, like, a better mindset with each other so that their productivity in the day would
be actually more productive.
They would be happier, they'd have coffee, they wouldn't have to buy it, it'd be a good
scene, a better workplace.
And then they want to know the result.
So the result.
Your achievements.
What did you do?
The resolution, and then what happened in the long term.
So it's all good if you tell them, you know, we bought them coffee and donuts, they were
happy, but you want to tell them how you changed the way that the company operates in the long
term.
And you say, I implemented new hiring structures, I made sure that the company had better benefit
packages.
You always want to make it seem that you did everything the right way.
You can't say "we", "oh, my team and I", no.
Although you had a team working for you, you want to show the person that you took the
lead.
Okay?
I did this, and in the long term, I made the whole thing better.
I improved productivity, I decreased downtime.
Words like these are always wonderful in a job interview.
As I told you, these questions monitor the way that you think about things.
Are you able to make your paragraphs in a fashion that is logical?
Are you going like, oh, well, so after that, and then here, you want to make sure that
you follow these tasks so it's logical and in a good order.
And this is what's going to help you when you're trying to do it in English, because
you need to have these steps, these four steps perfect.
One, two, three, four.
Situation, what's happened, what did you do, how did you do it, and then the result.
And it also, this is a scary one, it's going to tell you your ability to communicate with
people.
During the job interview, you're communicating with the interviewer, the person's interviewing
you, but they're also seeing how you communicate with your team or the people that you had
to help.
So don't be afraid of the STAR technique.
Try and use it, practice it.
Remember when you hear the tag questions, give me an example of, or tell me about a
time when you're going to practice so that you know right away.
Situation, do it, situation, task, action, result.
Make sure that your answers are structured, there's no mistakes when you speak, and you're
going to get this job interview.
For more job interview tips and fun things, check out more of my videos.
I'm here to help you, and you get that job.
I'm Ronnie, and I'm going to get some cookies.