‘STAR’ Interview Technique Flashcards

Being asked to ‘sell yourself’ and demonstrate self-promotion is a daunting prospect for most students and young people. But it’s a necessary skill to learn, not just for application forms and personal statements, but also when asked in-person to describe your skills during interviews for college, sixth form, apprenticeships or jobs. Use our STAR Interview Technique flashcards to learn how.

First you’ll need to be able to identify what you’re good at and feel confident about your strengths. Next you’ll need to be able to describe your skills in detail, giving examples of where and how you’ve used them and what the impact of that situation was. Whilst it might seem a scary prospect at first, showcasing your skills is a valuable skill to learn that you’ll rely on throughout your career.

The STAR Interview Technique is your secret weapon for responding to questions that require you to demonstrate your skills and experiences. It’s an acronym that stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result. It’s a structured approach to answering behavioural interview questions, which are designed to assess how you’ve handled specific situations in the past.

Situation: Begin by describing the context or situation you were in.

Task: Explain the task or challenge you faced.

Action: Detail the actions you took to address the situation.

Result: Conclude by discussing the positive outcome or what you learned from the experience.

Download our Flashcards to use in lessons, careers sessions or even at home:

How to use

This short group activity encourages young people to think about common interview questions for college, apprenticeships, university, further study or employment. It focuses on drawing on your experience and skills gained from academic studies or extra curricular activities to provide examples that evidence your skills in a succinct and relevant way.

Time to Play: 10 to 30 minutes

Setting Up: Print out the STAR Technique Interview Flashcards and cut up into individual cards/questions. Display around the room or provide a few of each flashcard on each table. Ask students to work in pairs or small groups. Provide or display the S.T.A.R. acronym so students understand each component.

Instructions:

Provide a brief introduction to explain that it’s completely normal to struggle with recognising our strengths and that many people find it difficult to talk about what they’re good at. Young people in particular face self-doubt and underestimate their abilities.

Introduce the STAR technique and explain it’s advantages:

• Clarity: It helps you structure your response, ensuring you stay on track and provide a complete answer.
• Specificity: You can provide concrete examples that demonstrate your skills and abilities.
• Impact: Your responses are more memorable and convincing, leaving a strong impression on the interviewer.

Provide an examples of common questions and sample answers:

Question: Give me an example of a time when you’ve worked in a team.

Answer (STAR Technique):

Situation: Last year, I was part of my school’s football team.
Task: Our team had to prepare for the county championships, where I played in mid-field.
Action: To make sure we all worked well together, I helped organised extra team practices and sent out key information on our message app, helped with fundraising activities for our kit and expenses, and supported new players joining the team.
Result: We came third in the district championship, which boosted our team’s morale and helped us recruit new players for next season. This experience taught me the value of teamwork and leadership.

More examples can be found here.

Ask students to work together to review the potential questions on the flashcards displayed and prepare a short statement about how they have demonstrated (or would demonstrate) that particular skill. Use the question prompts to explore different skills or situations they may have encountered (or could encounter in the future).

A blank flashcard has also been provided. Ask students to create their own question that may likely be asked in a future interview and use the STAR technique to create a targeted answer. This could be set as a homework activity or they could present their response to the group.