A structured manner of responding to a behavioural-based interview question by discussing the specific situation, task, action, and result of the situation you are describing.
- Situation
- Task
- Action
- Result
Describe the situation that you were in or the task that you needed to accomplish. You must describe a specific event or situation, not a generalized description of what you have done in the past. Be sure to give enough detail for the interviewer to understand. This situation can be from a previous job, from a volunteer experience, or any relevant event.
What goal were you working toward?
Describe the actions you took to address the situation with an appropriate amount of detail and keep the focus on YOU. What specific steps did you take and what was your particular contribution? Be careful that you don’t describe what the team or group did when talking about a project, but what you actually did. Use the word “I,” not “we” when describing actions.
Describe the outcome of your actions and don’t be shy about taking credit for your behavior. What happened? How did the event end? What did you accomplish? What did you learn? Make sure your answer contains multiple positive results.
Be as specific as possible at all times, without rambling or including too much information.
- Motivation, self-motivated, passionate about real problems and company values.
- Empathy, sees other's perspectives and motivations, fosters consensus and a collaborative work environment.
- Starting, shows initiative, balances analysis, breaks work into chunks.
- Finishing, perseveres, maintains focus, balances stress, lands projects.
- Able to work in an unstructured environment, deals with ambiguity, promotes global ownership.
- Conflict Resolution, handles challenging relationships appropriately.
- Growth, knows their own strengths, recognizes their growth areas, invests in self-improvement.
- Communication, uses clear, concise, compelling language.
Recall recent situations that show favorable behaviors or actions, especially involving course work, work experience, leadership, teamwork, initiative, planning, and customer service.
- Prepare short descriptions of each situation; be ready to give details if asked.
- Be sure each story has a beginning, middle, and an end, i.e., be ready to describe the situation, including the task at hand, your action, and the outcome or result.
- Be sure the outcome or result reflects positively on you (even if the result itself was not favorable).
- Be honest. Don't embellish or omit any part of the story. The interviewer will find out if your story is built on a weak foundation.
- Be specific. Don't generalize about several events; give a detailed accounting of one event.
- Vary your examples; don’t take them all from just one area of your life.