hi there everybody my name is Richard
McMunn and in this video I'm gonna teach
you how to answer star interview
questions I'm basically gonna give you a
tutorial on what star is how to create
your responses and I'm also going to
give you a number of sample interview
questions but more importantly I'm gonna
give you some cracking answers to all of
the questions so please stay tuned watch
it from beginning to end
also just a very warm welcome from me
that's me there on the right hand side
with no hair my name is Richard McMunn
I've been helping people like you to
prepare for interviews for over 20 years
now I'm but I believe I'm very good at
it I'm passionate about it and I like
doing this kind of thing for free so
please do watch it from beginning to end
as I say this video is going to give you
a series of awesome answers to star
interview questions so like I say
watching from beginning to end and as
it's going to give you some fantastic
responses now these answers you don't
need to take notes because I'm actually
gonna put the answers to the questions
in the description below the video and
I'll also give you a link to where you
can download these slides so I'll tell
you that in the video so like I said
please watch it from beginning to end if
you do like the video I very very much
appreciate it if you gave it a thumbs up
and don't forget to subscribe because
I'm creating videos like this every week
on YouTube ok let's get straight into it
so first and foremost what is star what
does it mean
well basically these kind of questions
are called situational questions or
behavioral so what you're doing is
you're you're answering the questions
using a star technique okay so what do I
mean by that well star stands for
situation task action result and it
means that you answer these interview
questions in detail and you give them a
specific answer where you've actually
done it before now the reason why
interview panels will ask you these
questions is they want to see evidence a
way you've already done this kind of
thing so if they say to you can you give
us an example of where you've worked
really hard under pressure now if you've
already done this then it's likely that
you're able to do it again in a work
related situation okay so you answer
each of the questions specifically and
I'll talk more about
in a second but you're gonna explain
what the situation was what tasks you
had to do what action you took and then
the important bit which is the result
what happened as a result of your action
now put the results in green because it
should always be positive so what you
don't want to do is say well I was doing
this and the result was negative where I
didn't achieve anything that's not good
we want to always make sure is positive
so just to quickly recap star stands for
situation task action result so when
you're preparing your responses to the
questions and I'm going to give you the
answers to the questions as we go
through the video situation is you will
tell the panel what the situation you
were in you do it in in this order so
you say the situation I was in was x y&z
the task that I had to carry out was and
then you explain what the task was you
say now I did the following things I
took the following action or the
following steps and then finally the
result following what I did was a
positive one this is what happened now
if you prepare your responses using the
star technique you won't go wrong now
having been an interviewer myself I can
guarantee that you will get higher marks
if you follow this golden tip really
important make sure your answer to all
of the questions is specific what I mean
by that is you tell the panel that you
actually did something you do not say
well if that situation came up this is
what I would do you have to give a
specific response don't forget they're
looking for evidence so that means you
would say well whilst at work I was
tasked with delivering a project and
that's the situation the action I took
was x y&z and so on and so forth so do
not be generic now what generic means is
you would say well I've not been in that
situation but if it did arise this is
what I would do okay now you're gonna
get less marks for that you want where
possible to be specific this is what I
have done so obviously you need to think
carefully about the kind of interview
questions that you would ask the
situational ones or the behavioral ones
and this is what we're going to get into
right now so question number one so like
I say you don't have to take notes
because I'm gonna actually give you copy
and paste the answers to these so
question one one of you handled huge
pressure in a work-related situation
okay now this is a common one
that could get asked at your interview
so here's the answer so in my previous
job a work colleague left unexpectedly
he had been responsible for a project
that had to be delivered within a very
tight deadline
now my supervisor asked the workforce
for a volunteer to take on the project
and I decided to step up and take
responsibility to be honest I'd prefer
to work under pressure anyway and I saw
this is an opportunity to help out the
company in their hour of need
I studied the brief carefully and then
created a plan of action for getting the
project delivered on budget and also on
time it was tough going but I put in the
extra hours work needed and I'm pleased
to say I managed to get the project
finished on time and to specification my
supervisor was thrilled with my work
ethic and effort and he thanked me for
my commitment and dedication to
delivering this important project ok so
that's that first question you see it's
relatively sure but I follow the
situation task action result and you can
apply that to any kind of situation so
you can use it for your response
question number two can you describe a
stressful situation and how you handled
it now it's important that you give a
work-related situation not one in your
personal life
make sure it's work-related here's my
answer for you whilst working in an
office one day on the fifth floor the
fire alarm activated due to a small fire
being reported on the first floor now
people within the office did not appear
to take much notice as the alarm
usually sounded only when there was
false alarm I decided to take
responsibility and I shouted across the
obvious that everyone needed to leave by
the quickest and safest fire escape
immediately some people started
complaining but I insisted they leave
immediately I was aware that we were all
on the fifth floor and any time wasted
could endanger life especially
considering we could not use the lifts
in the event of a fire alarm activation
now eventually people within the office
started leaving by the escape stairway
as per my request I stayed until the end
to make sure everyone had evacuated and
I made my way outside
I took a roll call to make sure everyone
was safe now when the fire service
arrived they did in fact find a bar on
the ground floor area so it really was a
genuine emergency now after the fire was
extinguished and we could return to the
office I'll remind you
every one of their responsibilities in
the event of fire I believe I handled
the situation with confidence and
resilience and although it was stressful
at times I was determined to follow a
company health and safety procedures to
ensure everyone was safe so what you're
doing there is you are demonstrating you
can handle stress but also you're taking
responsibility and more importantly
you're following company rules and
procedures really important question
number three can you give an example of
how you dealt with conflict in the
workplace now this might be can you give
an example of when you've and dealt with
a difficult work colleague or you've not
got on with someone at work and the fact
is we don't always get on with everybody
at work but as an employer I want to
know that you can deal with this you can
put your differences aside you can
resolve them amicably so again it's
about taking responsibility here's my
response for you okay yes I can in my
previous job as an office administration
worker there was one particular work
colleague who seemed to dislike me now
during meetings he would ignore my
contributions and he made a number of
unacceptable comments in the canteen on
more than one occasion now I decided to
tackle the situation in a calm manner
however before I approached him to
discuss the situation I needed to decide
what it was I wanted to achieve from the
meeting or the discussion I understand
that we can't always get on with
everyone in a workplace environment but
the problem with this type of situation
is it can be detrimental to the
organization as a whole and on that
basis I wanted to first of all try and
see if there was anything I was doing
that irritated him before trying to
reach a constructive solution to the
problem now once I had determined my
goal I approached him whilst he was on
his own and I asked him if we could have
a private discussion away from other
office workers now we sat down in a room
away from everyone else and I explained
my concerns to him with regards to how I
felt he was treating me I also asked him
if there was anything I was doing the
irritated him his initial reaction was
extremely defensive but I maintained my
position and I repeated my feelings with
regards to how he was treating me in a
calm and non-confrontational manner
now after a while he accepted he was in
the wrong and he apologized for his
comments and his behavior he reassured
me that it would not happen again and we
both agreed that a positive way forward
would be to create a main
in a friendly and professional working
relationship I believe it's really
important to tackle any form of
conflicts in a common professional
manner with a view to reaching a
positive outcome for everyone so what
you're doing there is you're you're
basically showing that you are mature
and you're responsible and you're not
led in the situation get even more out
of hand you're tackling it but you're
not tackling it in front of people
you're doing it in private away to get
the situation resolved you also have a
clear goal of what you want to achieve
okay next question number four can you
tell me about a mistake you made at work
and how you handled it now we all make
mistakes at work so what you don't want
to do is say I've never really made a
mistake everybody does but what the
interviewer is looking for here is that
you take responsibility you admit to it
but then you resolve it okay
so honesty and integrity are really
important here's a response you can use
yes one particular time I was working in
the company warehouse I made a mistake
that meant the company did not have
sufficient stock available over a busy
seasonal period as soon as I noticed I
had made the mistake I informed my line
manager as I feel honesty and integrity
are essential in a situation like this
now whilst my supervisor was annoyed
with the mistake I had made he was
thankful that we had the opportunity to
try and rectify it now I asked him to
give me the opportunity to sort it out
would you agreed to I immediately
contacted our supplier to see if there
was any way the additional stock I had
missed could be shipped to us in time
for the seasonal period although it took
some time and persuaded the supplier
agreed to ship the additional stock the
next working day much to my relief I
then said about putting things in place
to make sure I did not make the same
mistake again so what you're doing
you've identified it you're being honest
you're acknowledging it you're letting
your boss know then you're resolving it
so once you've resolved it you are then
putting things in place to make sure it
doesn't happen again
again it's demonstrating that you're
taking responsibility but also you are
honest it's really important that an
employer employs people who are honest
trust me it's really important very very
important okay question number five can
you tell me about a time you had to deal
with an irate customer or an irate
client here's a response yes I can
recently I was serving a custom
beyond the checkout they had purchased
some goods in our winter sale the week
before and they wanted to return them as
they were not what they wanted now
unfortunately because the goods were
purchased in the sale they would not be
eligible for a refund I started to
explain this to the customer she
immediately began to get irate and angry
I listened to our concerns but stated
calmly that it was company policy to not
refund good goods purchased in the sale
now the customer continued to complain
it was becoming even more irate and
vocal I noticed a large queue forming
behind her and so I asked my colleague
to take over from me while stuff took
the situation away from the till area
after I had listened to the customer I
explained to her in a calm but firm
manner that the receipt she had made
sorry the receipt she had made it clear
that sales items were non-refundable
I explained to her that I could
understand the frustration but that
there was nothing I could do in this
situation to help oh and I apologize for
the inconvenience I explained to her
that if I could have helped her I would
she then began to calm down and accepted
my explanation now while she was not
completely satisfied she did leave the
shop with an understanding of the
situation why I was unable to assist on
this occasion I believe that by
remaining calm listening to the
customer's complaint and also by taking
the conflict away from the other
customers eyes and ears I was able to
resolve the situation as amicably as
possible ok I'm gonna give you some more
of these in a second ok a list of
different ones to prepare for but if you
really want to accelerate your learning
and find out more about how to answer
all of these questions I've created an
online training course it's free of
charge if you click the link below the
video or you go to the website pass my
interview calm there's a 50 training
modules are free of charge and you can
download all of the answers to all the
different questions I'll create an
abundance of training videos that you
can tap in so so click the link below
the video ok let's have a look at a few
more star questions that you should in
my opinion prepare for when have you
been flexible in a work-related
situation have you ever had a
disagreement with a supervisor this is a
tough one if so what happened and again
in that online course area I give you
the perfect answer to that question
what have you completed a difficult task
or project when have you learnt a new
skill or qualification how would you
feel about relocating can you describe a
time when you achieved excellence at
work and what's the best customer
service you have ever witnessed so like
I say and loads of Starr interview
questions there you can want the answers
click the link below the video at the
very least have a look in the
description below because I've copied
and pasted all of these answers and also
giving you a link to SlideShare where
you can download the slides and you can
copy them please also connect with me if
you look below the video in the
description is my LinkedIn profile you
can connect with me on there don't
forget to you know get access to this
course it's free of charge but please do
subscribe to the channel I hope you've
enjoyed it and please do say hi in the
comment section below and I promise to
respond to every every comment and that
really really make my day if you did
that and like I say give the video a
thumbs up I'd appreciate guys I hope
you've enjoyed that video and I wish you
all the very best in your pursuit to
passing your interview thanks guys