Interviews can be difficult, but the trick is to know what to say and how to present yourself. At 2X, we like our candidates to be a great fit not just skills-wise, but also culturally. We have very diverse, vibrant, and fun colleagues – so we would love for you to be able to fit in as best as you can.
Therefore, we’ve come up with the STARR method, which will help you structure your answers whilst letting your personality shine through during the interview.
Discuss the specific situation, task, action, and result of the situation you are describing. Sometimes it is appropriate to say that you reflected on what happened and how you’d approach it differently the next time.
Describe a situation or problem that you have encountered. Detail the background on how and why the situation came about, who was involved and what was the problem.
With the recent recovery from the pandemic and business getting back on track, the workload was increasing with lesser manpower to complete it due to layoffs that happened during the pandemic.
Describe the challenge and expectation that the situation required, and why it was important.
I was tasked to write two 700-word articles for a client we had just onboarded within a week. My previous work and strength focused more on ‘how-to’ pieces; however, this was more on profile writing.
Elaborate the action(s) you took and obstacles that you had to overcome. Talk about what did you do first, the stakeholder’s reactions, how did you complete the whole task.
I cleared my calendar as much as possible and blocked time for the next week for research, writing and editing. I also scheduled a short catch-up with my seniors to get their advice on how I should write these articles.
Highlight the results, accomplishments, recognitions, savings, etc., and how success was measured. Was this new method of work used moving forward? Were there any new tasks/responsibilities given?
With total focus and putting a timeline for myself and getting advice from others, I managed to complete the work on time and received good reviews from the client.
Sometimes it is appropriate to say that you reflected on what happened and decided how you would tackle the problem next time.
This experience was an eye-opener as it gave me exposure to the other types of writing and more self-belief that if I focus and get help, things are possible.