Job interviews
The STAR Technique: How to Structure Interview Answers
28 September 2026 5 min read
Practise these 4 questions with the AI panelCompetency and behavioural questions ("Tell me about a time when…") are scored on evidence. The STAR technique keeps your answer focused so the interviewer can easily tick off what they're looking for.
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Answer one question out loud and get scored.
"Tell me about a time you handled a difficult customer."
What STAR stands for
- 01Situation: one or two sentences of context. Where were you and what was happening?
- 02Task: what you needed to achieve, or the problem you owned.
- 03Action: the specific steps you took. Say "I", not "we". This should be about 60% of your answer.
- 04Result: the outcome, ideally with a number, and what you learned.
Example: "Tell me about a time you handled a difficult customer"
Situation: In my retail job, a customer was shouting because a delivery had been missed twice. Task: I needed to calm the situation and find a solution before they cancelled. Action: I moved us away from the queue, listened without interrupting, apologised for the experience, checked the system and found the address error, then booked a priority slot and gave my direct number. Result: the order arrived the next morning, the customer left a positive review, and I suggested an address-check step that cut repeat missed deliveries.
Common mistakes
- 01Spending too long on the situation and running out of time for your actions.
- 02Describing what the team did instead of your own contribution.
- 03Giving a hypothetical ("I would…") when they asked for a real example.
- 04Forgetting the result, which is often where the marks are.