>>The extremely popular STAR method
for behavioral interview questions
actually suffers from two major limitations.
Number one, it allocates too much time
for background information,
where more the answer should focus on your accomplishments.
Number two, by the hearing religiously
to the STAR interview format, situation, task, action,
and result, many candidates forget or simply don't know
when to add takeaways and learnings in their answers.
In this video, I'll show you the major differences
between the STAR and CARL interview methods
and when to use each technique.
I'll also walk you through two behavioral interview answers,
so you can see a side-by-side comparison
of the two formats in action.
So let's get started.
Hi friends, welcome back.
If you're new here, my name is Jeff
and this channel is all about practical, career,
and interview tips.
So if you're a current student or young professional,
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Other than the two limitations I mentioned in the beginning,
I've heard from interviewers
that candidates who are rely too heavily on the STAR method
end up sounding too robotic,
like they're just repeating memorized answers.
So if you really want to make an impression
on the interviewer,
try using the CARL method the next time
you're answering behavioral interview questions
to truly stand out from the crowd, diving right into it.
CARL simply stands for context, action, results,
and learnings.
At first clients, it doesn't seem all that different
from STAR.
The A and R even represent the same concepts,
action and results.
But if we dive a bit further,
we realize that the C context,
combines both the situation and task from the STAR method,
and this keeps the background information you share
concise and to the point.
To prompt your brain to think context first,
simply ask yourself,
what was I hoping to accomplish in this experience?
And you often find your answer,
will naturally include both the situation and the task.
Let's take a simple example.
Imagine if I were asked
a common behavioral interview question,
tell me about a time you went above and beyond at work.
If I were preparing strictly with the STAR method in mind,
my answer might start off looking like this.
When I was a management consultant with EY,
I worked primarily on finance and supply chain projects.
Usually when a project ended,
I would help out on other business development work
to pitch additional engagements.
One time I just rolled off a project
and I realized we didn't have a consistent
onboarding program for new hires.
And so I took the initiative to design a training plan
aimed at decreasing new hire wrap-up time.
If I were using the car format
and primed myself to think context first,
I would instead start off by saying something like this.
When I was a management consultant with EY,
I decided to make use of some downtime in between projects
to design a training program for new hires,
and then launch right into the action
and say exactly what I did to make that happen.
So I basically used a few words to lay groundwork
for the more important parts of the story.
And you might be wondering, does it really matter?
Well, yes, because it gives you more time
to talk about your learnings
and the learnings is what differentiates you
from someone who has an equally
if not more impressive story.
And this is because it shows that you took the extra step
and reflected on your experiences
leading to a finding or T takeaway
that should influence your future actions.
If you're enjoying this comparison between the STAR
and CARL method so far,
actually I have a Facebook group
where I share exclusive weekly tips.
So consider joining if you haven't already.
I'll link it down below.
This brings us to the second point of this video,
how best to come up with a behavioral interview answer
around the learnings prompt.
And they're really just three questions
you wanna ask yourself to nail this part.
Number one, what are the implications
of the actions that you took and of the results you saw?
Number two, what did you think you did well?
And number three, what would you do differently
if you were put in a similar situation?
So I'm just gonna jump right into
a behavioral interview question answer example
to show you how to apply this in practice.
I'm gonna say the prompts like situation
and learnings out loud,
just to make it very clear what I'm doing.
Please don't actually say those words
as part of your answer in a real interview.
Let's say I'll ask the common and tricky
behavioral interview question,
"Jeff, tell me about a time you failed."
Using the STAR method,
my answer might look something like this.
Situation.
A previous nutrition and finished presentation
I prepared for my colleagues was well received,
and so I wanted to take it a step further
and share my entire weekly workout routine
with a broader audience task.
I wanted to create videos on home workouts
since many of us were stuck at home
for prolonged periods of time this year,
and I also wanted to reach people outside of work.
Action.
I started feeling myself working out at home on my phone,
and I made small edits in order to share on Instagram
and other social media sites.
The result.
Engagement was minimal,
fewer than 1% of my connections liked or viewed
what I posted,
and so I felt like I wasted so much time
learning how to shoot and edit videos.
Let's pause right there,
because technically the STAR method
ends with results, right?
Even though a question like tell me about a time you failed,
you should really go on to say the lessons you learn
and how you can apply those moving forward.
And this is where the call technique really shines.
Let's go through the exact same experience
but this time use the context, action,
result, and learning prompts.
Context, following a well-received presentation
of fitness and nutrition to my colleagues.
I wanted to upload videos on home workouts
that will benefit a wider audience.
You can see right away that the background information
was a lot more concise.
The action result will stay the same,
so I'm gonna skip over those two
and go straight to my learnings.
Upon reflection, I realized my content on home workouts
was simply not in the same league
as some of the other well-established fitness coaches
out there.
So although I felt like I wasted so much time,
I didn't give up.
I decided to apply my new found expertise in video editing
to another topic.
So it took some time to really figure out the topics
I had a great deal of knowledge on,
and here we are with career interview tips
for current college students
and young working professionals.
If you found that example answer helpful,
a like and sub to the channel would be amazing.
In a situation where you're nervous like an interview,
we might overly rely on the acronyms, right?
STAR our results.
Okay, I just need to end with results.
Whereas with that good body CARL,
you will remember to end your answer with learnings.
Finally, at this point, some of you might be wondering
does this mean I should never use a STAR format again?
No, definitely not.
For example, the bullet points in your resume
should always follow the STAR format,
because the ending of your bullet points
should be results oriented,
backed up by data points.
Learnings are usually not included,
because that would make the resume too wordy.
Feel free to check out my video
on how to write an incredible resume.
I'll link that down below as well.
And finally, if you're comfortable with STAR
and has been working well for you,
by all means, stick with it.
For those of you who are willing to experiment
and switch things up,
the call technique is always gonna be here.
All right, there you have it.
A comparison between the STAR and CARL methods
for behavioral interview questions.
Just remember, the main point is to incorporate
learnings in your answer,
because that shows the interviewer
you took the time and reflected on your experiences.
Please give this video a like if you find it helpful
and let me know down the comments below,
if you have any questions.
Subscribe if you haven't already,
see you on the next video,
and the meaning, have a great one.
(upbeat music)